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2021 PRSEF Winners

Check out the 2021 PRSEF Winners’ Gallery opens in a new window to view projects from first place category award winners, ISEF finalists, and Carnegie Science Awards recipients.

Regeneron International Science And Engineering Fair (ISEF) Nominees

Michael Gao – North Hills Senior High School
Activation of Novel Autophagy Pathways to Protect Hepatocyte Injury by Chloroquine
Zoe Lakkis – Fox Chapel Area High School
Data Mining to Identify Therapeutic Targets for Rejection
Steven Liu – Shady Side Academy Senior School
Optimizing Nannochloropsis Growing Conditions for Biodiesel Production Through Analysis of Lipid Content
Natalie McGee – Mt Lebanon Senior High School
Examining the Effects of Marine Microplastics on Porifera Microbial Filtration
Andrew Ni – Pine-Richland High School
Interleukin-33 promotes Th17 cell clonal expansion in the B16 tumor microenvironment
Rajan Reddy – Winchester Thurston School
Activation of Pregnane X Receptor for Xenobiotic Detoxification: A Novel Approach to Targeting Pollution-Related Diseases
Arvind Seshan – Fox Chapel Area High School
Enabling High-Accuracy Human Activity Recognition with Fine-Grained Indoor Localization

Carnegie Science Award Winners

Junior Division

Nolan Althof – Queen of Angels Catholic School
Is Child Proof Actually Child Proof?

Intermediate Division

Mason Roberts – Campus School of Carlow University
How do variations in a police lineup affect eyewitness identification accuracy?

Senior Division

Walter Vinoski – Yough Senior High School
Bassoon Double Reed Analytics

Rob And Diane Thompson Scholarship Award Winners

Diane Thompson Scholarship Award

Braden Thomas – Cambria Heights Senior High School
Applying Personal Protective Equipment – The Donning Dock

Rob Thompson Scholarship Award

Hannah Barsouk – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Cross-Species Complementation Experiment Exploring the Role of Mammalian α-Arrestins in Glucose Transporter Trafficking

Category Award Winners

Senior Division Biology
(9th–12th grade)

First

Andrew Ni – Pine-Richland High School
Interleukin-33 promotes Th17 cell clonal expansion in the B16 tumor microenvironment

Second

Rajan Reddy – Winchester Thurston School
Activation of Pregnane X Receptor for Xenobiotic Detoxification: A Novel Approach to Targeting Pollution-Related Diseases

Third

Leeann Parsi – St Joseph School
Identification of Mutations in the 5` Untranslated Region of the Sars-CoV-2 Genome

Fourth

Erika Rispoli – Ellis School
Understanding mechanisms of MDD: model extension of the BDNF-NFκB pathway using VIOLIN
Maxim Yaskolko – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Effects of Vascular Normalizing Agents on Immune Marker Expression in T cells, Dendritic Cells, and Melanoma Cells

Senior Division Behavioral & Social Science
(9th–12th grade)

First

Anita Bhat – Freeport Area Senior High School
The Influence of Colored Light Frequency on Ambiguous Image Perception

Second

Hannah Shin – North Allegheny Senior High School
Fearfully Forgetful: Intersectional Genomic Analysis of Alzheimer’s Disease and Anxiety

Third

Nathaniel Sirlin – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Perceived Accuracy and Sharing Intentions of COVID-19 Headlines

Fourth

Audra Moore – Indiana Area Senior High School
Impact of Mask Wearing on Facial Expression Recognition
Teadora Gildengers – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Common Types of Errors Among Spanish-English Heritage Bilinguals in Noisy Environments

Senior Division Chemistry
(9th–12th grade)

First

Steven Liu – Shady Side Academy Senior School
Optimizing Nannochloropsis Growing Conditions for Biodiesel Production Through Analysis of Lipid Content

Second

Eleanor Barth-Wu – Ellis School
Accelerated disintegration of single-use face masks into microplastic fibers

Third

Smrithi Shyam – Shady Side Academy Senior School
Extracting Amygdalin (a cyanide precursor) from Various Fruit Seeds

Fourth

Grace Wang – Franklin Regional Middle School/Franklin Regional High School
Designing Effective Superabsorbent Beads Using Photopolymerization 3D printing

Senior Division Computer Science / Math
(9th–12th grade)

First

Arvind Seshan – Fox Chapel Area High School
Enabling High-Accuracy Human Activity Recognition with Fine-Grained Indoor Localization

Second

Zoe Lakkis – Fox Chapel Area High School
Data Mining to Identify Therapeutic Targets for Rejection

Third

James Wang – Peters Township High School
Multivariate Optimization with Charged Cloud Search

Fourth

Alexandria Westray – Hillman Academy
EEG-based BCI Classification of Distress in Individuals with ASD
Janise Kim – Fox Chapel Area High School
Deep Learning-Based Approach for Optimizing COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution

Senior Division Earth and Environment
(9th–12th grade)

First

Natalie McGee – Mt Lebanon Senior High School
Examining the Effects of Marine Microplastics on Porifera Microbial Filtration

Second

Rachel Bina – North Allegheny Senior High School
Minimizing Vibrio cholerae in Aquatic Ecosystems using Phage

Third

Margaret Hollobaugh – Freeport Area Senior High School
Which Fabric Blend Attracts the Most Pollen?

Fourth

Stella Swanson – St Joseph School
Forest ash and the Germination of Lactuca sativa
Regina Palladino – Oakland Catholic High School
Fast Fashion’s Detrimental Effects on Water and Plant Life

Senior Division Engineering / Robotics
(9th–12th grade)

First

Andrew Pritchard – Central Catholic High School
Finding the Best Infill Percentage for Flexible 3-D Printing

Second

Pratham Agarwal – North Allegheny Senior High School
ADRBot: An Arduino Disaster Relief Robot
Milun Jain – North Allegheny Senior High School
ADRBot: An Arduino Disaster Relief Robot

Third

Nina Cranor – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
Masks and Glasses: Clearing the Fog

Fourth

Lucas Connell – Indiana Area Senior High School
What is the Strongest Waste Bag?

