Senior researchers rocked the new school year by competing in the 17th Siemens Competition.
The competition was founded by the Siemens Foundation in 1999 to encourage students to participate in intensive research to improve their understanding of the core values of scientific study. Last year alone, over $500,000 in scholarships were awarded to over 2,000 applicants.
"I worked at a lab throughout the entire summer at Brooklyn College," said Asia Le ’16. "I learned a lot about scientific research while having fun."
Juniors and seniors in the Midwood Science Research program participate in college level research in laboratories throughout the city, in various fields of scientific research. With a minimum of 15 hours spent in laboratories, most students spend much more to complete their individual research experiment with the goals to complete a scientific paper describing their projects and results.
Unlike previous years, the competition was revamped, with an eco-friendly application and an earlier deadline.
"I’m so glad they’re not using paper anymore," said Mr. Glenn Elert, research coordinator. "Paperwork is a pain to send. We used to carry a box filled with stacks of paper and ship it using FedEx."
Shifting from September 30, the deadline this year was the 21, 9 days earlier. With only five school days to prepare students for both the paperwork and the research report required for the competition, time was of the essence.
"The earlier deadline is good because it forces the students to work fast," Mr. Elert added. " It free up their time for the rest of the semester."
"I stayed until tenth period on the last day to finish the application for Siemens as there was so little time I had to complete it," said Max Miloslavsky ’16. " Everything was so rushed this year."
Although the researchers were required to start preparing their lab reports over the summer, many students had incomplete reports and that was only their first hurdle.
"I thought my lab report was pretty good at first," Miloslavsky ’16 added, "but when I went over it there were parts missing and awkwardly worded."
In addition to fixing lab reports, another challenge the researchers faced were incomplete experiments. Some student’s projects were not complete and were ineligible to enter; however, they will be considered for the prestigious Intel Talent Search Competition that will be held in November.
Although no spots were awarded to Midwood researchers this year, they will continue to battle for awards in the Intel Talent Search.
Written by Victor Lee (Class of 2016).
This article originally appeared in the October 2015 edition of Argus.