The Home of Midwood Science Research

NYCSEF Second Award

• Ying Yao Louie (Biochemistry )
  Project: Provitamin A carotenoid conversion to vitamin A, in the liver, involves different hepatic cell types and their interactions.
  Mentor: Dr. William S. Blaner, Columbia University Medical Center, Department of Medicine
• Kurnvir Singh (Earth & Planetary Sciences )
  Project: Data on the Faunal Composition of the Bayn Shireh Formation from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia.
  Mentor: Dr. Alberto Prieto-Marquez, American Museum of Natural History, Department of Paleontology
• Lawrence Tse (Animal Sciences )
  Project: Using a Khepera Robot to model the phototatic behavior of moths.
  Mentor: Dr. Frank W. Grasso, Brooklyn College, Department of Psychology

NYCSEF Third Award

• Amanda Chan (Microbiology)
  Project: The attempt to clone the activation-induced cytidine deaminase in nurse shark.
  Mentor: Dr. Ellen Hsu, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology
  Amanda also won the US Metric Association Award "for the best use of the SI metric system in a science fair project."
• Laura Cheng (Medicine & Health Sciences )
  Project: Regulation of Bone Marrow Cell Differentiation in Germfree Rats by Certain Bacteria and Bacterial Cell Wall Components.
  Mentor: Dr. Helen Durkin and Seto Chice, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Department of Pathology
• Rabia Iqbal (Biochemistry )
  Project: Study of the Catalytic Mechanisms of KatG: An Enzyme involved in the virulence and antibiotic resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
  Mentor: Dr. Richard S. Magliozzo, Brooklyn College, Department of Chemistry
• Nicholas Macaluso & Olga Gulyayeva (Behavioral & Social Sciences )
  Project: Spatial Tagging in Locational Learning Through Memorization.
  Mentor: Dr. John L. Kubie, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology

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. On March 7, approximately 500 students from high schools across the city met at City College to display their scientific research projects. The top 20 to 25 percent in in each category were invited to participate in the Finals Event on March 23 at the American Museum of Natural History.

• Alex Afanasyev (Engineering)
  Scanning of Acoustic Space Using a Model of a Bat Ear.
• Clarice Lee (Medicine)
  Immunohistochemical Detection of Poly (ADP) Ribose Polymerase 1 (PARP-1) During Synaptic Plasticity on the Area CA1 of the Mouse Hippocampus.
• Ying Yao Louie (Biochemistry)
  Provitamin A carotenoid conversion to vitamin A, in the liver, involves different hepatic cell types and their interactions.
• Farhana Pinki (Biochemistry)
  Structural Basis for Histone Acetyllysine Readout by DPF3 double PHD finger.
• Kurnvir Singh (Earth Science)
  Data on the Faunal Composition of the Bayn Shireh Formation from the Late Creataceous of Mongolia.
• Jason Tam (Social Science)
  The Educational Expectation of Second and Third Generation American Students.
• Lawrence Tse (Animal Science)
  Using a Khepera Robot to model the phototatic behavior of moths.

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. On March 1st, approximately 500 students from high schools across the city met at City College to display their scientific research projects. The top 25 to 30 percent in in each category were invited to participate in the Finals Event on March 25 at the American Museum of Natural History.

Daniel Framer, Vickie Wu, Amara Abid, Ken Zheng, Sadrach Pierre, John Ferrara, and Regina Gurevich
at the American Museum of Natural History

• Amara Abid
  for her project "Optimal Environment Conditions for Growth or Inhibition of Actinobacillus Actinomycetemcomitans." She worked with Dr. Mrinal K. Bhattacharjee in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Long Island University.
• John Ferrara
  for his project "The Role of Procalcitonin in the Diagnosis and Detection of Sepsis/SIRS." He worked with Dr. Larry Bernstein in the Pathology Department of New York Methodist Hospital.
• Daniel Framer
  for his project "Level of Superstition in First Generation Soviet Emigres vs. the Second and Third Generation."
• Regina Gurevich
  for her project "Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS), Accommodative and Vergence Facility." She worked with Dr. Mark Rosenfield in the Biology Department of the SUNY State College of Optometry.
• Sadrach Pierre
  for his project "The Preparation of Prunustatin." He worked with Dr. Jonathan Gough in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Long Island University.
• Vickie Wu
  for her project "Regulation of the gene regulatory protein TFEB and the macrophage response modulator SIRP in mouse macrophages by pro- and anti-inflammatory immunological stimuli." She worked with Dr. Christopher Roman in the Molecular Biology and Genetics Department at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center
• Ken Zheng
  for his project "Socioeconomic Status and Academic Achievement."

NYCSEF is the New York City Department of Education’s annual science and technology research competition, coordinated by the New York Academy of Sciences in partnership with Polytechnic University. In early March, more than a thousand students from public and private high schools throughout the five boroughs met to display their scientific research projects or proposals in an Expo. The top 250 students are selected to participate in the Finals, where they compete for Awards totaling almost $2,000,000 in the form of cash, scholarships, and prizes. Midwood had two finalists this year. They were interviewed for the Academy’s Science and the City Podcast on March 30, 2007 (listen or download ).

• Saad Naeem
  was a Finalist and won an Energy and Transportation Award and an Air Force Award for his project "Identifying and Quantifying Traffic and Traffic Volumes to Reduce Traffic Congestion".
• Amanda Fried
  was a Finalist and won a Social Science Award for her project "Analysis of Locus of Control in High School Students Based on Academic Performance".
• April Pruski
  won the Ezra Levy High School Science Award for her project "Isolation and Purification of the Novel Pancreatic Antigen, PaCa-Ag1 (and its Amino Acid sequencing)". This award is sponsored by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry.
  