Senior Division Medicine / Health / Microbiology
(9th–12th grade)

First

Lakshanya Rajaganapathi – Fox Chapel Area High School
Identification of a new player in the diabetic genome.

Second

Michael Gao – North Hills Senior High School
Activation of Novel Autophagy Pathways to Protect Hepatocyte Injury by Chloroquine

Third

Amish Sethi – Pine-Richland High School
Generation of Novel Drug Molecules with Specific Protein Targets Through a Graph Network and Custom Conditional Variational Autoencoder

Fourth

Braden Thomas – Cambria Heights Senior High School
Applying Personal Protective Equipment – The Donning Dock
Oscar Heller – Central Catholic High School
Detecting Somatic Mutations in HER-2 Positive Breast Cancer Patients to Predict Drug Treatment Responses

Senior Division Physics and Astronomy
(9th–12th grade)

First

Walter Vinoski – Yough Senior High School
Bassoon Double Reed Analytics

Second

Siddharth Yende – Fox Chapel Area High School
The Effectiveness of Mylar Blankets and Applications of SAR

Third

Andrew Kuzneski – Indiana Area Senior High School
Your Family is Loud… And what you can do about it.

Fourth

Brianna Coulson – Norwin High School
Does UV light weaken your phone screen protector?

Intermediate Division Biology
(7th–8th grade)

First

Devan Fayock – Campus School of Carlow University
Does magnetization affect plant growth?

Second

Liliana Claditis – Freeport Area Middle School
The Effect of Microbeads on Daphnia magna Biological Processes

Third

Sivon Feinberg – Community Day School
Dogs Understanding of Human Language

Intermediate Division Behavioral & Social Science
(7th–8th grade)

First

Mason Roberts – Campus School of Carlow University
How do variations in a police lineup affect eyewitness identification accuracy?

Second

Julia Skalniak – St Elizabeth Elementary School
Can a Virtual Competitor Increase Scores in an Online Game?

Third

JJ Nicolls – Freeport Area Middle School
The Effect of Eye Color on Our Ability to Perceive Color

Fourth

Alia Rapport – Community Day School
Do People Associate Words with Colors?

Intermediate Division Chemistry
(7th–8th grade)

First

Liliana D’Andrea – St Elizabeth Elementary School
Invasion of the Microplastics

Second

Bianca Udrea – Blessed Francis Seelos Academy
I Can’t Stay in Bed because my Drink is so Red!

Third

Liam Copeland – Franklin Regional Middle School/Franklin Regional High School
What Material In Masks Prevents The Spread Of COVID-19 Best?

Fourth

Lamar Abushaban – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
Saltwater Battery Power: Does the Type of Anode Matter?

Intermediate Division Computer Science / Math
(7th–8th grade)

First

Samuel Tarr – Community Day School
Using Linear And Non-Linear Methods To Predict The Stock Market

Second

Eli Kranjec – Community Day School
Parental Investment in a Digital Simulation”?”

Third

Anukta Ashok – Pine-Richland Middle School
CeleBytes
Sanika Dalvi – Pine-Richland Middle School
CeleBytes

Intermediate Division Consumer Science
(7th–8th grade)

First

Garrett King – Providence Heights Alpha School
Which Brand of Whitening Strips Are Most Effective in Removing Coffee Stains?

Second

Ilyssa Bails – Community Day School
The Spoiling Rate of Different Types of Milk

Third

Emily Funka – Providence Heights Alpha School
What Solvent Will Be Best at Removing Permanent Marker Stains?

Fourth

Matthew Evans – Campus School of Carlow University
Are “Green” Detergents less toxic than conventional detergents?

Intermediate Division Earth and Environment
(7th–8th grade)

First

Isabelle Stanley – Gateway Middle School
Harnessing the power of wind turbines

Second

Giacomo Lepore – Blessed Francis Seelos Academy
Mostly Sunny with a Chance of Meatballs?! Global Warming Impacts on Weather Predicting- Giacomo Lepore

Third

Phineas Hammer – Community Day School
What is the best natural way to find Cardinal Direction?

Fourth

Rin Suyama – Hampton Middle School
Reducing the carbon footprint of a household through refuse intervention

Intermediate Division Engineering / Robotics
(7th–8th grade)

First

Kaitlyn Desrochers – STEM Leadership Center
Building an Autonomous Oxygen sensor for Neonatal Care

Second

Aris Kralios – Pine-Richland Middle School
Project Pebble

Third

Shaun Fernando – Fernando Homeschool
“Potamoi:” A Device and Data-Driven Mobile App Revolutionizing the Measurement, Storage and Presentation of Water Quality Metrics

Fourth

Thomas Wingerter – St Elizabeth Elementary School
Combining Forces: Reconfiguring Bridge Designs to Create a Hybrid Bridge

Intermediate Division Medicine / Health / Microbiology
(7th–8th grade)

First

Etash Jhanji – Dorseyville Middle School
What is the Safest Way to Clean Your Contact Lenses?

Second

Natalia Connor – Campus School of Carlow University
How much time does it take for UV light to kill bacteria?

Third

Katie Dudkowski – Blessed Francis Seelos Academy
How Much UVC Light Exposure is Enough to Kill E. Coli?

Intermediate Division Physics and Astronomy
(7th–8th grade)

First

Lydia Beckerman – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
Hot Music: Seeing Sound Through Flames

Second

Kendalyn Umbel – Queen of Angels Catholic School
The Blue Light Fight

Third

Julia Stilley – Greensburg Central Catholic Jr-Sr High School
Growing Kale in Simulant Martian Regolith with Added Organic Fertilizers

Fourth

Anna Humphreys – Campus School of Carlow University
Does the texture of hair impact static electricity?

Junior Division Behavioral & Consumer Sciences
(6th Grade)

First

Nolan Althof – Queen of Angels Catholic School
Is Child Proof Actually Child Proof?

Second

Azriel Heym – Community Day School
Auditory illusions – More Than Meets the Eye

Third

Alexa Stoltz – Providence Heights Alpha School
Does Basketball Performance Vary With Temperature?

