2025 PRSEF Winners
Sponsor Awards |
Aerotech |
| Avyukt Iyer – North Allegheny High School Adaptive Robotic Exoskeleton Regarding Physical and Cognitive Rehabilitation to Reduce Energy Expenditure and Injury |
| August Zentner – Mt. Lebanon Senior High School Linear Phased Array Radar Development |
The Allegheny Mountain Section of the Air & Waste Management Association |
| Piper Munyon – Gateway Senior High School Biocharged: The Effects of a Carbon Sequestrator on Plant Growth and Soil Moisture Retention |
| Ariya Nahata – Shady Side Academy School Assessing Diatom Biodiversity Across the Wingfield Pines Passive Treatment System |
Alcosan |
| Stella Empfield – Indiana Area Senior High School Can You Stand the Heat: Do Firefighting Fabrics Live Up To Manufacturer Claims? |
| Evelyn Lawler – Pine-Richland High School Robotic Refuse Retrieval on Extreme Incline Planes at Illegal Dumpsites |
Allegheny County Medical Society Foundation |
| Evan Xiang – Shady Side Academy School Discovery of a Novel Signaling Mechanism in the Lens through Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitors |
| Lizzie Feterik – Pine-Richland High School The Viability of Natural Antiseptics |
Allegheny County Health Department |
| Isabella Graff – St. Joseph High School Plant-based Oil as a Lubricant |
| Annabella Gibbons – Gibbons Homeschool Testing Sustainable Hydrogels’ Water-Absorption and Releasing Capabilities for Agricultural Purposes |
| Elizabeth Schwarz – Freeport Area High School Treating Acid Mine Drainage |
| Erinn Kannel – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School Using Moss as a Bioindicator of Urban Heat Island Effect |
Pittsburgh Section of the American Chemical Society |
| Arya Prasad – North Allegheny High School Optimization of Ferrofluid Formulation for Microplastic Extraction |
| Alexander Donihi – Central Catholic High School Impact of Various Filters on Water Hardness |
American Society of Civil Engineers, Pittsburgh Section |
| Joy Dakin – Hampton Middle School Effect of AMD and Road Salt on Plant Growth |
| Maite Sofia Vergara Morales – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School How Prepared Is the City of Pittsburgh for Climate Change? Part 2 |
American Statistical Association, Pittsburgh Chapter |
| Shivum Telang – North Allegheny High School RetGEN: A Predictive Analysis Framework Applying Fundus and OCT Images Towards Assessing Risk Progression and Interpretable Classification of Diabetic Retinopathy |
| Claire Ding – Ding Homeschool Identifying And Testing Genetic Biomarkers For Immune Response In Extensive-stage Small Cell Lung Cancer |
ATI Metals |
| Wells Bigham – Bigham Homeschool Using Computer Vision To Detect People Using Phones While Driving |
| Caroline Feiner – Community Day School Frequency’s Effect on the Richness of Sound |
| Sonaya Arora – Pine-Richland High School Directional Shielding from Cell Phone Radiation |
| August Zentner – Mt. Lebanon Senior High School Linear Phased Array Radar Development |
CMU Department of Biological Sciences |
| Lauren Hwang – North Allegheny High School Super Slippery Surfaces that Repel Marine Organisms |
| Oluwagbemiga Odebode – Avonworth High School The Topographic Layout of Sensory, Mnemonic, and Motor Neurons in the Prefrontal Cortex |
CMU Gelfund Center |
| Jerry Yu – Mt. Lebanon Senior High School Investigating the Impact of Nanostructuring on the Thermal Properties of Silicon-Germanium |
| Shivum Telang – North Allegheny High School RetGEN: A Predictive Analysis Framework Applying Fundus and OCT Images Towards Assessing Risk Progression and Interpretable Classification of Diabetic Retinopathy |
Chemical Association of Pittsburgh |
| Anthony D’Eramo – Ave Maria Academy -Bethel Park Swift Salt – A Comparison of Deicers |
