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Seniors win big at science poster contest

Posted on Saturday, March 1, 2014 by for Media, St. Joseph's.

Victory reigned supreme at the High School Poster Session at St. Joseph’s College on Saturday, February 1, from 9 am to 1 pm. With first place awarded to Raquel Hosein ’14 for her "Application of a Wireless Electrical Device for the Detection of Epilepsy," second place to Allen Barbarovich ’14 and Christopher Ayala ’14. Honorable mentions were awarded to M. Tasnin Kabir ’14, Chukwunonso Nwasike ’14, Sammi Chung ’14 and Jasmin Kim ’14. Competition was fierce with 112 high school contestants from all over the New York City metropolitan area, but Midwood still managed to come out on top. This year marked the greatest number of contestants.

"It’s great to get recognition for the work that you did," said Raquel Hosein ’14. "I loved my project and that’s why I did well. When you don’t love what you’re doing there’s something lacking in your work."


Judging and waiting to be judged.

Allen Barbarovich discussing his project with the judges.

Chris Ayala discussing his project with a judge.

At the event there were two first place winners, two second place winners and 10 honorable mentions. All the participants received certificates. The winners and honorable mentions received a small gift bag. The winners also received gift cards from Barnes and Noble. The session is held every year and next year will make its 20th anniversary.

"I started working in my project junior year and my professor helped a lot on my presentation," said Tasnim Halim ’14. Juniors and seniors who are in the Science Research Program entered the competition. Not many juniors entered because they aren’t as far along with their projects. It was mandatory for the seniors to enter.


Raquel Hosein, M. Tasnin Kabir, Mr. Glenn Elert, Tasnim Halim

Ms. Jennifer Sullivan, Ying Tong Guo, Amy Cao

Ms. Shaniece Mosley, Alisha Bunting, Varavara Budetti

According to Glenn Elert, Science Research Coordinator, there were 37 contestants from Midwood at the competition.

Starting junior year, students get internships at colleges in labs and start attending weekly, depending on their schedule. There, students work on projects with their mentor. Next, the work done in the lab is submitted to various competitions including the Research Poster Session.


Dr. Jill Rehman hosting the awards presentation.

Varvara Budetti relaxes between judgings.

Leonidas Eracleous, Samuel Genchikmakher, Jeffey Tsui

Frank W. Grasso, professor of Psychology at Brooklyn College, said he guided his students in his lab by meeting with them and giving them resources, along with constant course corrections.

"Your mentor assigns projects along with what your mentor finds," said M. Tasnin Kabir ’14.

There were a total of 31 judges at the event. Posters were displayed on tables on stage and in two separate rooms. The judges walked around with their folders to each poster board making it to as many students as they could. Students presented to three or more judges. One main question asked while presenting was "Why did you chose this project?"


Full House

Dr. Cindie Kehlet discusses her research at the intersection of science and fine art.

Group Photo

"It’s really interesting to see what people are doing," said Michael Megafu, a judge. "It’s on a 1 to 5 scale and contestants are judged mainly on the quality of work and their presentation."

The judging took two hours, followed by a keynote where the guest speaker, Dr. Cindie Kehlet, spoke about her research on "Portable Nuclear Magnetic Resonance for the Investigation of Artist Materials." At the end they announced the winners and gave out the awards. The purpose of the event is to help showcase the scientific achievement of the students.

Saba Sakhi & Jacquelyne Gilman
This article originally appeared in the February 2014 edition of Argus.
Images reproduced under Creative Commons License from St. Joseph’s College.
View more images of this event on their Flickr Stream.