The Home of Midwood Science Research

NYCSEF is the New York City Department of Education’s annual science and technology research competition, coordinated by the City University of New York’s College Now program. In February, 650 students from high schools across the city met at City College to display their scientific research projects. The top 140 students advanced to the Finals Round in March and the top 18 go on to the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in May. Midwood sent five students to the Finals Round this year with a sixth headed off to ISEF.

Cindy Mei, Glenn Elert (teacher), Na Xue, Anna Krivolapova, Vernon Wu, Leon Telis, and Alan Stack (teacher)
at the City University of New York Graduate Center in Midtown Manhattan

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)

• Na Xue
  for her project "Rational design of novel anti-HIV peptides containing multi-functional domains." She worked with Dr. Shibo Jiang of the New York Blood Center. Na represented York City at the Intel ISEF in Atlanta, Georgia May 11-16, 2008 where she received a Fourth Place award in the Microbiology category.

NYCSEF Finals Round

• Vernon Wu
  for his project "Potential Role for a PNC-27/28 peptide specific binding site in tumor cell plasma membrane to direct peptide dependent cytotoxicity." He worked with Dr. Josef Michl in the Pathology Department at SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
• Cindy Mei
  for her project "Second Generation Asians in America: Academic Achievement Based on Cultural Differences and Family Expectations".
• Anna Krivolapova
  for her project "Genome-Wide Modeling and Analysis of PX Domains from the Model Organism Arabidopsis thaliana." She worked with Dr. Shaneen M. Singh in the Biology Department of Brooklyn College
• Leon Telis
  for his project "Characterization of a Mutant KlK3 Gene Product and Its Implications in Invasive Prostate Cancer." He worked with Dr. Todd Hricik at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry.
• Frank Tidd
  for his project "Characterization of TFE-3 Protein Expression in Lipopolysaccharide Stimulated Macrophages and non-stimulated macrophages." He worked with Dr. Christopher Roman at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics.

More NYCSEF Awards

American Psychological Association Award Cindy Mei – 3rd Place US Army Award Na Xue – 1st Place Anna Krivolapova – 2nd Place Vernon Wu – 2nd Place Leon Telis – 3rd Place

NYCSEF Recognition Awards Anna Krivolapova – 1st Place in Cellular and Molecular Biology Cindy Mei – 3rd Place Leon Telis – 3rd Place Vernon Wu – 3rd Place Daniel Dvorin – Honorable Mention Amanda Ramcharran – Honorable Mention Frank Tidd – Honorable Mention

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is the world’s largest pre-college celebration of science. Held annually in May, the Intel ISEF brings together over 1,200 students from 40 nations to compete for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, and scientific field trips. This year Midwood sent Michael Vishnevetsky to the competition in Indianapolis, Indiana.

• Michael Vishnevetsky
  Gene-Induced Biosynthesis of a Cancer Therapeutic Derived from the p53 Amino Terminus Elicits Tumor Selective Apoptotic Death of Human Pancreatic Cancer Cells.
  • Biochemistry Award presented by Agilent Technologies, Third Award of $1,000

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is the world’s largest pre-college celebration of science. Held annually in May, the Intel ISEF brings together over 1,200 students from 40 nations to compete for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, and scientific field trips. Midwood sent 2 seniors to Phoenix, Arizona to compete in this year’s ISEF.

• Genna Ableman and Maya Barsky
  In vitro Simulation of Immunological and Biochemical Attack on Pancreatic Cancer-Specific Antigen, PaCa-Ag1
  • Office of Naval Research Team Tuition Scholarship Award in the amount of $8,000 to be equally divided between the team members.
  • Team Projects presented by Ricoh, Third Award of $1,000

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is the world’s largest pre-college celebration of science. Held annually in May, the Intel ISEF brings together over 1,200 students from 40 nations to compete for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, and scientific field trips. Midwood sent 6 seniors to Portland, Oregon to compete in this year’s ISEF.