Fourth

Irene Dillaman – Saint Bernard Regional School
Smell the Flowers

Junior Division Biological Sciences
(6th Grade)

First

Indie Pascal – Community Day School
The Effect of Various Water Sources on Plant Growth

Second

Lucia Doebler – Campus School of Carlow University
What type of hand sanitizer is the most effective at killing bacteria?

Third

Zev Adelson – Community Day School
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO LOWER YOUR HEART RATE: An Aspect of Hibernation

Junior Division Chemistry
(6th Grade)

First

Zain Ahmad – Hussain Homeschool
Are cloth mask as effective as surgical mask?

Second

Grace Copeland – Franklin Regional Middle School/Franklin Regional High School
Does The Material In The Baking Sheet Affect The Cookie You Eat

Third

Wren Peters – Queen of Angels Catholic School
Rain, Rain Go Away

Fourth

Cecelia Passero – Campus School of Carlow University
Which brand of soda causes the most dental erosion

Junior Division Physical Sciences & Engineering
(6th Grade)

First

Liam McMahen – Derry Area Middle School and Derry Area High School
Finding the Ideal Launch Angle on a Baseball

Second

Jordan Block – Community Day School
Voltage of Regular vs Plexiglass Covered Solar Panels

Third

Advait Chellaboina – South Fayette Township Middle School
Wireless Power Transfer

Fourth

Duncan Hubble – Dickson STEAM Academy
What is the best firestarter?

Perseverance Award Winners

Honorary Scientists – 11th and 12th grade students with 5 or more years of participation

Abhi Ajay – North Allegheny Senior High School
Stressing Telomeres & Free Radicals
Rachel Bina – North Allegheny Senior High School
Minimizing Vibrio cholerae in Aquatic Ecosystems using Phage
Margaret Hollobaugh – Freeport Area Senior High School
Which Fabric Blend Attracts the Most Pollen?
Amira Johnson – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
CCG Inhibits Cell Migration by Blocking MRTF-A Transcription
Janise Kim – Fox Chapel Area High School
Deep Learning-Based Approach for Optimizing COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution
Zoe Lakkis – Fox Chapel Area High School
Data Mining to Identify Therapeutic Targets for Rejection
Will Mason – St Joseph School
Does the quantity of reactants effect exothermic reactions?
Chancharik Mitra – Moon Area High School
Improving Time Complexity of the Quadratic Sieve Factoring Algorithm
Leeann Parsi – St Joseph School
Identification of Mutations in the 5` Untranslated Region of the Sars-CoV-2 Genome
Praman Rai – South Fayette High School
Smart Parking
Victoria Ren – North Allegheny Senior High School
Longitudinal Trend of High School E-cigarette Usage by Race
Sanjay Seshan – Fox Chapel Area High School
Lightweight assistive technology: A wearable, optical-fiber gesture recognition system.

Associate Scientists – 11th and 12th grade students with three or four years and 10th grade students with four or five years of participation

Pratham Agarwal – North Allegheny Senior High School
ADRBot: An Arduino Disaster Relief Robot
Regina Anand – Saint John Paul II Homeschool CO-OP
Bioluminescence: A Study of Pyrocystis fusiformis
Vedha Avali – North Allegheny Senior High School
Analysis of Effects of Socio-economic, Environmental and Other Factors on Human Mortality using Machine Learning
Hannah Barsouk – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Cross-Species Complementation Experiment Exploring the Role of Mammalian α-Arrestins in Glucose Transporter Trafficking
Anand Bhat – Freeport Area Senior High School
The Effectiveness of Wood Sealant on Different Types of Wood and Soak Time
Anita Bhat – Freeport Area Senior High School
The Influence of Colored Light Frequency on Ambiguous Image Perception
Naga Riya Boppudi – North Allegheny Senior High School
From a Sticky Situation to a Sticky Solution: Can Polystyrene be recycled into an Adhesive?
Colton Brenneman – Freeport Area Senior High School
Effects of Natural Inhibitors on Blocking Quorum Sensing Interactions in Cultures of Vibrio fischeri
Ian Eckenrode – Cambria Heights Senior High School
Smart Home Alerts with Convolutional Neural Networks
Allison Edwards – Oakland Catholic High School
The Effect of Guarana: A Continued Exploration
James Ertter III – Cambria Heights Senior High School
Compressed Air Car
Nathaniel Faber – North Allegheny Senior High School
Payload Design: Will it Measure Up?
Milun Jain – North Allegheny Senior High School
ADRBot: An Arduino Disaster Relief Robot
Elsie Lindsay – Freeport Area Senior High School
Can Mushrooms Break Down Asphalt?
Steven Liu – Shady Side Academy Senior School
Optimizing Nannochloropsis Growing Conditions for Biodiesel Production Through Analysis of Lipid Content
John O’Toole – North Catholic High School
Can Preen Be Green? Part V: The Impact of Soil Mounding
Regina Palladino – Oakland Catholic High School
Fast Fashion’s Detrimental Effects on Water and Plant Life
Brody Porter – St Joseph School
Exploring More Biofuels from Fruits
Natasha Porwal – North Allegheny Senior High School
Magnetic Reduction of Heavy Metal Soil Contamination
Andrew Pritchard – Central Catholic High School
Finding the Best Infill Percentage for Flexible 3-D Printing
Nimish Rai – South Fayette High School
Smart Parking
Kennedy Rogal – Cambria Heights Senior High School
Does a Plant’s Environment Affect its Growth Rate?
Sarah Seader – Seader Homeschool
Got Sugar?
Grace Seita – Freeport Area Senior High School
The Effect of Time Limit Stressors on Short-Term Memory
Arvind Seshan – Fox Chapel Area High School
Enabling High-Accuracy Human Activity Recognition with Fine-Grained Indoor Localization
Nathan Smith – Seneca Valley High School
Meta-Analysis of the Interactions of Strange Matter
Yuvan Suresh – North Allegheny Senior High School
Where is the Water?
Kelly Tang – North Allegheny Senior High School
Microplastics in Soil: Effects on Earthworms
Benjamin Tarr – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Fully Integrated Localization Solution for FIRST Robots
Braden Thomas – Cambria Heights Senior High School
Applying Personal Protective Equipment – The Donning Dock
Walter Vinoski – Yough Senior High School
Bassoon Double Reed Analytics
Elise Whitlinger – Freeport Area Senior High School
Task Completion Ability of Individuals With/Out Crossed-Laterality
Ashley Winnor – Greensburg Central Catholic Jr-Sr High School
Determining Antimicrobial Effectiveness of Natural Compounds Against E. coli and B. cereus

