Three Harker alumni were featured speakers at this year’s research symposium, “Technology for Life.” Jennifer Ong ’07, a junior at U.C. San Diego, is pursuing biology and communications majors. Richard Kwant ’07 is studying chemistry and physics at Harvard University, and Brian Ma ’08 is a bioengineering major at the California Institute of Technology.
Ong spoke about her new role as chief operations officer for The Triple Helix (TTH), a nonprofit, studentrun organization that publishes undergraduate articles in print and on their website. Founded by Kevin Hwang ’03, its mission, said Ong, “is to allow students the opportunity to voice ideas about the interdisciplinary nature of science, society and law.”
Speaking via teleconference from Harvard, Kwant presented his work on protein structures and interactions. He was able to create crystalline structures of the protein human carbonic anhydrase II, which provide researchers with an atomic level view of what is happening in the protein. “This research will be helpful for biology and medicine in understanding how proteins work and how human biology works,” Kwant said.
Begun as a summer research project at CalTech, Ma’s work seeks to unravel the mystery of how plants, unlike animals, can regenerate. Ma screened epigenetic-related genes to determine if they are involved in the regeneration process.
“Being the first to discover new knowledge is definitely one allure of going into the research field, whether as an undergraduate or afterwards,” said Ma.
For the full report on alumni speakers at the Harker Research Symposium, go to news.harker.org and search on “Research Alumni.”
The 2010 “Technology for Life” research symposium featured two prominent keynote speakers who have broadened their scientific backgrounds into careers with global impact.
Dr. William McClure, a partner at Napa Valley Plastic Surgery, Inc. and a graduate of U.C. San Diego’s medical school and Stanford University, focused on his volunteer work with Interplast, doing reconstructive surgery on children in developing countries.
During 25 years and 55 missions in 14 countries, McClure has repaired cleft lips and palates, burn scars and other issues. McClure said, “I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was in high school,” until a teacher with a burn scar stirred “my first interest in plastic surgery.” During residency, he had the chance to take care of children in Mexico. “Something clicked. That changed my life,” said McClure.
Dr. Christopher Gilbert is the vice president of science and technology at Keystone Dental, Inc. and is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon in materials science.
Gilbert said his father’s interest in bad science fiction, where fantastical microsurgical tools and bionic eyes were part of the stories, inspired him. Some of those medical devices such as surgical robots and ocular implants are now a reality. Gilbert said, “Medical technology has revolutionized health care since the 1960s. Discoveries improve lives; they change lives.”
Noting the interdisciplinary nature of the field, Gilbert advised, “Many of the skills you are now developing in science will serve you in the future. Many of the problem-solving skills I developed in the sciences have served me well in the business world.”
For the full report on keynote speakers at the Harker Research Symposium, go to news.harker.org and search on “Research.”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2010 Harker Quarterly.
Nichols Hall on the Saratoga campus hummed with energy on April 10, as Harker’s fifth annual research symposium, “Technology for Life,” got underway. Begun in 2005 by upper school biology teacher and science department chair Anita Chetty, the student-led event is modeled after professional symposia which encourage the sharing of ideas in a noncompetitive setting.
More than 300 people and 69 student presenters attended the increasingly popular event. “Each year sets a new standard and because of the nature of our community, we simply use that standard to grow from,” said Chetty. Three alumni also presented their current university research, and two keynote speakers linked science backgrounds to careers.
The day included breakout sessions led by 19 upper school students and poster presentations by another 16 students. Anjali Menon, Gr. 12, formally presented her work with IBM’s Almaden facility, on using computers to replace human subjects in simulating the action of drug molecules. Her mother, Indira Somanathan, is enthusiastic about Harker’s research program. “Here you have your own facilities and technology. I’m really happy with Nichols Hall,” she said.
Amy Zhou, sponsor coordinator for the symposium and mother of Jason Young, Gr. 11, thinks Nichols Hall plays a big part in the excitement middle school students have for science. “The level of science is getting better and better every year,” she said. “The teachers are encouraging and give you time to work in the lab, and the research class allows you to learn more skills like writing and presentation.” Young presented his work with epigenetic regulation of gene expression, which he will continue at the University of California, San Diego, this summer.