Congratulations to the 15 Midwood students that were selected to advance to the second round of NYCSEF. On March 15, semi-finalists will compete for cash, prizes and a chance to represent NYC at the 2005 International Science and Engineering Fair in Pheonix, AZ from May 7-13, 2005.

• Genna Ableman & Maya Barsky (ISEF contestants)
  In Vitro Simulation of Immunological and Biochemical Attack on Pancreatic Cancer-specific Antigen, PaCa-Ag1
• Kristina Arthurs
  Antennular Grooming Behavior in the Spiny Lobster, Panulirus argus
• Alina Genis
  Haymaker Gene Expression in Normal and Malignant Cells: Effect of Cell Growth
• Munif Hussain
  Structural Basis of 3-Hydroxy-3-Methylglutaryl Coenzyme A Lyase (HL)
• Jerard Kneifati-Hayek
  Evaluation of Recommendation of the 99th Percentile of the Reference Normal Troponin I
• Sanjay Konakondla
  The Effective Expression of SDF-1Alpha (CXCL12) and CXCR4 (fusin) in Glioblastomas
• Lena Liang
  Crystal Structures of Multidrug Resistance Regulator NorR
• Geeta Malieckal
  Can Murine MCMS Functionally Replace a Subunit in the Yeast Replication Helicase (MCMS 2-7)
• Fatima Manzoor
  Identifying Genetic Polymorphisms Present in the LDL Receptor, apoB and apoE Gene in a Caribbean Hypercholesterolemic Population
• George Payyapilli
  Expression of Stat1 and Vaccinia VH1
• Olga Pikovskaya
  Structural Studies of Metabolite-Sensing Messenger RNA
• Anna Tse
  Psychoanalyzing Drawings by Students to Measure Agression
• Karen Yee & Min Zheng
  Targeting Estrogen, Iron, and Their Receptors for a More Effective Chemoprevention

The 2004 New York City Science and Engineering Fair (NYCSEF), a two-tiered event comprised of the New York Academy of Science Expo on February 8 and the Polytechnic University Finals Competition on March 17, was the largest science fair in New York City history with more than 1100 student participants. The Grand Award sponsored by Olympus America, including $1500 to the student and a digital microscope to the school, was awarded to Mou Chung Ng. On May 9-15, 2004, NYCSEF Finalists will represent NYC at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Portland, Oregon. The complete list of Midwood High School award winners is presented below.

• Tzvetomira Atanassova
  • Eastman Kodak Company (Gift)
  • Iota Sigma Pi (Gift)
  • New York Academy of Sciences ($20)
• Lyuba Azbel
  • American Psychological Association (Certificate)
  • New York Academy of Sciences ($50)
  • US Army Awards (Certificate)
• Yasmine Daniels
  • NAACP/ACT-SO ($100)
  • New York Academy of Sciences ($20)
• Ghulam Dastgir
  • American Association of Clinical Chemistry ($200)
  • City College of New York – Science Division ($200)
  • ISEF Finalist
  • Polytechnic University (Scholarship, $15,000 per year)
  • New York Academy of Sciences ($50)
  • US Army Awards (Certificate)
• Elizabeth Kolod
  • ISEF Finalist
  • Polytechnic University (Scholarship, $15,000 per year)
  • New York Academy of Sciences ($50)
  • New York Community Trust ($100)
  • US Army Awards (Certificate)
• Hayley Miskiewicz
  • ISEF Finalist
  • Polytechnic University (Scholarship, $15,000 per year)
  • New York Academy of Sciences ($25)
  • US Army Awards (Certificate)
• Jasen Murray
  • New York Academy of Sciences ($50)
  • New York Biotechnology Association ($50)
• Mou Chung Ng
  • ISEF Finalist
  • Polytechnic University (Scholarship, $15,000 per year)
  • New York Academy of Sciences ($50)
  • Olympus America ($1,500)
  • US Army Awards (Certificate)
  • US Navy/US Marine Corps ($50)
• Svetlana Primma
  • US Army Awards (Certificate)
  • Mamunur Rahman
  • New York Academy of Sciences (Certificate)
• Shaye Storm
  • Francine Salom Memorial Award ($250)
  • ISEF Finalist
  • Polytechnic University (Scholarship, $15,000 per year)
  • Lloyd Appel Memorial Award ($100)
  • Navin Patel Memorial Award ($50 Bond)
  • New York Academy of Sciences ($50)
  • US Army Awards (Certificate)
• Lindsey Tannenbaum
  • ISEF Finalist
  • Polytechnic University (Scholarship, $15,000 per year)
  • New York Academy of Sciences ($25)
  • US Army Awards (Certificate)
• Lily Zeltser
  • New York Academy of Sciences ($20)
  • US Navy/US Marine Corps ($50 Certificate)

The New York City Science and Engineering Fair (NYCSEF) is an annual science research and technology competition for NYC high school students. NYCSEF is a two-tiered competition which includes the New York Academy of Sciences NYCSEF Expo and Polytechnic University Finals. Midwood sent three students to the NYCSEF finals in 2002.

• Tahir Ahmed (ISEF Contestant)
  Molecular Modeling and the Identification of Functional Domains of a New Adhesive Molecule in Inflammatory Thrombosis
• Patrick Li & Michael Ng
  Sol-Gel Synthesis of Yttrium Iron Garnet Magnets