Midwood Science : The Home of Midwood Science Research

Fizza Nayab and Emily Movsumova win at 2019 Brooklyn College Science Day

Posted on Friday, May 3, 2019 by Elert for Awards, Brooklyn College.

Brooklyn College Science Research Day is an annual event that showcases the work done by students with research mentors at Brooklyn College and other CUNY schools. This year, around 125 students presented their research across 14 categories in STEM, with over 50 faculty members and students from the college serving as judges. First, second, and third place prizes were awarded in each of the three divisions: high school, undergraduate and graduate.

Two of the three awards at the high school level went to Midwood High School students. Fizza Nayab in the Biomimetic and Cognitive Robotics Lab (BCR) placed second and Emily Movsumova in the Mechano-microbiology Lab placed third. First place went to another member of BCR — Maya Tariq of George W. Hewlett High School in Nassau County. Congratulations to all.

Award winners: Emily Movsumova and Fizza Nayab

Maya Tariq (George W. Hewlett High School)
Project: How monk parakeets choose where to live: The importance of cherry trees.
Mentor: Dr. Frank Grasso, Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College
Fizza Nayab
Project: Monk to monk communication: Do monk parakeet calls influence conspecific behaviors?
Mentor: Dr. Frank Grasso, Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College
Emily Movsumova
Project: Unknown Streptococcus strain specific to killing and inhibiting growth of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria elongata.
Mentor: Dr. Nicolas Biais, Department of Biology, Brooklyn College

An unexpectedly large group photo. Midwood Science students are known for their
ability to respond quickly and in amazing numbers when the call to action is sounded.

5 Midwood students take awards at NYCSEF finals. Robots, parrots, and mice lead the way.

Posted on Monday, March 25, 2019 by Elert for Awards, Terra NYC.

Maryam Khan, Rana Mohamed, Annabel Xie,Larissa Brijmohan, Fizza Nayab

NYCSEF First Award

Rana Mohamed (Engineering)
Project: Energy efficient design for a partially actuated passive walker.
Mentor: Mr. William Zhiren Peng and Dr. Joo H. Kim, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Rana also received the Naval Science Award from the Office of Naval Research.

NYCSEF Second Award

Larissa Brijmohan (Animal Sciences)
Project: The effect of an audience on monk parakeet nest construction effort.
Mentor: Dr. Frank Grasso, Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College
Annabel Xie (Animal Sciences)
Project: Monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) prefer to nest in greenspace in New York City compared to other types of land.
Mentor: Dr. Frank Grasso, Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College

NYCSEF Third Award

Fizza Nayab (Animal Sciences)
Project: Monk to monk communication: Do monk parakeet calls influence conspecific behaviors?
Mentor: Dr. Frank Grasso, Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College
Maryam Khan (Behavioral Neuroscience)
Project: Defining the mechanisms of memory associated neural ensembles in the hippocampus.
Mentor: Dr. Juan Marcos Alarcon, Department of Pathology, SUNY Downstate Medical Center

Group photo of the finalists next to a statue of Theodore Roosevelt

Blue whale model, Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life, American Museum of Natural History

Midwood seniors capture half the awards at 2019 St. Joseph’s College Poster Session, Rana Mohamed takes first place

Posted on Saturday, February 9, 2019 by Elert for Awards, St. Joseph's.

Saturday, February 9, 2019 was the 23rd Annual Research Poster Session for High School Students at St. Joseph's College New York. This event is open to all high school students in any field of scientific research and is sponsored by the Chemical Education Committee of the New York Section of the American Chemical Society. Midwood Science students collected half the awards this year with Hudson County, New Jersey's Union City High School and High Tech High School sharing the other half. Midwood's Rana Mohamed and her "passive walker" robot took First Place.

First Place

Rana Mohamed
Project: Energy monitoring systems for mobile robotic systems.
Mentor: Mr. William Zhiren Peng and Dr. Joo H. Kim, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Honorable Mention

Ahmad Choudhry and Daniel Gaft
Project: Synthesis and cycloadditions of vinylketene iron (0) complexes using 2,4,6-triisopropylbenzenesulfonyl hydrazones.
Mentor: Dr. Wayne F.K. Schnatter, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Long Island University
Andrew Korbin, Humayara Karim, and Yenny Huang
Project: Phytoremediation of heavy metal contaminated soils using Brassica juncea.
Mentor: Dr. Zhongqi (Joshua) Cheng, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Brooklyn College
Emily Movsumova
Project: Unknown Streptococcus strain specific to killing and inhibiting growth of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria elongata.
Mentor: Dr. Nicolas Biais, Department of Biology, Brooklyn College
Maryam Khan
Project: Defining the mechanisms of memory associated neural ensembles in the hippocampus.
Mentor: Dr. Juan Marcos Alarcon, Department of Pathology, SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Nathan Reder
Project: Analysis of writing quality by automated scoring systems to identify factors to support poor college writers.
Mentor: Dr. Mark Lauterbach, Department of Early Childhood and Art Education, Brooklyn College

Individual photos by Eva Lai. Group photo courtesy of SJC High School Poster Session on Flickr.