Junior Scientists – 8th or 9th grade students with three or four years and 10th grade students with three years of participation

Hannah Adelson – Community Day School
What’s there to gain from LEDs?
Yara AlMoussa – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
GMO vs Organic Papaya’s Effects on Drosophila Melanogaster Generations
Ashley Arner – Freeport Area Senior High School
The Physiological Response of Fear
Emaan Ashfaq – Ashfaq Homeschool
Herbicides and the Biodiversity of Soil
Mena Catanzarite – Our Lady of Fatima School
Will Plants Grow More or Less or Be Unaffected in Polluted Soil
Nina Cranor – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
Masks and Glasses: Clearing the Fog
Joselle Cribbs – Saint Bernard Regional School
Melting Ice
Elaine Gombos – Shady Side Academy Senior School
Investigating Wide Melting Point Ranges of Aqueous Solutions
Ava Halligan – Upper St. Clair High School
Is Today’s 2019 Model of the Wind Turbine Truly the Key to a Sustainable Future?
Siya Jain – North Allegheny Senior High School
Directly Filtering Car Exhaust Into Cleaner Fumes
Gayath Karunaratne – Westmont Hilltop Junior/Senior High School
Herd Immunity in COVID19
Elizabeth Kinney – Cambria Heights Senior High School
What are the Best Granular Absorbents to Use On Oil Spills?
Zachary Kovell – Our Lady of Fatima School
Who can Jump the Highest?
Eli Kranjec – Community Day School
Parental Investment in a Digital Simulation”?”
Anne Lindsay – Freeport Area Senior High School
Determining the Best Adhesive for a Titanium Dioxide Water Bottle Coating
Thomas Moses – Our Lady of Fatima School
Electrolyte Challenge
Olina Mukherjee – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Neural Networks: How Software can Learn from Experience
Rohan Reddy – North Allegheny Senior High School
Improving Voice Recognition Software with Pitch
Ashley Rivetti – Our Lady of Fatima School
Splitting Water
Anshul Shah – North Allegheny Senior High School
Improving Voice Recognition Software with Pitch
Aneri Shethji – North Allegheny Senior High School
Retrospective Trend Analysis of COVID-19 Data
Samuel Tarr – Community Day School
Using Linear And Non-Linear Methods To Predict The Stock Market
Adhitya Thirumala – Fox Chapel Area High School
S. W. I. F. T. for Birds
David Thomas – North Catholic High School
The Effects of Cannabidiol on Growth, Reproduction, and Geroprotective Factors on Caenorhabditis elegans
Kendalyn Umbel – Queen of Angels Catholic School
The Blue Light Fight
Adriana Valvo – Our Lady of Fatima School
Rotten Fruit
Bridget Waterhouse – Saint Bernard Regional School
Extreme Spheres

Sponsor Award Winners

Air and Waste Management Association of Western PA Section

Shaun Fernando – Fernando Homeschool
“Potamoi:” A Device and Data-Driven Mobile App Revolutionizing the Measurement, Storage and Presentation of Water Quality Metrics
Shagufta Haque – Indiana Area Senior High School
Extracting Microplastics from Tap and Bottled Water

ALCOSAN

Elsie Lindsay – Freeport Area Senior High School
Can Mushrooms Break Down Asphalt?
Lauren Osth – Campus School of Carlow University
What is the most cost effective way to create your own water filter?

Allegheny County Health Department

Deric Bono – South Fayette Township Middle School
Titanium Powder Flammability Study
Shaun Fernando – Fernando Homeschool
“Potamoi:” A Device and Data-Driven Mobile App Revolutionizing the Measurement, Storage and Presentation of Water Quality Metrics
Natalie McGee – Mt Lebanon Senior High School
Examining the Effects of Marine Microplastics on Porifera Microbial Filtration
Shomik Telang – North Allegheny Senior High School
Autoscreening: App created to automate and simplify COVID-19 screening process

Allegheny County Medical Society Alliance

Breanna Franchak – Pine-Richland High School
A Multi-Variable County Analysis for the Markers of Higher COVID-19 Case Rates in Pennsylvania
Natalie McLean – Pine-Richland High School
A Multi-Variable County Analysis for the Markers of Higher COVID-19 Case Rates in Pennsylvania
Sreyashi Mondal – Pine-Richland High School
A Multi-Variable County Analysis for the Markers of Higher COVID-19 Case Rates in Pennsylvania
Nick Nedzesky – Seneca Valley High School
The Effects of Glycerol on Biofilm Production

American Chemical Society

Lamar Abushaban – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
Saltwater Battery Power: Does the Type of Anode Matter?
Grace Wang – Franklin Regional Middle School/Franklin Regional High School
Designing Effective Superabsorbent Beads Using Photopolymerization 3D printing

American Industrial Hygiene Association

Michael Nazelrod – Southern Garrett High School
Avoiding Fogging of Eye-glasses When Wearing a Mask
Evie Passero – Campus School of Carlow University
Testing the effectiveness and reuse of masks

American Society of Civil Engineers, Pittsburgh Section

Grant Brewer – Greensburg Central Catholic Jr-Sr High School
The Influence of Foundation Design on Seismic Stability
Natalie McGee – Mt Lebanon Senior High School
Examining the Effects of Marine Microplastics on Porifera Microbial Filtration

American Statistical Association, Pittsburgh Chapter

Anita Bhat – Freeport Area Senior High School
The Influence of Colored Light Frequency on Ambiguous Image Perception
Victoria Ren – North Allegheny Senior High School
Longitudinal Trend of High School E-cigarette Usage by Race