| C.J. Morris – Ave Maria Academy -Bethel Park Vitamin Void – Does Cooking Vegetables Deplete Vitamin C? |
Clinical Research Strategies |
| Marcus Zhan – Sewickley Academy Portable Real-Time Cardiac Monitoring System for Emergency Response |
| Avyukt Iyer – North Allegheny High School Adaptive Robotic Exoskeleton Regarding Physical and Cognitive Rehabilitation to Reduce Energy Expenditure and Injury |
Cook MyoSite |
| Marie Gasperini – Ave Maria Academy – Mt. Lebanon Tap vs Filtered Water: Which Makes Grass Thrive? |
| Isaiah Thomas – Blessed Francis Seelos Academy The Effects of Sugar Alcohols on Platyhelminthes Regeneration |
| Eva Nealen – Indiana Area Senior High School Human Epithelial Cell Attachment and Growth on Prosthetic-Based Mesh Using Collagen Biopolymer |
| Lyra Stiglitz – Mt. Lebanon Senior High School Signaling and Antigen-Presenting Bifunctional Receptor Efficacy in Primary CD4+ Cells |
| Anabella Phelps – Hillman Academy Spatial Analysis of CD200 in High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer |
| Julia Weber – Indiana Area Senior High School Antimicrobial Resistance |
Duquesne University School of Science and Engineering |
| Aaisha Ansari – Mt. Lebanon Senior High School Astronomical Redshift and Machine Learning: Determining Age of Supermassive Black Holes |
| Alex Fu – Mt. Lebanon Senior High School A Study on the Cognitive Bias Towards Random Selection of Numbers |
HATCH |
| Annelise Mayer – Mt. Lebanon Senior High School Dechlorination of Drinking Water |
| Sylvia Heilman – Seneca Valley High School Genetics Sequencing of the Redbelly Dace |
| Morgan Blystone – Indiana Area Senior High School The Correlation Between Running Shoes and Injuries |
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| Albert Bowen – Hampton Middle School Electric Fruits and Rusty Truths: A Dive into Galvanic Cells |
| Sonaya Arora – Pine-Richland High School Directional Shielding from Cell Phone Radiation |
Naval Nuclear Lab |
| Vedhamsh Erukula and Hriday Shah – South Fayette Township Middle School Amazing Aerodynamics |
| Deetya Aluguvelli – Ingomar Middle School Can Activated Sludge Lower Nitrate Levels In Bodies Of Water? |
| Augustin Zhan – Sewickley Academy MOI and Bite of Weapon Configurations on Combat Robots |
| Param Thawani – Fox Chapel Area High School Combating IMU Drift: Enhancing Sensor Accuracy for Precision Motion Tracking |
Pittsburgh Area Chapter of the American Concrete Institute |
| Aine Corrigan – North Catholic High School Effects of Insulation Types on Sound |
| Rhys Weber – Greensburg Central Catholic Jr-Sr High School How Different Metals Conduct Electricity |
Pittsburgh Geological Society |
| Joy Dakin – Hampton Middle School Effect of AMD and Road Salt on Plant Growth |
Pittsburgh Intellectual Property Law Association |
| Yashas Singh – North Allegheny High School Prosthetic Arm Control using EMG Sensors and Machine Learning |
| Ayana Singh – North Allegheny High School Leveraging fMRI and Machine Learning to Analyze Gender Disparities in Autism Spectrum Disorder Severity Prediction |
PPG |
| Erica Moffatt – Norwin High School Determining the Effects of Bleaching Reactions with Ammonia on Hair |
| Arya Prasad – North Allegheny High School Optimization of Ferrofluid Formulation for Microplastic Extraction |
| Gabrielle Isenberg – Indiana Area Senior High School The Quality of Tap, Bottled, and Well Water |
| Julia Stilley – Greensburg Central Catholic Jr-Sr High School Determining Optimal Gastric Conditions for Drug Solubility |
| Frederick Goellner – Central Catholic High School Biofuel Blend Emission Analysis |
Princeton Alumni Association of Western Pennsylvania |
| Param Thawani – Fox Chapel Area High School Combating IMU Drift: Enhancing Sensor Accuracy for Precision Motion Tracking |
| Boden Moraski – Shady Side Academy Senior School Noise-Resilient Quantum Decomposition via Reinforcement Learning |
