HHS group wins title at state Science Fair

The Hopkinton Higher College group of (from left) Dylan Striek, Disha Mudenur and Rylee Blair took initially spot at the state Science Fair on May well five.

Hopkinton Higher College sophomore Dylan Striek and juniors Rylee Blair and Disha Mudenur went camping final summer season in Nova Scotia and woke up in front of the ocean to stunning sunrises.

“Being so made use of to Hopkinton and Boston’s atmosphere, we hadn’t recognized how stunning nature actually was till that trip,” Striek recalled. The trio realized the variations in atmosphere had been impacted by excess carbon dioxide, especially in the water.

That discovery formed the basis of their Science Fair project titled, “Electrolytic Extraction of Dawsonite from Ocean Water: Effective Saltwater Mineral Recovery via Electrolysis,” which placed initially at the college occasion and second at the regional fair in March.

These benefits earned them a spot in the state-level fair on May well five at Massachusetts Institute of Technologies (MIT), exactly where they placed initially and also won a particular prize — the Pauline Lamarche Particular Award for Excellence in Style.

That victory certified them to compete at the International Science Fair, which was held May well 15-19 in Dallas.

Striek and the other students, buddies given that sixth grade, became interested in studying about ocean acidification and its effects, wanting to assist restore Boston waters.

“Solving this trouble with each other became actually critical to us,” Striek mentioned.

Striek explained the Science Fair project involved building a approach to extract carbon dioxide from the ocean utilizing dawsonite, a naturally occurring mineral.

The key criteria for the experiment, Striek mentioned, was making sure ample amounts of dawsonite had been extracted from the ocean even though at the similar time making sure there was minimal pH modify.

The student explained, “pH modify is a massive element of our project’s criteria mainly because many strategies previously tested noted that wildlife about the important plants died at speedy prices, and we wanted to make certain that the atmosphere is not negatively impacted by our design and style.”

Following the study period, the group performed a lot more than 140 experiments more than eight months, each and every one particular lasting at least ten minutes, and compiled eight notebooks complete of documentation. The procedure also involved researching unique approaches to present the information, which they compiled via Excel.

Striek mentioned the encounter taught them about very good teamwork.

“We did lots of unique varieties of experiments and made use of a lot of cool science gear, which was all new to us,” Striek mentioned.

Whilst the students believed the science was the greatest element of the encounter, they also had exciting presenting to judges, appreciating their interest as nicely as studying a lot more about careers in science.

Striek mentioned the group initially was intimidated by the “complex-sounding names” of projects and the prestigious schools from which their competitors hailed.

“But we nonetheless presented what we did with self-assurance. If the challenging operate is there, it will show,” he mentioned.

In addition to excelling with science and presentation, Striek believes the teammates possessing exciting with each and every other solidified their winning project.

“We have spent hundreds of hours with each other on this, and if we didn’t know how to appreciate each and every other’s organization, we would not have created it as far as we did,” Striek added.

Added Hopkinton prize winners at the state fair integrated:

“Utilizing Hypermagnesemia to Realize the Influence of Neuromuscular Blocking Agents on Caenorhabditis Elegans: A Protected Novel Automated Model for Paralytic Drug Testing” by Srilakshmi Venkatesan, third spot “Chlorella vulgaris as a model for photobioreactor use in industrial carbon removal” by Juliet Findlen, honorable mention.

Getting the Particular Award: Mass Life Sciences-Trailblazer Award for Innovation in Life Sciences was “PFAS Pollution and Its Effects on Daphnia Pulex: Implications for the Atmosphere and Human Health” by Necalli Vela-Garcia, Surya Raja-Amudhan and Nithu Sridharan.

5 HHS teams won prizes at the regional occasion — like 4 that placed in the top rated 15 — and earned spots in the state competitors.

In addition to the group of Striek, Blair and Mudenur taking second spot, 3 HHS men and women received third-spot prizes: Sahithi Pogula for “In Silico SALL4 Oncogene Overexpression Correlation to Non-Coding RNA Post-Transcriptional Regulation and Epigenetic Manage,” Srilakshmi Venkatesan for “Utilizing Hypermagnesemia to Realize the Influence of Neuromuscular Blocking Agents on Caenorhabditis Elegans: A Protected Novel Automated Model for Paralytic Drug Testing,” and Juliet Findlen for “Chlorella vulgaris as a model for photobioreactor use in industrial carbon removal.”

In addition, the group of Briana Mallouh, Tomo Oga and Avani Daga received honorable mention for “Next Time-Step Pollution Level Prediction Utilizing Custom Recurrent Neural Networks.”

Kristen Murphy, teacher and director of the system given that 2017, mentioned Hopkinton regularly has been one particular of the top rated schools in the area and grown into one particular of the biggest applications in the state.

For the previous 3 years, a group from HHS has certified for the international competitors, a feat she mentioned is “pretty unheard of for a public college in Massachusetts.”

Murphy mentioned she is most proud of the raise in student participation, with 110 students functioning on projects this year.

“Even if these students do not win awards, there is a large quantity of studying and development that requires spot,” Murphy mentioned. “I feel it is a terrific chance for students to challenge themselves and discover a lot about perseverance.”

The system is a hybrid involving a class and club, an optional enrichment activity open to all higher college students eager to discover study methods and investigate a subject of interest.

Murphy noted the HPTO delivers a grant to assist obtain supplies for every single project so students can participate at no expense.

Subsequent year, the college is supplying an sophisticated study elective seminar for 10th graders. Murphy mentioned the class requires bringing in weekly professional neighborhood members. She urged any individual in town prepared to speak to a class about study and applications in science to get in touch with her.

Murphy added, “Asking inquiries, creating a program, troubleshooting when items do not go nicely, functioning as a group, teaching other folks about a subject — these are some of the most critical abilities students have to have, no matter what profession they sooner or later opt for.”