5 Midwood students compete at the 2019 JSHS semifinals, Ahmad Choudry takes 3rd place in chemistry

Posted on Friday, February 8, 2019 by Elert for Awards, JSHS.

Sunday, February 3, 2019 was the 11th occurrence of the New York City Metro Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) at York College in Queens. JSHS is a program sponsored by the US Department of Defense to promote original STEM research and experimentation at the high school level. Select students present their findings to their peers and a panel of expert judges at regional symposia held across the US.

The NYC Metro JSHS only accepted about 120 projects for this year's competition. 5 Midwood students representing 4 projects made it to the Semifinals round with the team of Ahmad Choudhry and Daniel Gaft taking Third Place in Chemistry.

Third Place

Ahmad Choudhry and Daniel Gaft (Chemistry)
Project: Synthesis and cycloadditions of vinylketene iron (0) complexes using 2,4,6-triisopropylbenzenesulfonyl hydrazones.
Mentor: Dr. Wayne F.K. Schnatter, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Long Island University

Semifinalists

Rana Mohamed (Engineering)
Project: Energy monitoring systems for mobile robotic systems.
Mentor: Mr. William Zhiren Peng and Dr. Joo H. Kim, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Fizza Nayab (Animal Sciences)
Project: Monk to monk communication: Do monk parakeet calls influence conspecific behaviors?
Mentor: Dr. Frank Grasso, Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College
Annabel Xie (Animal Sciences)
Project: Monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) prefer to nest in greenspace in New York City compared to other types of land.
Mentor: Dr. Frank Grasso, Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College

And the winners of the 2018 Midwood Science Fair are…

Posted on Friday, June 8, 2018 by Elert for Awards, Science Fair.

1st Place
Alyssa Kattan The Ability of Chiral Glucose Molecules to Rotate the Plane of Polarized Light	Diyora Mullaeva & Sally Gao The effect of climate on the sustainability of solar and battery powered cars
2nd Place
Naffisat Atanda What Birth Order Says about your Average	Duha Mousa Conformity in Midwood High School	Sammi Lin & Vivian Chong The Effect of Breaks on Learning New Information
3rd Place
Jaylene Cruz RFID: Blocking Radio Frequency Identification Signals	Serena Duran & Victoria Habbchy The Effect of Substrate Concentration on the Activity of the Enzyme Catalase
Honorable Mention
Nadzeya Fliaha The Relative Probability of Banking a Basketball	Sarah Sookoo & Idrees Ilahi pH and Arsenic Correlation in Baby Formula	Jubaida Mehak & Zahra Mehdi Fermentation on the Production of Biofuels
Jessica Lin & Lameya Rahman Corrosion of Steel and pH	Noor Mohammad & Alana Neria Ladybugs vs. X-ray Radiation	Tanisa Rahman & Nolani Carter Makeshift Polarimeter: Chiral Molecules and Angle of Polarization

Team NYC collects over $22,800 in prize money at the 2018 Intel ISEF

Posted on Sunday, May 20, 2018 by Elert for Awards, ISEF.

Team NYC sent 14 students off to the 2018 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania last week. By noon Friday, they had collectively amassed over $22,800 in prize money. (I have to use the word "over" since some of the special awards do not have well-defined monetary values.) The awards are distributed over two days — Thursday evening is for Special Awards, sponsored by a variety of professional organizations, and Friday morning is for Grand Awards, sponsored mostly by the Intel Foundation.

The Intel ISEF is the largest pre-college science competition in the world. Each year, approximately 1,800 high school students from more than 75 countries, regions, and territories are awarded the opportunity to showcase their independent research and compete for $4 million in prizes.