Range Resources |
| Avery Edmonds – Indiana Area Senior High School The Effect of Feeder Type on Black-capped Chickadee Behavior and Feeding Patterns |
| Sahana Mehta – Indiana Area Senior High School The Use of Algae in Reducing the Impact of Oil Spills |
Slippery Rock University Department of Chemistry and Environmental Geosciences |
| Emma Ehan – Sewickley Academy Phytoremediation in Aquatic Species |
| Maeve Schmook – Norwin High School The Paws-itive Effects of Therapy Dogs |
Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh |
| Alexander Donihi – Central Catholic High School Impact of Various Filters on Water Hardness |
| Ashley Shin – North Allegheny High School Biochemical Evaluation of Oxytocin as an Activator of the Oxytocin Receptor (OXTR) in HEK293 Tango Cells |
Society of Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration |
| Swetha Menon – Sewickley Academy Energy-Efficient Smart Ventilation System for Buildings |
| Elizabeth Schwarz – Freeport Area Senior High School Treating Acid Mine Drainage |
Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh |
| Albert Bowen – Hampton Middle School Electric Fruits and Rusty Truths: A Dive into Galvanic Cells |
| Grant Wharton – Wharton Homeschool Salt Life…On Mars? |
| Deetya Aluguvelli – Ingomar Middle School Can Activated Sludge Lower Nitrate Levels in Bodies of Water? |
| Isaiah Thomas – Blessed Fancis Seelos Academy The Effects of Sugar Alcohols on Patyhelminthes Regeneration |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Aayush Iyer – Iyer Homeschool Autonomous Snow Plow |
| Benjamin Lin – Hampton Middle School Detecting, Accurately Pinpointing and Reporting Coral Bleaching Using Machine Learning |
| Elizabeth Villa – Indiana Area Senior High School Rate of Digestion of the Allergen Proteins |
| Julia Stilley – Greensburg Central Catholic Jr-Sr High School Determining Optimal Gastric Conditions for Drug Solubility |
| Olivia Rigo – Norwin High School How Temperature Influences the Intensity and Duration of Luminol’s Glow |
Vesuvius PI |
| Abhaya Tuladhar – Summit Homeschool Decoding the Dots: A Braille Box to Empower the Visually Impaired |
| Avyukt Iyer – North Allegheny High School Adaptive Robotic Exoskeleton Regarding Physical and Cognitive Rehabilitation to Reduce Energy Expenditure and Injury |
Webb Law Firm |
| Avyukt Iyer – North Allegheny High School Adaptive Robotic Exoskeleton Regarding Physical and Cognitive Rehabilitation to Reduce Energy Expenditure and Injury |
| August Zentner – Mt. Lebanon Senior High School Linear Phased Array Radar Development |
Westinghouse |
| Samuel Xiao and Lucian Mikush – Using Rising Water as a Dielectric: A Novel Approach to Tidal Power |
| Alonzo Farrington – Indiana Area Senior High School Determining the Best Crystals for Thermoluminescent Dosimeters |
Affiliated Sponsor Awards |
Broadcom Coding With Commitment Award |
| Aayush Iyer – Iyer Homeschool Autonomous Snow Plow |
Lemelson Early Inventor |
| Abhaya Tuladhar – Summit Homeschool Decoding the Dots: A Braille Box to Empower the Visually Impaired |
U.S. Jr. Stockholm Water |
| Ariya Nahata – Shady Side Academy Senior School Assessing Diatom Biodiversity Across the Wingfield Pines Passive Treatment System |
| Annabella Gibbons – Gibbons Homeschool Testing Sustainable Hydrogels’ Water-Absorption and Releasing Capabilities for Agricultural Purposes |
| Arya Prasad – North Allegheny High School Optimization of Ferrofluid Formulation for Microplastic Extraction |
Robert M. Thompson Jr. Fund, Pittsburgh Foundation |
| Ruth Ayers – Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy Investigating Mesothelial Mesenchymal Reprogramming in Ovarian Cancer Using Immunostaining |
Diane V. Thompson Jr. Fund, Pittsburgh Foundation |