The upper school Chemistry Club presented demonstrations, and at a “Harker Hospital” workshop, middle school students, under the guidance of upper school students, ran EKGs, took blood pressure readings and analyzed simulated blood samples. “This was a great opportunity for us not only to showcase some of our sophisticated data acquisition tools, but for our upper school students to mentor and inspire younger Harker students,” said Chetty.
Divya Kalidindi and Namita Ravi, both Gr. 8, were two of 34 middle school students on hand to discuss their poster presentations. Studying the effect of caffeine on the regeneration of body parts in planaria, they found that caffeine could halve the time required for planaria to grow a new head. Looking forward to working
in Nichols Hall next year, Kalidindi said, “The center seems more professional. It is going to be really fun.” Ravi added, “The topics are really good here.”
Inspired by his study of respiration to research the effect of phosphate on algae blooms in aquatic ecosystems, Josh Batra, Gr. 8, said, “It was fun to see my experiment in action.” Batra is looking forward to more exposure to biology and physics in the upper school.
Event sponsors offered hands-on technology demonstrations and career advice for students and parents. Brendon Yu, Gr. 8, stood in line to try out Autosuture, by Covidien Surgical. Taking a turn at the hand instruments for suturing, Yu said, “This helps you get inside the body and sew delicate arteries. It requires a lot of practice.”
The day closed with a workshop titled “Research Internships, Technical Writing and Research Competitions,” led by a panel of seniors. “These articulate and talented students gave such an informative talk that parents wanted to hear it again,” Chetty said.
“The prospect of approaching a university researcher can be daunting. Seeing that their Harker peers have been successful in doing so is highly encouraging,” said Chetty. “Presentations such as this one continue to assist in moving forward the mandate of the symposium, which is that it is a student-led research conference for students.”
Keynote Speakers Inspire with Advice, Careers
The 2010 “Technology for Life” research symposium featured two prominent keynote speakers who have broadened their scientific backgrounds into careers with global impact.
Dr. William McClure, a partner at Napa Valley Plastic Surgery, Inc. and a graduate of U.C. San Diego’s medical school and Stanford University, focused on his volunteer work with Interplast, doing reconstructive surgery on children in developing countries.
During 25 years and 55 missions in 14 countries, McClure has repaired cleft lips and palates, burn scars and other issues. McClure said, “I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was in high school,” until a teacher with a burn scar stirred “my first interest in plastic surgery.” During residency, he had the chance to take care of children in Mexico. “Something clicked. That changed my life,” said McClure.
Dr. Christopher Gilbert is the vice president of science and technology at Keystone Dental, Inc. and is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon in materials science.
Gilbert said his father’s interest in bad science fiction, where fantastical microsurgical tools and bionic eyes were part of the stories, inspired him. Some of those medical devices such as surgical robots and ocular implants are now a reality. Gilbert said, “Medical technology has revolutionized health care since the 1960s. Discoveries improve lives; they change lives.”
Noting the interdisciplinary nature of the field, Gilbert advised, “Many of the skills you are now developing in science will serve you in the future. Many of the problem-solving skills I developed in the sciences have served me well in the business world.”
For the full report on keynote speakers at the Harker Research Symposium, go to news.harker.org and search on “Research.”
Alumni Impress Symposium Attendees with Current Research
Three Harker alumni were featured speakers at this year’s research symposium, “Technology for Life.” Jennifer Ong ’07, a junior at U.C. San Diego, is pursuing biology and communications majors. Richard Kwant ’07 is studying chemistry and physics at Harvard University, and Brian Ma ’08 is a bioengineering major at the California Institute of Technology.
Ong spoke about her new role as chief operations officer for The Triple Helix (TTH), a nonprofit, student- run organization that publishes undergraduate articles in print and on their website. Founded by Kevin Hwang ’03, its mission, said Ong, “is to allow students the opportunity to voice ideas about the interdisciplinary nature of science, society and law.”