Overhead view of a portion of the convention hall

Every year, millions of students worldwide compete in local and school-sponsored science fairs. Only the best projects form these affiliated fairs are accepted into the Intel ISEF. Students in the five boroughs compete in the New York City Science and Engineering Fair (NYCSEF), a joint venture between the City University of New York and the New York City Department of Education. NYCSEF is itself a large event, with something like 450 projects passing the rigorous standards of the Scientific Review Committee. NYCSEF is so huge that it has to be broken down into two events: a preliminary round and a finals round.

Everyone who attends the Intel ISEF is automatically a winner. Walking through the doors of the convention center into the project space is a reward unto itself for months or even years of toil. An Intel ISEF is five days of practice, competition, entertainment, excitement, rewards, and new friends. What Team NYC accomplished in the week of May 13–18 is not entirely measurable. But for those of you who like hard data, here are the awards we brought back.

First Award of $3,000

Ella Feiner (Cellular and Molecular Biology) Horace Mann School
Project: Exploring Posterior Growth in D. rerio Using a Live Cell Cycle Biosensor.
Ella's project was declared Best of Category in Cellular and Molecular Biology, which comes with an additional $5,000. She also received an all-expense paid four week trip and scholarship to the Bessie Lawrence International Summer Science Institute from the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Second Award of $1,500

Suha Hussain (Systems Software) Queens High School for the Sciences at York College
Project: A New Method for the Exploitation of Speech Recognition Systems.
Suha received four special awards: a Fourth Award of $500 from the Association for Computing Machinery, a $1,500 Data Award from GoDaddy, a $1,000 Second "Science Security" Award from the National Security Agency Research Directorate, and a $1,800 STEM Cloud Award in Systems Software from the Shanghai STEM Cloud Center.
Eeshan Tripathii (Environmental Engineering) The Dalton School
Project: The Air We Breathe: Reducing Health Risks by Improving IAQ: An Innovative, Smart, and Responsive Ductless System Optimized by Stochastic Simulation and Machine Learning.
Eeshan also received a $1,000 Thermo Fisher PPI Award "for driving Practical Process Improvement in science".

Third Award of $1,000

Timur (Timmy) Ibragimov (Physics and Astronomy) Staten Island Technical High School
Project: Stochasticity on Astronomical Scales: A Half-life formalism for Predicting the Disruption of Small-N Body Systems.
Timmy also received a $2,500 First Award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Vera Zarubin (Materials Science) Bronx High School of Science
Project: Novel Fabrication of Organic Multifunctional Materials via Magnetic Alignment

Fourth Award of $500

Brendon Choy (Chemistry) Hunter College High School
Project: Cutting off Cancer: Design, Analysis, and Synthesis of Novel Vascular Disrupting Agents.
Ryan Bose Roy (Translational Medical Science) Hunter College High School
Project: Novel Warning Mechanism for At-Risk Stroke and Epilepsy Patients Through Detection of Harmful Levels of Cortisol.
Alexandria Ang (Earth and Environmental Sciences) Bronx High School of Science
Project: A Destructive Invader: How Rising Atmospheric CO₂ Is Aiding Noctiluca scintillans in Taking Over Tropical Oceans.

Special Awards

Brian Wu & Bi Tian (Jack) Yuan (Physics and Astronomy) Horace Mann School & Columbia Preparatory School
Project: Finding the Next Tatooine: Discovery of Giant Planets, Brown Dwarfs, and the First-Ever Circumbinary Planet Using Doppler Spectroscopy.
Brian and Jack each received a Renewable Tuition Scholarship Award to West Virginia University.
Phoebe Yates (Behavioral and Social Sciences) Institute for Collaborative Education
Project: The Impact of Emotionally Targeted Branding on Social Behavior.
Pheobe also received a Certificate of Honorable Mention and a one-year student membership with the American Psychological Association.

Participants

Aushna Saleem (Animal Sciences) Midwood High School at Brooklyn College
Project: The Effects of Monk Parakeet Age on Sociality.
Ari Firester (Environmental Engineering) Hunter College High School
Project: Desalinating Water Using Electric Fields.
Hanna Yip (Robotics and Intelligent Machines) The Spence School
Project: A Fast and Accurate Open-Source Solo Musical Instrument Classifier.

No clean sweep at BC Sci Day, but 2 out of 3 ain’t bad

Posted on Tuesday, May 8, 2018 by Elert for Awards, Brooklyn College.