• Mou Chung Ng
  " The Development of an Adenoviral Vector that Expresses PNC-28EG, a Gene that Encodes a Peptide Selectively Cytotoxic to Pancreatic Carcinoma"
  • Office of Naval Research on behalf of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Scholarship in the amount of $8,000
  • U.S. Air Force First Award of $3,000
• Elizabeth Kolod
  " How Does Learning Sign Language Affect Visual Perception?"
  • Behavioral and Social Sciences – Presented by Intel Foundation. Second Award of $1,500
• Shaye Storm
  " Age Determination and Size Reconstruction of 15th Century North Atlantic Codfish (Gadus morhua L.) from Akurvik, NW Iceland"
  • Earth and Space Sciences – Presented by Intel Foundation. Second Award of $1,500
• Ghulam Dastgir
  " Analysis of the Pancreatic Cancer-Specific 3C4-Ag Using a Novel Directly Labeled Monoclonal Antibody 3C4 (FITC-mAb3C4)"
  • American Association for Clinical Chemistry "for the projects that best demonstrate the use of chemistry to diagnose diseased or abnormal states in humans and/or animals." Third Award of $300
• Hayley Miskiewicz & Lindsey Tannenbaum
  " The Nuclear Pore Complex in Alzheimer’s Disease: A First Look at the Relationship of Nucleoporins to Neuropathological Features and Apoptosis"
  • Team Projects – Presented by Science News. Fourth Award of $500

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is the world’s largest pre-college celebration of science. Held annually in May, the Intel ISEF brings together over 1,200 students from 40 nations to compete for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, and scientific field trips. This year’s ISEF was held in Louisville, Kentucky

The Science Department Is Proud to Announce: Tahir Ahmed was one of the top prize winners. His project was on Molecular Modeling and the Identification of Functional Domains of a New Adhesive Molecule in Inflammatory Thrombosis. He did his work at Downstate Medical Center under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Kornecki. His teacher advisor was Ms. Ann Nicastri. Tahir, 17, is a senior in the Science Research Program of the Medical Science Institute at Midwood. He won…

• An Intel Foundation Achievement Award for outstanding work in any field ($5,000);
• First Place Award in Biochemistry ($3,000);
• First Place, Asjtavadhani Vidwan Ambati Subbaraya Chetty Foundation Award for projects that display outstanding creativity, ingenuity and have the potential to alleviate the human condition or mark a substantial advance in the scientific field; and
• A University of Louisville Full Tuition Scholarship Award.

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is the world’s largest pre-college celebration of science. Held annually in May, the Intel ISEF brings together over 1,200 students from 40 nations to compete for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, and scientific field trips. This year’s ISEF was held in San Jose, California.

• Michael Ng & Patrick Li
  Sol-Gel Synthesis of Yttrium Iron Garnet Magnets
  • Team Projects Presented by Science News — Third Award of $1,000
  • San Jose State University-College of Science and College of Engineering In collaboration with Silicon Valley companies the colleges offer scholarships for study leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in specified disciplines of science and engineering — Scholarships of at least $8,000 per year for four years ($32,000 total)
  • US Army Award — $3,000, a Certificate of Achievement, and a gold medallion
  • American Chemical Society — First Award of $500
• Angela Lee
  Group I Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors in Epilepsy.
  • Medicine and Health Presented by Merck Research Laboratories — Second Award of $1,500
  • American Physiological Society For the best projects in the physiological sciences which include cellular physiology, animal physiology and neurophysiology — First Award of $1,000
• Nadezhda Belova & Alisa Neymark
  Tactile and Olfactory Aspects of Environmental Mapping in Procambarus clarkii
  • Team Projects Presented by Science News — Fourth Award of $500
  • Eastman Kodak Company For the best use of photography to gather data, solve a problem, or to clearly explain the essence of their science project — Honorable Mention Awards of $250

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is the world’s largest pre-college celebration of science. Held annually in May, the Intel ISEF brings together over 1,200 students from 40 nations to compete for scholarships, tuition grants, internships, and scientific field trips. This year’s ISEF was held in Detroit, Michigan.

