One Regional Finalist and four Semifinalists of the 2007-08 Siemens Competition are Stuyvesant students, a significant increase from last year’s contest, in which no Stuyvesant students placed.
The Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology is funded by the Siemens Foundation and administered by the College Board. It recognizes high school students across the nation for science research projects.
Junior Tiffany Yau is a Regional Team Finalist. She completed her research on Neanderthal migration with junior Shabitri Dasgupta and senior James Leung, both from Francis Lewis High School. The trio will head to Carnegie Mellon University on November 16 and 17 to compete for a $6,000 prize and the opportunity to advance to the National Finals for a shot at winning the $100,000 grand prize.
Four Stuyvesant seniors are Semifinalists: Abraham Chien, with Elie Bochner from the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy for his research on polymer film for a new x-ray detector, Ray Lee with Kevin Oh from the Wheatley School for research on Parkinson’s disease, Dmitriy Timerman for research in neuroscience, and Alice Xu for research on the effects of World Trade Center dust and cigarette smoke.
Yau said it is exciting to have placed in the competition. “Our school is so big so when they made the announcement with my name I felt like a celebrity,” she said.
“It’s good to know I made a difference,” Xu said. “Even if I didn’t become a Siemens Semifinalist, it would’ve been satisfying for me personally just to have this experience.”
To enter into the competition, the students worked in the spring and summer in laboratories and then took classes during the summer and/or fall to write the research papers. The papers were submitted to the competition in the fall of their senior year, unless they worked in a group.
Stuyvesant teachers advised students who were doing research whose subject fell under their particular department. But “they really did most of the thinking on their own,” said biology teacher Jonathan Gastel, the Research Advisor of Timerman and Xu.
“I’m glad I got something out of the research I did over the summer,” Timerman said. “It helped me understand a topic that could help people and is personally interesting.”
“If I contribute to society, even if it’s just a little bit, I know I can save a bit of society with my research,” Lee said.
From 1999 to 2006, Stuyvesant has had one National Finalist (who went on to win the $100,000 grand prize) and two Regional Finalists. Last year, no Stuyvesant students were named Regional Finalists or Semifinalists.
“It’s a great improvement,” interim Assistant Principal Physics and Chemistry and Research Advisor Scott Thomas said. “It’s encouraging results, and I’m glad the students are being recognized for their hard work.”
“Things students do to succeed are work hard, review their paper 55 times and listen to their research teachers and mentors,” physics teacher and Research Coordinator Ulugbek Akhmedov said. “Most students this year did interesting research, cared about it and worked hard.”