The seventh annual Harker Research Symposium, April 28, will feature renowned entrepreneur and founding CEO of Sun Microsystems Vinod Khosla as its morning keynote speaker. The symposium, running from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., will once again bring Harker students and alumni together at the upper school campus to share their love of scientific research.
The afternoon keynote address will be delivered by two speakers: Dr. Atul Butte, chief of the division of systems medicine and associate professor of pediatrics, medicine and, by courtesy, computer science, at Stanford University and Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital; and John West, Harker parent and CEO of genome analysis company Personalis. Butte was one of four Stanford faculty members who orchestrated a collaboration between the university and Personalis to sequence the DNA of the West family (Anne ’11, Paul, grade 12).
Harker alumnus Jacob Bongers ’07 will also make a special appearance to discuss his experiences conducting and publishing research as an undergraduate student in archaeology at the University of Southern California.
A central component of every Harker Research Symposium is the chance for students to present their research to industry professionals, parents and fellow students. Dozens of talks will be given by Harker upper school students, and more than 30 poster sessions by middle and upper school students will be on display at various points throughout the day. Harker alumni will also deliver talks via video conference from research labs all over the country.
As with last year’s symposium, this year several exhibitors will be offering interactive displays for the hundreds of annual attendees. This year’s exhibitors at posting time include Autodesk, East Bay Cardiovascular Surgeons, Ericsson, Genophen, Hewlett-Packard, Hunter Laboratories, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Rector Motors, Symmetricom and Twin Creeks Technologies.
The Harker Research Symposium is open to all members of the Harker community. Additional information, including a schedule, is available at http://www.harker.org/symposium. For more information on student presentations, contact Harker science department chair Anita Chetty at anitac@harker.org. For exhibitor information, contact symposium@harker.org.
This story was originally printed in the March 2008 issue of Harker News.
Now in its third year, the Harker Research Symposium showcases student research projects to inspire students and give them a chance to present their hardest work in a scientific environment.
Projects on display will include those of Harker’s three Intel Science Talent Search (ISTS) semifinalists,seniors Frank Wang (“The Effect of Oxygenated Diesel Fuels on Emissions”), Thomas Roxlo (“Potential Clinical Applications of Celastrol”) and Senan Ebrahim (“Characterization and Synthesis of Silk III”).
Last year, presenters included Harker ISTS winners from the class of 2007, Adam Creasman, Carolyn Wang and Arkajit Dey, as well as other students from all three campuses. Other speakers included Harker alumni, students from Lynbrook High School and Monte Vista High School.
Symposium coordinator and science department chair Anita Chetty noted that the symposium is an opportunity for parents and middle schoolers to become familiar with the Harker research program and to find out what the student researchers really do.
In addition, the displays help budding researchers understand how to enter a research competition,what exactly a paper submitted to a competition looks like and what an oral presentation sounds like.
Chetty noted that at the end of the afternoon, workshops will be run on technical writing, internships and research competitions. Workshops can be attended by freshmen, sophomores and juniors and any interested parents. See the Research Web page for details on the workshops.
“The conference is also a way for our alumni doing research at post-secondary institutions to bring that knowledge back to us,” said Chetty. Three Harker alumni will present at this year’s symposium: Ankur Gupta ’06, currently at Carnegie Mellon University, Shilpa Vadodaria ’05, now at Columbia University, and Samantha Levinson ’06, UC Santa Barbara. “Finally, we have brought a very important element of the research process into the symposium in the form of companies that show the connection between research, everyday life, the economy and career opportunities for researchers,” said Chetty. “Everyone in the Harker community is welcome. I think everyone will be amazed at the quality of these presentations and the composure shown by these young researchers!”
Symposium Keynote Speker is Founder of Award-Winning Education Program
Geoff Green is the founder and director of the Canadian-based organization Students on Ice Expeditions (www.studentsonice.com), an award-winning educational program that has taken over 800 students, teachers and scientists from around the world on expeditions to both the Arctic and the Antarctic, according to his biography. The goal of the project is to give the world’s youth a heightened understanding and respect for our planet’s global ecosystem, and the inspiration to protect it. In 2005, Green received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from the U.S. Congress for his work with youth and the environment. He has lead scores of expeditions to the polar caps for a variety of organizations, including Discovery Channel, World Wildlife Fund, National Audubon and the Smithsonian Institution, and has been a guest speaker at the Royal Geographical Society in London and the Smithsonian Institution.