• Eugene Simuni
  Role of Interdomain Interactions in the Activation Mechanism of the G Proteins.
  • Endocrine Society Award, Honorable Mention
• Emmanuelle St Jean
  Evidence for a Lipoprotein Scavenger Receptor in the African Trypanosome.
  • Microbiology Award presented by Intel, Third Award of $1,000
  • Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute Award of $500 for participants whose projects are related to infectious disease, vaccinology or immunology.

Two Midwood students Sohail Arif and Imran Ahmed won a trip to Philadelphia and the International Science and Engineering Fair where they represented Midwood High School and the City of New York. They were the only team project selected from New York City to compete at the Fair. In Philadelphia, Sohail and Imran had the opportunity to present their science project in competition against the world at the Olympics of Science Fair Competitions. One of the great experiences they had in Philadelphia was that while practicing for the competition, an elderly gentleman walked over to their display and asked them if they wanted to present their project to him. After the presentation, the gentleman asked them questions about their project. Looking at the man’s name tag, Sohail realized that he was speaking to Leon Lederman a Nobel Laureate in Physics.

This year Midwood maintained its status as one of the foremost science research schools in the country as eight students won the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search. Seven of these winners did projects in the Sciences. Laurie Ferguson won with her project, "Self-Assembly of Titanium Dioxide Aerogels by Inclusion of Degussa P25 Powder". Aviva Laurenti did a project on "Anaerobic Biofilm on Levels of Trihalomethanes in New York City Tap Water". Meghan Lembeck won with "Efficiency of Cross-Linking FMR1 Gene With Mitomycin C: Novel Method in Resolving Intermolecular Cross-Links". Carmela Olevsky won with "CD30 Overexpression Mediates Programmed Cell Death via Caspase and BcI-2 Sensitive Pathway". Katerina Pilevina was a winner with the "Role of Subicular Cell Types in Epileptiform Sharp Waves" and Kim Fai Wong won with "Acute Stress and Role of Corticosterone on Hippocampal Long-Term Potentiation".

Many other students were science fair winners during the year. Fifteen students were winners of the New York State Science Talent Search. Midwood Winners were Shin-Bey Chang, Aviva Laurenti, Meghan Lembeck, Jonathan Saukin, Carmela Olevsky, Sara Nakhmanovich, Virmarie Ruiz, Kim Fai Wong, Zahid Qureshi, Solange Williams, Laurie Ferguson, Yee Fan Fung, Fun Yu Kay, Katerina Pilevina, Joanne Yee, and Jane Fishler.

Last year Midwood was the hub for science research in Brooklyn. Dr. Shapiro hosted science research activities for teachers throughout Brooklyn. He obtained the help of experts in the use of the TI-83 calculator and the Calculator Based Laboratory to train teachers how to use this new technology in the classroom. He also presented a workshop on "Teaching Science Literacy with the New York Times".

Mr. Touger with the help of his research class published another outstanding edition of PRISM. We hope that you will obtain a copy of this publication when you visit Midwood as it highlights many of the science related activities at our school.

Our students had excellent results on the Physical Science Regents exams. More of our students passed the Chemistry, Physics and Earth Science Regents exams than any other school in Brooklyn, and we had the highest passing percentage on the Chemistry Regents exam. If we consider only those schools with a mimimum of 50 students taking an exam than we had the highest passing percentage in Physics and in Earth Science.

The Advanced Placement exams held in May determine whether students will be able to receive college credit for the course work that they do in High School. Fifty-nine of our physics students and forty-seven of our chemistry students qualified for college credit by scoring a 3 or higher on their AP exam, while fifteen of our students achieved a perfect 5.