Braskem America

Lucas Connell – Indiana Area Senior High School
What is the Strongest Waste Bag?
Venice Lin – North Allegheny Senior High School
The Transition to a Clean Automotive Sector with Hydrogen-powered Combustion Cycles
Anthony Puthenpurackal – North Allegheny Senior High School
The Transition to a Clean Automotive Sector with Hydrogen-powered Combustion Cycles

Carnegie Mellon University – Leonard Gelfand Center

Sanjay Seshan – Fox Chapel Area High School
Lightweight assistive technology: A wearable, optical-fiber gesture recognition system.
Grace Wang – Franklin Regional Middle School/Franklin Regional High School
Designing Effective Superabsorbent Beads Using Photopolymerization 3D printing

Carnegie Mellon University Chapter of Sigma Xi

Kathryn Huth – St Joseph School
The Effects of Covid-19 Shutdowns on Light Pollution
Amish Sethi – Pine-Richland High School
Generation of Novel Drug Molecules with Specific Protein Targets Through a Graph Network and Custom Conditional Variational Autoencoder

Carnegie Mellon University Ren Lab

Hannah Barsouk – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Cross-Species Complementation Experiment Exploring the Role of Mammalian α-Arrestins in Glucose Transporter Trafficking
Leeann Parsi – St Joseph School
Identification of Mutations in the 5` Untranslated Region of the Sars-CoV-2 Genome

Chemical Association of Pittsburgh

Deric Bono – South Fayette Township Middle School
Titanium Powder Flammability Study
Aiden Frederick – Blacklick Valley Junior/Senior High School
Does the Sourness of citrus fruits affect the voltage of electric current

Covestro LLC

Hannah Adelson – Community Day School
What’s there to gain from LEDs?
Aspen Blystone – Derry Area Middle School and Derry Area High School
How Air Pressure Affect Traction
Naga Riya Boppudi – North Allegheny Senior High School
From a Sticky Situation to a Sticky Solution: Can Polystyrene be recycled into an Adhesive?
Natalie McGee – Mt Lebanon Senior High School
Examining the Effects of Marine Microplastics on Porifera Microbial Filtration
Trista Newman – Indiana Area Senior High School
Smog Paint’s Effectiveness on Air Pollution
Brody Porter – St Joseph School
Exploring More Biofuels from Fruits
Rin Suyama – Hampton Middle School
Reducing the carbon footprint of a household through refuse intervention
Kelly Tang – North Allegheny Senior High School
Microplastics in Soil: Effects on Earthworms
Grace Wang – Franklin Regional Middle School/Franklin Regional High School
Designing Effective Superabsorbent Beads Using Photopolymerization 3D printing
Victor Wu – Indiana Area Senior High School
Investigating Biofuels (Continuation)

Eaton

Lamar Abushaban – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
Saltwater Battery Power: Does the Type of Anode Matter?
Advait Chellaboina – South Fayette Township Middle School
Wireless Power Transfer
Lucas Connell – Indiana Area Senior High School
What is the Strongest Waste Bag?
Jacob Franks – Freeport Area Middle School
Does the Density of a Metal Correlate to its Electrical Conductivity?
Sanjay Seshan – Fox Chapel Area High School
Lightweight assistive technology: A wearable, optical-fiber gesture recognition system.
Param Thawani – Dorseyville Middle School
Electromagnetic Crane

Facebook

Melanie Navaratna – Indiana Area Senior High School
Machine Learning for Improving Non-American English Speech Recognition
Alexandria Westray – Hillman Academy
EEG-based BCI Classification of Distress in Individuals with ASD

FedEx Ground

Jordan Block – Community Day School
Voltage of Regular vs Plexiglass Covered Solar Panels
Advait Chellaboina – South Fayette Township Middle School
Wireless Power Transfer
Joselle Cribbs – Saint Bernard Regional School
Melting Ice
Yahya Farag – Indiana Area Senior High School
Recreating Muscle-like Compliance in Robots
William Greenway – Gateway Middle School
Futuristic Magnet Train
Alex Kim – Dorseyville Middle School
Maximizing Battery Efficiency Through Electrolyte Temperature and Acidity
Steven Liu – Shady Side Academy Senior School
Optimizing Nannochloropsis Growing Conditions for Biodiesel Production Through Analysis of Lipid Content
Abigail Miller-Peterson – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Modeling Impacts in Hand-Like Robots
Arvind Seshan – Fox Chapel Area High School
Enabling High-Accuracy Human Activity Recognition with Fine-Grained Indoor Localization
Isabelle Stanley – Gateway Middle School
Harnessing the power of wind turbines
Param Thawani – Dorseyville Middle School
Electromagnetic Crane
Victor Wu – Indiana Area Senior High School
Investigating Biofuels (Continuation)

Fluor Marine Propulsion, LLC

Liam McMahen – Derry Area Middle School and Derry Area High School
Finding the Ideal Launch Angle on a Baseball
Greta Reis – Community Day School
Determining the Most Effective Laundry Detergent

HATCH

Jordan Block – Community Day School
Voltage of Regular vs Plexiglass Covered Solar Panels
Shaun Fernando – Fernando Homeschool
“Potamoi:” A Device and Data-Driven Mobile App Revolutionizing the Measurement, Storage and Presentation of Water Quality Metrics
Audrey Gregori – Freeport Area Senior High School
Does Adding Volcanic Ash to Concrete Make it Stronger?
Venice Lin – North Allegheny Senior High School
The Transition to a Clean Automotive Sector with Hydrogen-powered Combustion Cycles
Anthony Puthenpurackal – North Allegheny Senior High School
The Transition to a Clean Automotive Sector with Hydrogen-powered Combustion Cycles

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc

Anuva Ghosalkar – Winchester Thurston School
Healthcare based Evidence driven Communication for Autism (HECA)
Liam McMahen – Derry Area Middle School and Derry Area High School
Finding the Ideal Launch Angle on a Baseball
Aria Narasimhan – Winchester Thurston School
Healthcare based Evidence driven Communication for Autism (HECA)
Rishika Somireddy – Winchester Thurston School
Healthcare based Evidence driven Communication for Autism (HECA)
Benjamin Tarr – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Fully Integrated Localization Solution for FIRST Robots
Samuel Tarr – Community Day School
Using Linear And Non-Linear Methods To Predict The Stock Market