| Lillian Stevens – Indiana Area Senior High School Using Gene Therapy to Treat Neurological Disorders |
Scholarship Awards |
Carlow University – Whalen Scholarship |
| Emily Schaeffer |
| Saige Hockman |
| David Skarja |
Chatham University |
| Isabella Graff |
| Gabriella Isenberg |
Mount Aloysius College |
| James Xiao |
| Siyi Chen |
| Eva Nealen |
| Anabella Phelps |
| Ayana Singh |
| Aarav Shah |
| Annika Sandholm |
| Vega Mani |
Point Park University |
| David Skarja |
| Ariya Nahata |
Slippery Rock University |
| Emma Runge |
| Jonathan Ramachandran |
| Claire Bacu |
| Alonzo Farrington |
| Ava Passarelli |
| Alexander Donihi |
| Hussain Raza |
| Avery Mills |
| Avyukt Iyer |
| Annabelle Oberbarnscheidt |
Thiel College |
| Emma Charlton |
| Michael Greer |
| Medha Thirumala |
| Ariya Nahata |
Junior Division Category Awards |
Junior Behavioral and Consumer Science |
First Place |
| Shivum Arora – Eden Hall Upper Elementary School Reaction Times and Time of the Day: Does It Matter? |
Second Place |
| Anushka Joshi and Laalitya Sagi – South Fayette Township Middle School What Color Are You Craving? |
Junior Biological Sciences |
First Place |
| Marie Gasperini – Ave Maria Academy – Mt. Lebanon Tap vs Filtered Water: Which Makes Grass Thrive? |
Second Place |
| Lucy Faught, Addison Howells, and Allison Spencer – Purchase Line Elementary Sweet Apples |
Third Place |
| Michael Dziezgowski – Ave Maria Academy – Bethel Park Excellent Electrolytes – Which Sports Drink Hydrates Best? |
Junior Chemistry |
First Place |
| Albert Bowen – Hampton Middle School Electric Fruits and Rusty Truths: A Dive into Galvanic Cells |
Second Place |
| Sameer Nepal – Ave Maria Academy – Bethel Park It Must Be Rust! |
Junior Physical Science and Engineering |
First Place |
| Wells Bigham – Bigham Homeschool Using Computer Vision To Detect People Using Phones While Driving |
Second Place |
| Vedhamsh Erukula and Hriday Shah – South Fayette Township Middle School Amazing Aerodynamics |
Third Place |
| Alexander Li – Dorseyville Middle School Sound Controlled Light Systems |
Intermediate Division Category Awards |
Intermediate Behavioral and Social Science |
First Place |
| Rishabh Krishnamurthy – Dorseyville Middle School Robots: Filling the Human Void |
Second Place |
| Stella Platt – Campus School of Carlow University How Much Does Immersion Affect Language Learning? |
Third Place |
| Tommy Stilley – Greensburg Central Catholic Jr-Sr High School What are the Effects of Different LED Lights on Bait Fish? |
Intermediate Biology |
First Place |
| Isaiah Thomas – Blessed Francis Seelos Academy The Effects of Sugar Alcohols on Platyhelminthes Regeneration |
Second Place |
| Aayush Masurkar – Ingomar Middle School Effects of Different Colors of Light on Plant Growth |
Third Place |
| Gage Stalder – Ave Maria Academy – Bethel Park Birds of a Feather, Color Together- Are Birds Attracted to a Certain Color House? |
Intermediate Chemistry |
First Place |
| Anthony D’Eramo – Ave Maria Academy – Bethel Park Swift Salt – A Comparison of Deicers |
Second Place |
| Corey Shipe – Elizabeth Forward Middle School Soda Eroda |
Intermediate Computer Science and Math |
First Place |
| Benjamin Lin – Hampton Middle School Lin Detecting, Accurately Pinpointing and Reporting Coral Bleaching Using Machine Learning |
Second Place |
| Asher Usdan – Community Day School Enhancing Algorithms: Perfecting AI Accuracy |
Intermediate Consumer Science |
First Place |
| Evan Hartman and Gabriel Sand – Hampton Middle School Testing PowerBait For Trout Fishing |
Second Place |
| Piper Kuzneski-Allen, Addylyn Newell, and Elliana Reed – Indiana Area Junior High School Which Cheesecake Baking Method is the Best? |
Intermediate Earth and Environment |
First Place |
| Deetya Aluguvelli – Ingomar Middle School Can Activated Sludge Lower Nitrate Levels In Bodies Of Water? |