This story was originally published in the May 2008 issue of Harker News. “Going Green” was the theme of the third annual Harker Research Symposium held in March 2008 on the Saratoga campus. Over 300 attended and 50 students from the middle and upper schools gave presentations. Poster sessions covered diverse topics from new and innovative approaches for generating and saving energy, to reporting on the effects of cell phone conversations on drivers’ reaction times. Paper presentations also covered a wide range of topics including research for new cancer therapies and the effects of farming on river water quality. The sessions featured presentations by our Intel and Siemens semifinalists, the J8 team, three Harker alumni and students from Lynbrook High School in San Jose and Galt High School from Sacramento.” Sponsors were Applied Materials, Google and Hewlett-Packard. Students from San Jose State University demonstrated Phantastic Physics, and Santa Clara University sent their solar decathlon team. Of special interest was a comprehensive exhibit describing the eco-friendly building techniques used in the new science and technology building. Symposium keynote speaker Geoff Green, founder of Students on Ice, a nonprofit organization that takes groups of students from around the world on unique educational trips to the Poles, took the audience on an inspiring and unforgettable voyage to Antarctica and the Arctic, recounting his adventures with orcas and penguins, polar bears and Inuit elders. Anita Chetty, science department chair and event organizer, said the symposium exceeded her wildest hopes. She was thrilled by the sense of energy, excitement and enthusiasm that was palpably present throughout the day. “The kids were so marvelous,” she said. “They came here and do this for the sheer joy of sharing their experiences and learning from each other.”
This story was originally published in the May 2008 issue of Harker News. “Going Green” was the theme of the third annual Harker Research Symposium held in March 2008 on the Saratoga campus. Over 300 attended and 50 students from the middle and upper schools gave presentations. Poster sessions covered diverse topics from new and innovative approaches for generating and saving energy, to reporting on the effects of cell phone conversations on drivers’ reaction times. Paper presentations also covered a wide range of topics including research for new cancer therapies and the effects of farming on river water quality. The sessions featured presentations by our Intel and Siemens semifinalists, the J8 team, three Harker alumni and students from Lynbrook High School in San Jose and Galt High School from Sacramento.” Sponsors were Applied Materials, Google and Hewlett-Packard. Students from San Jose State University demonstrated Phantastic Physics, and Santa Clara University sent their solar decathlon team. Of special interest was a comprehensive exhibit describing the eco-friendly building techniques used in the new science and technology building. Symposium keynote speaker Geoff Green, founder of Students on Ice, a nonprofit organization that takes groups of students from around the world on unique educational trips to the Poles, took the audience on an inspiring and unforgettable voyage to Antarctica and the Arctic, recounting his adventures with orcas and penguins, polar bears and Inuit elders. Anita Chetty, science department chair and event organizer, said the symposium exceeded her wildest hopes. She was thrilled by the sense of energy, excitement and enthusiasm that was palpably present throughout the day. “The kids were so marvelous,” she said. “They came here and do this for the sheer joy of sharing their experiences and learning from each other.”
This story was originally published in the May 2008 issue of Harker News. “Going Green” was the theme of the third annual Harker Research Symposium held in March 2008 on the Saratoga campus. Over 300 attended and 50 students from the middle and upper schools gave presentations. Poster sessions covered diverse topics from new and innovative approaches for generating and saving energy, to reporting on the effects of cell phone conversations on drivers’ reaction times. Paper presentations also covered a wide range of topics including research for new cancer therapies and the effects of farming on river water quality. The sessions featured presentations by our Intel and Siemens semifinalists, the J8 team, three Harker alumni and students from Lynbrook High School in San Jose and Galt High School from Sacramento.” Sponsors were Applied Materials, Google and Hewlett-Packard. Students from San Jose State University demonstrated Phantastic Physics, and Santa Clara University sent their solar decathlon team. Of special interest was a comprehensive exhibit describing the eco-friendly building techniques used in the new science and technology building. Symposium keynote speaker Geoff Green, founder of Students on Ice, a nonprofit organization that takes groups of students from around the world on unique educational trips to the Poles, took the audience on an inspiring and unforgettable voyage to Antarctica and the Arctic, recounting his adventures with orcas and penguins, polar bears and Inuit elders. Anita Chetty, science department chair and event organizer, said the symposium exceeded her wildest hopes. She was thrilled by the sense of energy, excitement and enthusiasm that was palpably present throughout the day. “The kids were so marvelous,” she said. “They came here and do this for the sheer joy of sharing their experiences and learning from each other.”