Midwood Science won two of the three awards in the high school division at Brooklyn College's annual Science Research Day on Friday, May 4, 2018 ending a four year long streak of clean sweeps (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017). Kevin Chen and Hafsa Fatima placed first and second, respectively. Both students worked under the supervision of long-time friend of Midwood Science, Dr. Frank Grasso in the Biomimetic and Cognitive Robotics (BCR) lab at Brooklyn College. Third place went to Staten Island Tech student Kemal Aziz, who worked under the supervision of Dr. Karl Sandeman in the Department of Physics at Brooklyn College. Both Dr. Grasso and Dr. Sandeman have mentored projects good enough to attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Festival (ISEF) — Dr. Grasso in 2018 and Dr. Sandeman in 2016.

Glenn Elert (teacher), Kevin Chen, Hafsa Fatima, Susan Katzoff (teacher)

Glenn Elert (teacher), Dr. Frank Grasso (professor), Fizza Nayab, Larissa Brijmohan

Kevin Chen, a junior from Midwood, won first place in the high school division for his project "Aggression on the beach: Crowding increases aggression levels in fiddler crab (Uca pugilator) colonies." Kevin worked under the supervision of Dr. Frank Grasso in the Biomimetic and Cognitive Robotics (BCR) lab at Brooklyn College.
Hafsa Fatima, a senior from Midwood, won second place in the high school division for her project "The effect of temperature on the frequency of vocalization of Myiopsitta monachus". Hafsa also worked under the supervision of Dr. Frank Grasso in the Biomimetic and Cognitive Robotics (BCR) lab at Brooklyn College.
Kemal Aziz, a senior from Staten Island Tech, won third place in the high school division for his project "Cooling through quantum mechanics: Magnon-based description of magneto caloric effects in La-Fe-Si, CoMnSi, and gadolinium". Kemal worked under the supervision of Dr. Karl Sandeman in the Department of Physics at Brooklyn College.

Susan Katzoff (teacher), Fizza Nayab, Glenn Elert (teacher), Hafsa Fatima, Soanne Saint Victor, Joyce Chow, Aushna Saleem, Naila Mirza, Ivy Li, Kevin Chen, Beien Lin, Kathy Mania, Larissa Brijmohan, Annable Xie, Nursat Jahan

Midwood Science students collect 3 gold medals at ACT-SO, Kiandra Peart wins gold in Entrepreneurship and Poetry

Posted on Monday, May 7, 2018 by Elert for ACT-SO, Awards.

Saturday, April 21, 2018 marked the 30th time the three New York City branches of the NAACP sponsored ACT-SO — the Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological, and Scientific Olympics. ACT-SO is an "Olympics of the Mind" with up to 32 different categories and chances to win medals and cash prizes. This year's New York City ACT-SO was once again held at George Wingate High School — it's home for most of the past 30 events. Awards were announced on Monday, May 7, 2018 at St. Francis College in Downtown Brooklyn.

2018 marks the first time Midwood High School entered and medalled in each of the five major categories: STEM, humanities, fine arts, performing arts, and business. Kiandra Peart lead the team, earning a pair of gold medals in Entrepreneurship and Poetry and a bronze medal in Sculpture. Calvin Huynh, Rana Mohamed, and Saba Iqbal brought home gold in Microbiology, Engineering, and Earth & Space Sciences, respectively. Soanne Saint Victor earned bronze in Biology and Instrumental Classical. The total medal count for Midwood was 5 gold, 3 silver, and 8 bronze.

Kiandra, Calvin, and Rana will be competing in the National ACT-SO July 13–15. The National ACT-SO is a part of the NAACP Annual Convention, which is being held this year at the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. With over 8000 delegates expected to attend Kiandra, Calvin, and Rana are sure to have an exciting time.

Gold Medal Winners

Kiandra Peart won a gold medal in Entrepreneurship for her independent business "Kustoms By Ki", a second gold medal in Poetry for her composition entitled "The Nation", and a bronze medal in sculpture.
Calvin Huynh won a gold medal in Microbiology for his project "Conditions that promote the sub-cellular migration of nucleolin (NCL) to the cell surface." Calvin worked under the supervision of Dr. Anjana D. Saxena in the Department of Biology at Brooklyn College.
Rana Mohamed won a gold medal in Engineering for her project "Energy monitoring systems for mobile robotic systems." Rana worked under the supervision of Dr. Joo H. Kim in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Saba Iqbal won a gold medal in Earth & Space Sciences for her project "Indicating an atmospheric mercury pollution source using moss as a biomonitor." Saba worked under the supervision of Dr. Anthony Carpi and Dr. Erin Mann in the Department of Sciences at John Jay College.