Second Place |
| Henry Aldous – Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 Reinforcing Abandoned Room and Pillar Mines |
Intermediate Engineering and Robotics |
First Place |
| Abhaya Tuladhar – Summit Homeschool Decoding the Dots: A Braille Box to Empower the Visually Impaired |
Second Place |
| Lilly Shevitz – Community Day School Innovative Orthodontic Simulation of Braces |
Intermediate Medicine, Health, and Microbiology |
First Place |
| Jovie Jochum – St. Killian Catholic School Water Flea On Caffeine, A Racing Heart |
Second Place |
| Olivia Menz – St. Killian Catholic School How Does The Elasticity Of A Red Blood Cell Affect Its Ability To Pass Through A Sinusoid Of A Spleen? |
Intermediate Physics and Astronomy |
First Place |
| Genevieve Sweterlitsch – Allegheny Observatory Finding Areas of Ionization Within the Eagle Nebula |
Second Place |
| Elijah Blake – Allegheny Observatory Apparent Brightness vs Distance and Actual Brightness |
Senior Division Category Awards |
Senior Behavioral and Social Science |
First Place |
| Misaki Qian – North Allegheny High School The Intersection between the Digital World and Philanthropy |
Second Place |
| Madeleine Fox – Oakland Catholic High School The Barriers of Access to Healthcare for Homeless Women |
Third Place |
| Emma Runge – Indiana Area Senior High School Is PBIS Intervention Effective in the High School Setting? |
| Alexa Wheeler – Indiana Area Senior High School Comprehension Using Guided Notes vs Regular Notes |
Senior Biology |
First Place |
| Avery Edmonds – Indiana Area Senior High School The Effect of Feeder Type On Black-capped Chickadee Behavior and Feeding Patterns |
Second Place |
| Matthew Blystone – Indiana Area Senior High School Testing the Effects of C&T on Invertebrates |
| Emma Impellicceiri – Hillman Academy Outlining the Roles of BRCA1 and BRCA2 In Centromeric DNA Repair After Inducing Oxidative Damage |
Third Place |
| Anabella Phelps – Hillman Academy Spatial Analysis of CD200 in High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer |
| Chase Porter – St. Joseph High School Testing For Proteins On Surfaces |
Senior Chemistry |
First Place |
| Michael Novotnak – Central Catholic High School Ocean Water Fuel Generation |
Second Place |
| Arya Prasad – North Allegheny High School Optimization of Ferrofluid Formulation for Microplastic Extraction |
Third Place |
| Elizabeth Villa – Indiana Area Senior High School Rate of Digestion of the Allergen Proteins |
Senior Computer Science and Math |
First Place |
| Kevin Chen and Justin Chen – North Allegheny High School Development of Automatic, Cost-Efficient Optomotor Reflex Stimulation and Analyzation Device for Mice using Deep Learning |
Second Place |
| Shivum Telang – North Allegheny High School RetGEN: A Predictive Analysis Framework Applying Fundus and OCT Images Towards Assessing Risk Progression and Interpretable Classification of Diabetic Retinopathy |
| Lucas Pu – North Allegheny High School Dynamic Generative-Segmentation Network: A Novel Joint-Training Framework for Few Shot Segmentation of Bronchopulmonary Segments |
Third Place |
| Ayana Singh – North Allegheny High School Leveraging fMRI and Machine Learning to Analyze Gender Disparities in Autism Spectrum Disorder Severity Prediction |
| Marcus Zhan – Sewickley Academy Portable Real-Time Cardiac Monitoring System for Emergency Response |
Senior Earth and Environment |
First Place |
| Mehar Jain – North Allegheny High School Algal Growth Impacting Pond Water Quality and Monitoring by using Arduino Based Sensor Device |
Second Place |
| Anamaria Pomirleanu – Pine-Richland High School Comparing Sorption of Organic Waste Products for Oil Spill Cleanup |
| Mariam Khan-Afridi – Ashfaq Homeschool Effect Of Weed Killers On Seed Germination |
Third Place |
