Ossining Science Research Strikes Again
Ossining High School science research students take their seats at the 2016 WESEF award ceremony
March 14, 2016
With all of the basketball championships and theatre productions going on around this busy end-of-winter season, it’s at times easy to forget the many academic accomplishments that our students here at OHS have managed to achieve – and achieve they do.
This weekend, Ossining sophomores, juniors, and seniors competed in the 2016 Westchester Science and Engineering Fair (WESEF), competing against other students from the region for a chance to move on to the international levels of the Society for Science & the Public-run events. This year saw five Ossininauts move on to that next stage of competition, Michael Earle, Charlotte Keeley, Sarah Fendrich, Matthew Forman, and Jack Lepkowski.
Charlotte Keeley, finalist in both the WESEF and JSHS competitions, holds up her winning display.
This follows the recent success of our science research students in the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) held in Albany last week, in which a number of students placed highly in their categories and one, Charlotte Keeley, successfully moved on to the next national level competition.
These winners, along with category and special awards winners from WESEF, are listed below this article.
Also worth noting, Soon Il Higashino, our own resident Intel STS Finalist, and valued staff member of The Current, is currently in Washington, D.C. for the last leg of her own science research journey. Not only will she be presenting her research to panels of judges, in a similar fashion to the students at WESEF this past weekend, but Soon Il has the opportunity to meet none other than United States President Barack Obama as part of the fair’s festivities. Her status in the competition is unknown at the moment, but more updates will be given in the future.
Whatever the case, it’s students like these who help make OHS such a great school. Keep up the great work, guys!
JSHS Winners:
Charlotte Keeley – 1st place in Biology and Environmental Science
Julia Riley – 2nd place in Cellular and Molecular Biology
Alina Campbell – 2nd place in Biology and Environmental Science
Yasir Khan – 3rd place in Biomedical Sciences
Claire Sukumar – 3rd place in Behavioral Sciences
WESEF Winners:
Kiran Goveas – 1st place Animal Science
Sarah Fendrich and Zoe Scheier – 1st place Behavior
Zachary Silbert – 1st place Earth & Space Science
Yasir Khan – 1st place Microbiology
Michael Earle – 1st place Physics & Astronomy
Benjamin Feinstein and Claire Sukumar holding pieces of their WESEF displays. Feinstein’s research placed him as a finalist in the MIT INSPIRE competition, while Sukumar’s led to placement at the state level of JSHS. Both students were semifinalists in the Intel STS competition earlier this year.
Charlotte Keeley – 1st place Plant Science
Kimberly Badger – 2nd place Animal Science
Sasha Souillard – 2nd place Behavior
Julia Riley and Lorenzo Muranelli – 2nd place Biochemistry
Lior Raz-Farley – 2nd place Cell & Molecular Biology
Adriana Scanteianu – 2nd place Computational Biology/Bioinformatics
Cen Chen – 2nd place Physics & Astronomy
Benjamin Feinstein and Claire Sukumar – 3rd place Behavior
Jane Mundadan and Michelle – 3rd place Biochemistry
Nick Tremaroli – 3rd place Computer Science
Alina Campbell – 3rd place Environmental Science
Reid Komosa, Sandy Castillo, Pedro Montes de Oca III, and Oliver Krupinski – 4th place Animal Science
Jesse Bernstein – 4th place Behavior
Nikhil Shah – 4th place Biochemistry
Mark Zhinin – 4th place Cell & Molecular Biology
Niholas San Martin – 4th place Engineering
Brianna Cauthen – 4th place Medicine & Health
Madeline Zarro – 4th place Microbiology
Kevin Grigera and Gregory Vutera – American Psychological Association Award
Yoo Shin Tanai – ASM Materials Education Foundation Award
Jason Aguirre and Marcus Roman – ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiative
Cen Chen and Michael Earle burn off some energy prior to their judging sessions. Chen competed earlier this March in the JSHS competition, and Earle managed to place as a finalist at WESEF in both 2015 and 2016.
Kristen Minihan – Mu Alpha Theta Award
Reid Komosa, Sandy Castillo, Pedro Montes de Oca III – NASA Earth System Science Award
Ben Radhuber – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2016 Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award
Annalee Tacuri – Society for In Vitro Biology Award
Jason Aguirre – Stockholm Junior Water Prize
Julian Ivanov – The Walter Kass Memorial Award for Excellence in Behavioral Science
Kimberly Badger – Greg Horrace Award
Jennifer Meikle – Teatown Young Naturalist Award Sponsored by Teatown Lake Reservation