Silver Medal Winners

Jennifer Duong won a silver medal in Chemistry for her project "Loading lauric acid into electrospun polystyrene nanofibers." Jennifer worked under the supervision of Dr. Ping Lu and Ms. Rawan Ghaban in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Long Island University.
Sabina Kubayeva won a silver medal in Medicine & Health for a project she completed with her partner Elizabeth Joseph entitled "Layer-specific decreases in hippocampal PKMζ protein in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease." Elizabeth and Sabina worked under the supervision of Dr. Todd Sacktor and Dr. Panayiotis Tsokas in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
Benjamin Nguyen won a silver medal in Computer Science for his project "Climate controlled Raspberry Pi Model B video looper via temperature sensor and PC fan controlled by Arduino Uno." Benjamin worked under the supervision of Dr. Xiaohai (Richard) Li in the Department of Computer Engineering Technology at the New York City College of Technology.

Bronze Medal Winners

Soanne Saint Victor won a bronze medal in Biology for her project "The nest composition of monk parakeets." Soanne worked under the supervision of Dr. Frank Grasso in the Department of Psychology at Brooklyn College. She also won a second bronze medal in Instrumental Classical for a performance on the steel pan.
Hebah Jihad won a bronze medal in Biology for her project "The effect of symmetry on the perception of beauty." Hebah worked under the supervision of Mr. Glenn Elert in the Physical Science Department at Midwood High School.
Albina Kukic & Wendy Lliguichuzhca won a bronze medal in Medicine & Health for their project "Altruism in adolescence measured by empathy, parental influence, peer influence, and societal influence." Albina and Wendy worked under the supervision of Professor Emeritus Dr. Uwe Gielen and Dr. Sung Hun Kim in the Department of Psychology at St. Francis College.
Kathy Mania won a bronze medal in Earth & Space Sciences for a project she completed with her partner Beien Lin entitled "Soil structure and heavy metals in engineered soils for stormwater management." Kathy and Beien worked under the supervision of Dr. Zhongqi (Joshua) Cheng and Dr. Maha Deeb Collet in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Brooklyn College.
Naila Mirza won a bronze medal in Biology for her project "Effect of season on the group size of the Myiopsitta monachus." Naila worked under the supervision of Dr. Frank Grasso in the Department of Psychology at Brooklyn College.
Vincent Wang & Jessie Zheng won a bronze medal in Engineering for their project "Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue using electrospun nanofibers." Jessie and Vincent worked under the supervision of Dr. Ping Lu and Ms. Simone Murray in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Long Island University.

The psychology of parakeets and people predominate at NYCSEF — Aushna Saleem advances to ISEF

Posted on Monday, March 26, 2018 by Elert for Awards, ISEF, Terra NYC.

This was the year of psychology at Midwood Science. All of our NYCSEF First and Second Awards went to students with psychology projects (both human and parakeet). Out of the 9 award winning projects, 5 were connected to the study of human or animal behavior. Engineering, medicine, and environmental science completed the team.

Aushna Saleem won the highest awards of the competition — a NYCSEF First Award and an Intel ISEF Award — for her study of the behavior of Brooklyn's beloved monk parakeets. Hafsa Fatima collected another First Award for her study of monk parakeet vocalization. Aushna and Hafsa worked under the supervision of Dr. Frank Grasso from Brooklyn College — a supporter of Midwood Science for 15 years. Aushna will be traveling to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to compete in the Intel ISEF in the third week of May.

First time mentors from St. Francis College supported the remaining psychology projects. First Award winners Mei Mei Weng & Judy Huang studied stress and birth order and were supervized by Dr. Steven Anolik. Second Award winners Albina Kukic & Wendy Lliguichuzhca studied factors affecting altruism and were supervised by Dr. Uwe Gielen and Dr. Sung Hun Kim. Albina and Wendy also received the American Psychological Association Award for their exceptional project.

Linda Chen, Yiming Dai, Jennifer Duong, Elizabeth Joseph, Sabina Kubayeva, Beien Lin, Kathy Mania, and Rana Mohammed all received Third Awards. Beien and Kathy were also Semifinalists in the Stockholm Junior Water Prize for their water-related project. Rana received the Yale Science and Engineering Association Award for best engineering project by a junior.

NYCSEF is the annual New York City Science and Engineering Fair sponsored by the New York City Department of Educatation, the City University of New York, and ConEdison. Roughly 570 participants from all five boroughs participated in the Preliminary Round this year at City College on March 4. The top 25% of those advanced to the Finals Round at the American Museum of Natural History on March 20. The top 16 projects go on to represent New York City in the 2,000 student mega-event, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania May 13–18.