Magee-Womens Research Institute

Regina Anand – Saint John Paul II Homeschool CO-OP
Bioluminescence: A Study of Pyrocystis fusiformis
Elise Whitlinger – Freeport Area Senior High School
Task Completion Ability of Individuals With/Out Crossed-Laterality

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

Hanna Lowden – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
The Effects of PFOA Exposure through Consumer Goods on the Liver
Arvind Seshan – Fox Chapel Area High School
Enabling High-Accuracy Human Activity Recognition with Fine-Grained Indoor Localization

Pittsburgh Coal Mining Institute of America

Pratham Agarwal – North Allegheny Senior High School
ADRBot: An Arduino Disaster Relief Robot
Milun Jain – North Allegheny Senior High School
ADRBot: An Arduino Disaster Relief Robot

Pittsburgh Geological Society

Adia Boccella – Campus School of Carlow University
What method is most effective in preventing soil erosion?
Caleigh Cessna – Indiana Area Senior High School
Additional Crystallization of Submarine Volcanic Tephra

Pittsburgh Intellectual Property Law Association

Julia Davis – Southern Garrett High School
Insulation Innovation: Testing Vacuum Performance
Sanjay Seshan – Fox Chapel Area High School
Lightweight assistive technology: A wearable, optical-fiber gesture recognition system.

Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Center

Anita Bhat – Freeport Area Senior High School
The Influence of Colored Light Frequency on Ambiguous Image Perception
Audra Moore – Indiana Area Senior High School
Impact of Mask Wearing on Facial Expression Recognition

PPG Industries, Inc.

Lamar Abushaban – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
Saltwater Battery Power: Does the Type of Anode Matter?
Naga Riya Boppudi – North Allegheny Senior High School
From a Sticky Situation to a Sticky Solution: Can Polystyrene be recycled into an Adhesive?
Grace Copeland – Franklin Regional Middle School/Franklin Regional High School
Does The Material In The Baking Sheet Affect The Cookie You Eat
Bella Cribbs – Saint Bernard Regional School
Flowing Icecream
Jacob Franks – Freeport Area Middle School
Does the Density of a Metal Correlate to its Electrical Conductivity?
Maya Legersky – Mt Lebanon Senior High School
Increasing the Efficiency of Photovoltaic Cells
MaryClaire Sherman – Greensburg Central Catholic Jr-Sr High School
The Effect of Hand Sanitizer on the Growth Rate of E. Coli
Chennie Wang – Shady Side Academy Senior School
Powder Coating and Diffusion Alloying for EV Grade Electrical Steels

Princeton Alumni Association of WPA

Zoe Lakkis – Fox Chapel Area High School
Data Mining to Identify Therapeutic Targets for Rejection
Shomik Telang – North Allegheny Senior High School
Autoscreening: App created to automate and simplify COVID-19 screening process

Range Resources-Appalachia, LLC

Sarah Lavelle – Hampton Middle School
Hellbender Exploration
Rebecca Schiavone – Shaler Area High School
The Effectiveness of Sorbents in Marine Oil Spills

Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh

Lamar Abushaban – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
Saltwater Battery Power: Does the Type of Anode Matter?
Deric Bono – South Fayette Township Middle School
Titanium Powder Flammability Study
Shaun Fernando – Fernando Homeschool
“Potamoi:” A Device and Data-Driven Mobile App Revolutionizing the Measurement, Storage and Presentation of Water Quality Metrics
Emily Laughlin – Derry Area Middle School and Derry Area High School
What is the most explosive soda with Mentoes
Steven Liu – Shady Side Academy Senior School
Optimizing Nannochloropsis Growing Conditions for Biodiesel Production Through Analysis of Lipid Content
Chapin Nienhuis – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
How do water purifiers purify water in different ways?
Greta Reis – Community Day School
Determining the Most Effective Laundry Detergent
Victor Wu – Indiana Area Senior High School
Investigating Biofuels (Continuation)

Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration

Pratham Agarwal – North Allegheny Senior High School
ADRBot: An Arduino Disaster Relief Robot
Milun Jain – North Allegheny Senior High School
ADRBot: An Arduino Disaster Relief Robot

Society of American Military Engineers – Pittsburgh Post

Alex Kim – Dorseyville Middle School
Maximizing Battery Efficiency Through Electrolyte Temperature and Acidity
Athena Yang – Indiana Area Senior High School
Copper Oxide Photovoltaic Cell

Society of Women Engineers

Kaitlyn Desrochers – STEM Leadership Center
Building an Autonomous Oxygen sensor for Neonatal Care
Janise Kim – Fox Chapel Area High School
Deep Learning-Based Approach for Optimizing COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution

Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh

Jordan Block – Community Day School
Voltage of Regular vs Plexiglass Covered Solar Panels
Colton Brenneman – Freeport Area Senior High School
Effects of Natural Inhibitors on Blocking Quorum Sensing Interactions in Cultures of Vibrio fischeri
Katie Dudkowski – Blessed Francis Seelos Academy
How Much UVC Light Exposure is Enough to Kill E. Coli?
Etash Jhanji – Dorseyville Middle School
What is the Safest Way to Clean Your Contact Lenses?
Anne Lindsay – Freeport Area Senior High School
Determining the Best Adhesive for a Titanium Dioxide Water Bottle Coating
Nick Nedzesky – Seneca Valley High School
The Effects of Glycerol on Biofilm Production
Bianca Udrea – Blessed Francis Seelos Academy
I Can’t Stay in Bed because my Drink is so Red!

