Newswise — STONY BROOK, NY, October 27, 2011 – Eleven regional finalists and 31 semifinalists in the Siemens Competition — one of the top nationwide research competitions for high school researchers — were mentored at Stony Brook University, ranking among the leaders in universities nationwide who mentor high school researchers from Long Island and out of state.
Many of the competition finalists and semifinalists participated in summer research programs offered at Stony Brook, such as the Garcia Center for Polymers at Engineered Interfaces program and/or the Simons Summer Research Program, including students from California, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington State.
“Faculty and graduate students from Stony Brook University selflessly give of their time and resources to aspiring high school student researchers like no other institution in the world,” said President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD. “This is a phenomenon that continues to amaze me, and on behalf of the University, I am proud to support and encourage our work with these emerging young scientists.”
Of the 1542 projects submitted by 2,436 students in the 2011 competition, the Siemens Foundation announced a total of 96 regional finalists and 300 semifinalists with New York claiming 13 regional finalists and 57 semifinalists. Five of the 13 New York regional finalists and 11 of 96 nationwide were mentored at Stony Brook; additionally, 23 of the 57 New York semifinalists and 31 of 300 nationwide were mentored at Stony Brook University.
Among the Siemens winners mentored at Stony Brook, 24 (10 regional finalists and 14 semifinalists) were mentored by Professor Miriam Rafailovich of the Department of Material Sciences & Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In addition to Professor Rafailovich, mentors include Peter Brink of Physiology & Biophysics; Thomas Butcher of the CME Program and BNL; Benjamin Chu, of Chemistry; Matthew Dawber of Physics & Astronomy; Yuefan Deng of Applied Mathematics & Statistics; Miguel Garcia-Diaz of Pharmacological Sciences; Berhane Ghebrehiwet of Medicine; Nancy Hollingsworth of Biochemistry & Cell Biology; Benjamin Hsiao and Roy Lacey of Chemistry; Jonathan Liu of Biomedical Engineering; Yupo Ma of Pathology; Arianna Maffei, Neurobiology & Behavior; Yizhi Meng of Materials Science & Engineering; Harold Metcalf, John Noé and Martin Cohen of the Laser Teaching Center, Physics & Astronomy; Iwao Ojima of Chemistry; Lorna Role of Neurobiology & Behavior; Marcia Simon of the Dental School; David Talmage of Pharmacological Sciences; and K. Varadaraj of Physiology & Biophysics.
The New York regional finalists mentored at Stony Brook are: Holly Flores, Huntington High School; Alina Ranjbaran, Garden City HS; Matthew Rudin, Half Hollow Hills HS West; Tom Wang, The Wheatley School; and Austin Wild, South Side HS.
Out-of-state regional finalists mentored at Stony Brook are: David Nam, Monta Vista HS (CA); Victoria Petrova, South HS (CA); and Hansen Qian, Saratoga HS (CA); Ilana Teicher, Ma’ayanot Yeshiva HS for Girls (NJ); Vijay Viswanathan, Upper St. Clair HS (PA); and Yon (Daniel) Yang, Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology (VA).
The New York semifinalists mentored at Stony Brook are: Anuhita Basavaraju, Jericho HS; Sarah Cacciabaudo, Smithtown HS; Sarah Chapin, Herricks HS; Andrew Chen, Lawrence HS; Sneha Chittabathini, Lawrence HS; Juliana Coraor, Huntington HS; Tyler Corsello, Ward Melville HS; Daniel Goldsmith, North Shore Hebrew Academy; Eric Hirsch, Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway; Preeti Kakani, Jericho HS; Xiaofei (Fay) Lin, Ward Melville HS; Brendan Liu, Jericho HS; Neil Mehta, Jericho HS; Robin Mehta, Paul D. Schreiber HS; Wade Miller, Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway; Kunal Sangani, Fayetteville-Manlius HS; Anna Sato, Ward Melville HS; Danielle Scarano, Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy HS; Nicholas Suss, South Side HS; Alexandra Tse, Lawrence HS; Murali Varadaraj, Ward Melville HS; Kristin Wong, Jericho HS; and Jack Zhou, Ward Melville HS.
Out-of-state semifinalists mentored at Stony Brook are: Bolun Liu, Mission San Jose HS (CA); Merry Mou, Mission San Jose HS (CA); Manita Singh, Canyon Crest Academy (CA); Alissa Zhang, Saratoga HS (CA); Nithin Tumma, Port Huron Northern HS (MI); Ariella Applebaum, Ma’ayanot Yeshiva HS for Girls (NJ); Eliana Applebaum, Ma’ayanot Yeshiva HS for Girls (NJ); and Sophia Xu, Redmond HS (WA).
Regional finalists will compete in one of 6 regional competitions during November; and winners of the regional events will compete at the National Finals in Washington, DC, in early December for the top prize of $100,000. In previous years, grand prize winners in both individual (2009) and team categories (2001, 2007) worked with Stony Brook faculty mentors including, Carlos Simmerling and Iwao Ojima of the Department of Chemistry; and Miriam Rafailovich of the Department of Materials Science & Engineering. Click here to view the listing of the Siemens regional and semifinalists and their mentors. ###
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