| Rebecca Zhao – North Allegheny High School The Effect of UV Light Intensity on Photosynthesis Efficiency in Grass |
| Beatrix Lim – Greensburg Central Catholic Jr-Sr High School Which Type of Plastic Container Transfers the Most Amount of Microplastics? |
| Blake Fiscus – Hampton High School The Effects Of Berry Fertilizer On Ocimum Basilicum Growth |
| Ishani Aluguvelli and Anika Reddy – North Allegheny High School The Effects of Environmental Factors on Plastic Degradation |
Senior Engineering and Robotics |
First Place |
| August Zentner – Mt. Lebanon Senior High School Linear Phased Array Radar Development |
Second Place |
| Avyukt Iyer – North Allegheny High School Adaptive Robotic Exoskeleton Regarding Physical and Cognitive Rehabilitation to Reduce Energy Expenditure and Injury |
Third Place |
| Thomas Aldous – Pittsburgh Allderdice High School Rapid Aerial Delivery of Naloxone for Opioid Overdose Reversal |
| Jack Lehman – Indiana Area Senior High School Managing Condensation in Beehives |
Senior Medicine, Health, and Microbiology |
First Place |
| James Xiao – North Allegheny High School A Tear Test for Stroke Detection and Monitoring |
Second Place |
| Kavin Puri – North Allegheny High School An AI-Based Analysis for Cancer Detection: A Low-Cost MOS Sensor Approach |
| Andrew Li – North Allegheny High School Diversity and Meta-Analysis of Microbial Differential Abundance in Nasal Metatranscriptomic Profiles of Asthma |
| Shrita Machineni – South Fayette High School A Novel Neurofeedback Solution: Integrating Advanced Technology for Improved Cognitive Performance |
Third Place |
| Claire Ding – Ding Homeschool Identifying And Testing Genetic Biomarkers For Immune Response In Extensive-stage Small Cell Lung Cancer |
| Angela Wei – North Allegheny High School Effects of Sugar Substitutes on Bacterial Growth |
| James McManus – North Allegheny High School Silent Killers In Your Backyard – Where Is The Best Place To Find Phage That Can Infect Bacillus Toyensis? |
| Evan Xiang – Shady Side Academy Senior School Discovery of a Novel Signaling Mechanism in the Lens through Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitors |
Senior Physics and Astronomy |
First Place |
| Thomas Wang – Shady Side Academy Senior School High-Cadence Photometric Reverberation Mapping of Palomar-Green Quasars for Identification of Light-Hour Size-Scales in Accretion Disks |
Second Place |
| Solvei Islam – Winchester Thurston School Active Self-fusing Modeling For Biological Systems |
Third Place |
| Alexander Du – North Allegheny High School Active Seismic P-Waves and Computational Modeling for Martian Subsurface Resource Identification |
| Jerry Yu – Mt. Lebanon Senior High School Investigating the Impact of Nanostructuring on the Thermal Properties of Silicon-Germanium |
Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) Finalists |
| Thomas Wang – Shady Side Academy Senior School High-Cadence Photometric Reverberation Mapping of Palomar-Green Quasars for Identification of Light-Hour Size-Scales in Accretion Disks |
| Evan Xiang – Shady Side Academy Senior School Discovery of a Novel Signaling Mechanism in the Lens through Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 Inhibitors |
| Avyukt Iyer – North Allegheny High School Adaptive Robotic Exoskeleton Regarding Physical and Cognitive Rehabilitation to Reduce Energy Expenditure and Injury |
| James Xiao – North Allegheny High School A Tear Test for Stroke Detection and Monitoring |
| Eva Nealen – Indiana Area Senior High School Human Epithelial Cell Attachment and Growth on Prosthetic-Based Mesh Using Collagen Biopolymer |
| Audrey Zheng – North Allegheny High School Dethroning the King of Cancers: Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis from Blood Enabled by a Cocktail of Antibody-Magnetic Nanospheres |