The Webb Law Firm

Advait Chellaboina – South Fayette Township Middle School
Wireless Power Transfer
Benjamin Tarr – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Fully Integrated Localization Solution for FIRST Robots

Thiel College

Yash Botre – Mt Lebanon Senior High School
Predicting the Stock Market using Artificial Intelligence
Hannah Shin – North Allegheny Senior High School
Fearfully Forgetful: Intersectional Genomic Analysis of Alzheimer’s Disease and Anxiety

University of Pittsburgh, Department of Neuroscience

Erika Rispoli – Ellis School
Understanding mechanisms of MDD: model extension of the BDNF-NF%u03BAB pathway using VIOLIN
Hannah Shin – North Allegheny Senior High School
Fearfully Forgetful: Intersectional Genomic Analysis of Alzheimer’s Disease and Anxiety

Young Women in Bio

Montana Geibel – St Joseph School
The effects of nano-silver on Daphnia
Shivani Umesh – Seneca Valley High School
Assessing the Role of Nutrition in Covid-19 Infection Rates

Scholarship Award Winners

Carlow University

Catherine Clark – Shaler Area High School
The Effect of Soil pH on Plants in Low Water Conditions
Julie Fekete – Norwin High School
Color of Solar Cover vs. Algae Growth
Braden Thomas – Cambria Heights Senior High School
Applying Personal Protective Equipment – The Donning Dock

Carnegie Mellon University

Landon Colaresi – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Clustering Graphs to Detect Malware
Natalie McGee – Mt Lebanon Senior High School
Examining the Effects of Marine Microplastics on Porifera Microbial Filtration

Chatham University

Erika Rispoli – Ellis School
Understanding mechanisms of MDD: model extension of the BDNF-NF%u03BAB pathway using VIOLIN

Gannon University

Miracle Bynum – Avonworth High School
Physics and Dance
Alexis Chvala – North Catholic High School
Looking Youthful While Aging
Kathryn Huth – St Joseph School
The Effects of Covid-19 Shutdowns on Light Pollution
Elsie Lindsay – Freeport Area Senior High School
Can Mushrooms Break Down Asphalt?
Brody Porter – St Joseph School
Exploring More Biofuels from Fruits
Kennedy Rogal – Cambria Heights Senior High School
Does a Plant’s Environment Affect its Growth Rate?
Yuvan Suresh – North Allegheny Senior High School
Where is the Water?
Braden Thomas – Cambria Heights Senior High School
Applying Personal Protective Equipment – The Donning Dock

Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP)

Veronica Koval – St Joseph School
The Effects of Carrageenan on the Regeneration of Planaria
Elsie Lindsay – Freeport Area Senior High School
Can Mushrooms Break Down Asphalt?
Trista Newman – Indiana Area Senior High School
Smog Paint’s Effectiveness on Air Pollution
Vishnu Venugopal – Mt Lebanon Senior High School
Winning Monopoly with Property Statistics using Java

La Roche College

Regina Anand – Saint John Paul II Homeschool CO-OP
Bioluminescence: A Study of Pyrocystis fusiformis
Natalie Barkley – Norwin High School
BPA in Plastic Water Bottles
Will Mason – St Joseph School
Does the quantity of reactants effect exothermic reactions?
Isabella Yuha – Indiana Area Senior High School
The Effects of Detergent on Pond Water

Mount Aloysius College

Natalie Barkley – Norwin High School
BPA in Plastic Water Bottles
Sara Huelskamp – Northern Garrett High School
The Effect Of Battery Voltage On D/C Motor Speed And How Those Two Factors Are Proportional.
Trista Newman – Indiana Area Senior High School
Smog Paint’s Effectiveness on Air Pollution
Leeann Parsi – St Joseph School
Identification of Mutations in the 5` Untranslated Region of the Sars-CoV-2 Genome
Kennedy Rogal – Cambria Heights Senior High School
Does a Plant’s Environment Affect its Growth Rate?
Grace Seita – Freeport Area Senior High School
The Effect of Time Limit Stressors on Short-Term Memory
Braden Thomas – Cambria Heights Senior High School
Applying Personal Protective Equipment – The Donning Dock
Sophie Von Oldenburg – Norwin High School
Arson or Accidental: The hot debate

Penn State Greater Allegheny

Abby Killam – Indiana Area Senior High School
Landfill Luthier: Recycling Paper to Supplement Strings
Sarina Krishnaswamy – Upper St. Clair High School
Patterns In Influenza RNA Mutations
Hanna Lowden – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
The Effects of PFOA Exposure through Consumer Goods on the Liver
Audra Moore – Indiana Area Senior High School
Impact of Mask Wearing on Facial Expression Recognition
Melanie Navaratna – Indiana Area Senior High School
Machine Learning for Improving Non-American English Speech Recognition
Nick Nedzesky – Seneca Valley High School
The Effects of Glycerol on Biofilm Production
Leeann Parsi – St Joseph School
Identification of Mutations in the 5` Untranslated Region of the Sars-CoV-2 Genome
Anthony Puthenpurackal – North Allegheny Senior High School
The Transition to a Clean Automotive Sector with Hydrogen-powered Combustion Cycles
Erika Rispoli – Ellis School
Understanding mechanisms of MDD: model extension of the BDNF-NF%u03BAB pathway using VIOLIN
Autumn Smith – Indiana Area Senior High School
What kind of harmful bacteria could be in your stainless steel water bottle?
Victor Wu – Indiana Area Senior High School
Investigating Biofuels (Continuation)

Point Park University

Lucas Connell – Indiana Area Senior High School
What is the Strongest Waste Bag?
Isabella Yuha – Indiana Area Senior High School
The Effects of Detergent on Pond Water

Saint Vincent College

Regina Anand – Saint John Paul II Homeschool CO-OP
Bioluminescence: A Study of Pyrocystis fusiformis
Sara Huelskamp – Northern Garrett High School
The Effect Of Battery Voltage On D/C Motor Speed And How Those Two Factors Are Proportional.
Will Mason – St Joseph School
Does the quantity of reactants effect exothermic reactions?
Brody Porter – St Joseph School
Exploring More Biofuels from Fruits
Braden Thomas – Cambria Heights Senior High School
Applying Personal Protective Equipment – The Donning Dock

