Students from five North Shore high schools finished in the top three in four categories of the Neurological Surgery PC STEM/health science competition.
Juniors and seniors from Great Neck North High School, Roslyn High School, North Shore High School, North Shore Hebrew Academy and Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington were presented with prizes ranging from $3,000 to $5,500.
Students were judged on their overall projects relating to their categories along with their research question, design and methodology, execution, creativity, poster/slide show and website, and presentation.
Anushka Gupta from Great Neck North High School took home first place in the competition’s behavioral science category with her project analyzing prefrontal activity in a social hierarchy.
“I have dealt with a lot of mental health studies and finding a way to study depression, anxiety and all other disorders is extremely important to me,” Gupta said.
Gupta said she initially planned on returning to the lab and continuing with her project, but the coronavirus pandemic caused her to pause her progress.
The team of William Xu and Jacob Ramsey from Roslyn High School took home second place in the category with their project highlighting the perceptions of Eastern vs. Western medicine.
Lianna Freidman of Roslyn High School won first place in the biology-medicine/health category with her study of protein engineered biomaterials. Friedman said she intends to continue studying biomedical engineering in the fall and said working in biology provides her with tremendous opportunities.
“To me, it is so important and cool to realize the effects working with things on such a small level,” Friedman said. “Using all of the concepts biology has to offer is great.”
Mary Sotiryadis, salutatorian for the North Shore High School’s class of 2020, took home second place for trying to determine the toll that chronic inflammation takes on a body at the cellular level.
The top three finishers in the biology-microbiology/genetics category were all from North Shore high schools, as Tiffany Guo from Port Washington won first place, Alida Pahlevan from Roslyn won second place, and Keaton Danseglio from North Shore High School won third.
The team of Menachem Rabizadeh and Tonatan Khakshoor from North Shore Hebrew Academy looked at how a tool called the smart glove could work to perfect the art of a bicep curl along with other arm and hand conditions related to weight lifting and physical therapy. The two won second place for their study.
Students who finished in the top three in each category were congratulated by Dr. Michael Brisman of Neurological Surgery PC and Dr. Ray Ann Havasy, an event manager from the Center for Science, Teaching & Learning, on Tuesday.
Even those who did not finish as the three best in a category were grateful for the opportunity to take part in the competition.
Abigail Lee, a senior at Great Neck South High School, said her work in researching the impact of intruder social hierarchy on resident aggression in mice has led her to expand her knowledge going forward.
“It was very interesting to see all the different work that everyone in the competition was involved in,” Lee said. “I started my research based on aggressive behavior in mice. Once I started my research, I began noticing what causes those behavioral switches in mice, which have a similar brain structure to a human’s. It’s tragic to see when people develop aggressive tendencies in people.”
More than 280 students, who made up 254 teams from 37 high schools throughout Long Island, participated in the event this year. More than $80,000 in cash prizes was awarded to students for their work.
