Four students from Great Neck Public Schools received awards at the Long Island Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) in February, and one student has been selected to participate in the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Maryland in May.
The regional Long Island JSHS was held at York College in Queens on Feb. 4. Award winners from Great Neck Public Schools were Simona Fine, Aaron Geula, and Amy Shteyman of North High School, and Kelley Chiu of South High School. In a second round of competition on Feb. 28, Amy Shteyman was selected as a regional delegate to the National JSHS Symposium to be held in Hunt Valley, Maryland.
Each high school can nominate up to six students to participate in the Long Island JSHS. Symposium officials reviewed science research papers by the nominees and invited select students to present at the Long Island symposium at York College. Symposium participants from Great Neck Public Schools conducted their research as part of their school’s science research program.
Students presented a 12-minute PowerPoint to a panel of professionals. Presentations were grouped based on area of study: Behavioral and Social Science, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Environmental Science, Earth and Space Sciences, Mathematics, and Physics.
Amy Shteyman earned first-place in the Behavioral and Social Science category at the Long Island competition for her research project, titled “The Language of Facial Expressions: a Neuroimaging Study of How a Smile is Generated and Perceived by Another Person.” This experiment investigated the difference between brain activity while a person smiles in an interaction with another person and the brain activity while a person smiles from a non-human stimulus.
Kelley Chiu took second place in the Biology category for her presentation, titled “Cardiac Glycoside Deslanoside Induces Mitochondrial Stress and Cell Cycle Arrest in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Hep3B Cells.” Her study investigated the anti-cancer effect and underlying mechanism of action of the cardiac glycoside, deslanoside, on human hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer).
Simona Fine won second place in the Computer Science category for her research project, “The Optimization of Scheduling Wireless Networks using Greedy Algorithm.” Her research analyzed the effectiveness and speed of different algorithms in transmitting information over wireless networks.
Aaron Geula won third place in the Behavioral and Social Science category for his presentation titled, “Using fNIRS to Determine the Effect of Distractions on Cross-Brain Coherence.” His research studied brain waves to determine how distractions, such as cell phone rings, affected non-verbal interactions between two people.
First-place winners from each category at the Long Island JSHS moved on to the JSHS Regional Final Symposium on Feb. 24. At this level, North High senior Amy Shteyman was selected as a Regional Delegate to the National JSHS Symposium.
As a delegate for the Long Island region, Shteyman is invited to attend the 56th National JSHS Symposium in Hunt Valley, Maryland in May. At the National JSHS Symposium, 230 high school participants will present their research, engage with world-class STEM professionals, and gain exposure to cutting-edge research and technologies. As one of the top two delegates for Long Island, Shteyman is also eligible for scholarship opportunities at the event.
The Junior Science and Humanities Symposia (JSHS) Program is a tri-service – U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force – sponsored competition that promotes original research and experimentation in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at the high school level and publicly recognizes students for outstanding achievement.