Seton Hill University

Yara AlMoussa – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
GMO vs Organic Papaya’s Effects on Drosophila Melanogaster Generations
Anita Bhat – Freeport Area Senior High School
The Influence of Colored Light Frequency on Ambiguous Image Perception
Kathryn Huth – St Joseph School
The Effects of Covid-19 Shutdowns on Light Pollution
Grace Seita – Freeport Area Senior High School
The Effect of Time Limit Stressors on Short-Term Memory

Thiel College

Natalie Barkley – Norwin High School
BPA in Plastic Water Bottles
Alexis Chvala – North Catholic High School
Looking Youthful While Aging
Elsie Lindsay – Freeport Area Senior High School
Can Mushrooms Break Down Asphalt?
Regina Palladino – Oakland Catholic High School
Fast Fashion’s Detrimental Effects on Water and Plant Life

University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

Abby Killam – Indiana Area Senior High School
Landfill Luthier: Recycling Paper to Supplement Strings
Valor Lekas – Hampton High School
Botanic System Conservation: How Can the Adaptations of Desert Plants Influence Human-Made Systems of Water Conservation?
Natalie McGee – Mt Lebanon Senior High School
Examining the Effects of Marine Microplastics on Porifera Microbial Filtration
Melanie Navaratna – Indiana Area Senior High School
Machine Learning for Improving Non-American English Speech Recognition

Washington and Jefferson College

Abby Killam – Indiana Area Senior High School
Landfill Luthier: Recycling Paper to Supplement Strings
David Thomas – North Catholic High School
The Effects of Cannabidiol on Growth, Reproduction, and Geroprotective Factors on Caenorhabditis elegans
Grace Wang – Franklin Regional Middle School/Franklin Regional High School
Designing Effective Superabsorbent Beads Using Photopolymerization 3D printing
Kahriya Whittington – Indiana Area Senior High School
Performative Activism

Affiliated Sponsor Award Winners

American Meteorological Society

Daniel Levin – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Evaluation of Particulate Matter (PM2.5) and Tropospheric Ozone on Interactions Between Wild Pollinators and Trifolium Repens
Trista Newman – Indiana Area Senior High School
Smog Paint’s Effectiveness on Air Pollution

American Psychological Association

Mason Roberts – Campus School of Carlow University
How do variations in a police lineup affect eyewitness identification accuracy?

ASM Materials Education Foundation

Grace Wang – Franklin Regional Middle School/Franklin Regional High School
Designing Effective Superabsorbent Beads Using Photopolymerization 3D printing

Association for Women Geoscientists

Rebecca Schiavone – Shaler Area High School
The Effectiveness of Sorbents in Marine Oil Spills

Broadcom Coding with Commitment Award

Shaun Fernando – Fernando Homeschool
“Potamoi:” A Device and Data-Driven Mobile App Revolutionizing the Measurement, Storage and Presentation of Water Quality Metrics

Lemelson Early Inventor Prize

Shaun Fernando – Fernando Homeschool
“Potamoi:” A Device and Data-Driven Mobile App Revolutionizing the Measurement, Storage and Presentation of Water Quality Metrics

MU Alpha Theta

Amish Sethi – Pine-Richland High School
Generation of Novel Drug Molecules with Specific Protein Targets Through a Graph Network and Custom Conditional Variational Autoencoder

NASA Earth System Science Award

Julia Stilley – Greensburg Central Catholic Jr-Sr High School
Growing Kale in Simulant Martian Regolith with Added Organic Fertilizers

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Kathryn Huth – St Joseph School
The Effects of Covid-19 Shutdowns on Light Pollution

Office of Naval Research, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.

Grant Brewer – Greensburg Central Catholic Jr-Sr High School
The Influence of Foundation Design on Seismic Stability
Robert Famiglietti – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
COVID-19’s Evolution & Clinical Implications
Yahya Farag – Indiana Area Senior High School
Recreating Muscle-like Compliance in Robots
Kathryn Huth – St Joseph School
The Effects of Covid-19 Shutdowns on Light Pollution
Sophia Levin – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Impacts of Online Learning for Pittsburgh K-2 Students
Leeann Parsi – St Joseph School
Identification of Mutations in the 5` Untranslated Region of the Sars-CoV-2 Genome
Mason Roberts – Campus School of Carlow University
How do variations in a police lineup affect eyewitness identification accuracy?
Sanjay Seshan – Fox Chapel Area High School
Lightweight assistive technology: A wearable, optical-fiber gesture recognition system.
Yuvan Suresh – North Allegheny Senior High School
Where is the Water?
Maxim Yaskolko – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School
Effects of Vascular Normalizing Agents on Immune Marker Expression in T cells, Dendritic Cells, and Melanoma Cells

Regeneron Biomedical Award

Oscar Heller – Central Catholic High School
Detecting Somatic Mutations in HER-2 Positive Breast Cancer Patients to Predict Drug Treatment Responses

Ricoh USA Inc.

Steven Liu – Shady Side Academy Senior School
Optimizing Nannochloropsis Growing Conditions for Biodiesel Production Through Analysis of Lipid Content

Society for In Vitro Biology

Natalie McGee – Mt Lebanon Senior High School
Examining the Effects of Marine Microplastics on Porifera Microbial Filtration

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Aris Kralios – Pine-Richland Middle School
Project Pebble

U.S. Air Force

Yahya Farag – Indiana Area Senior High School
Recreating Muscle-like Compliance in Robots

U.S. Metric Association

Siddharth Yende – Fox Chapel Area High School
The Effectiveness of Mylar Blankets and Applications of SAR

U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize

Rachel Bina – North Allegheny Senior High School
Minimizing Vibrio cholerae in Aquatic Ecosystems using Phage
Valor Lekas – Hampton High School
Botanic System Conservation: How Can the Adaptations of Desert Plants Influence Human-Made Systems of Water Conservation?
Natalie McGee – Mt Lebanon Senior High School
Examining the Effects of Marine Microplastics on Porifera Microbial Filtration

Yale Science and Engineering Association

Ashley Winnor – Greensburg Central Catholic Jr-Sr High School
Determining Antimicrobial Effectiveness of Natural Compounds Against E. coli and B. cereus