Speaking via teleconference from Harvard, Kwant presented his work on protein structures and interactions. He was able to create crystalline structures of the protein human carbonic anhydrase II, which provide researchers with an atomic level view of what is happening in the protein. “This research will be helpful for biology and medicine in understanding how proteins work and how human biology works,” Kwant said.
Begun as a summer research project at CalTech, Ma’s work seeks to unravel the mystery of how plants, unlike animals, can regenerate. Ma screened epigenetic-related genes to determine if they are involved in the regeneration process.
“Being the first to discover new knowledge is definitely one allure of going into the research field, whether as an undergraduate or afterwards,” said Ma.
For the full report on alumni speakers at the Harker Research Symposium, go to news.harker.org and search on “Research Alumni.”
Reprinted from the Harker Quarterly March 2010 issue
On Jan. 14, the tables turned at the upper school campus. The students, typically collecting awards at Intel and Siemens Science competitions and presenting their own research at the annual and upcoming Harker Research Symposium (see December Harker Quarterly), became the subjects for a cutting-edge research study conducted by Stanford University.
The collaboration began in the fall of 2008, when biologist and principal researcher Dr. Marcel Salathé contacted Katherine Schafer, biology and research teacher at Harker. After meeting with Schafer, Salathé knew that Harker would be a great place to run the study and that Schafer would be a great partner in the project.
“It’s … very important that everyone is excited about the research and the project,” Salathé said, “and after talking to a few teachers and students it became clear that Harker would be a very good place to do this.”
“There is no data of such detail about human contact networks at this scale, especially at schools,” Salathé said, “so the data will be the first of its kind, which is always a very exciting prospect in science.”
The data will be used to create a detailed contact network and Salathé and his team will run epidemic simulations on this established network to help advance understanding of how diseases spread through human interactions and, potentially, use the conclusions to improve epidemic control within schools.
Setting up the research took a year’s worth of preparation and two trial runs to work out kinks, but the experiment will offer new insight into the spread of viruses. For a day, students, faculty and staff wore wireless devices, called motes, around their necks, and stationary motes were mounted on the walls of most classrooms. These low-powered sensory devices logged interactions with each other through weak radio signal detection
To properly set up the research, Harker forwarded a letter from the researchers to parents explaining the project. Then, Salathé and colleagues Philip Levis, assistant professor of computer science, and James Holland Jones, assistant professor of anthropology, provided details at a schoolwide assembly the day before the data collection to stress the importance of student involvement in the research.
The study is a marriage between Stanford’s biology, anthropology and computer science departments and highlights the interdisciplinary nature of major research to Harker students. Harker is the only school participating in the study and the participation reflects the scientific spirit fostered on campus.
“One of the ideas [for the assembly] was to try and give a little bit of a feel for the different disciplinary perspectives and how it comes together in a single coherent project,” Jones said. Schafer also stressed the importance of reminding students to pursue multiple interests.
“One of the goals of this assembly, in addition to learning about the study, was to get the kids thinking about the fact that having lots of different talents is going to help them a lot down the line,” Schafer said. “Having knowledge of computer science and biology and all of these other things could potentially be a huge benefit for them in their careers and in their lives in general.”
Students were given the opportunity to expand their research interests by providing feedback and working closely with the researchers to determine the best possible way to extract data. Salathé’s team initially thought self-logged data would be sufficient and tested this possibility with Schafer’s research club.
The students in the club were given journals to record their interactions throughout a school day to test the method, but returns were short of the mark. “We then switched to the advanced version of motes, and quite a few students helped us test that idea,” Salathé said.
Andrea Lincoln, Gr. 12, participated in the study and coincidentally did research at Boston University last summer using wireless sensor networks (WSN) similar to the motes used in Stanford’s study. Lincoln thought the experiment served as a worthy introduction to the vast world of research.
“Given the huge percentage of Harker students who are considering research as a possible career, I believe it is valuable for us to have an introduction,” Lincoln said. “Perhaps seeing the WSN research will convince some students to look into research internships.”
Almost 800 motes were distributed across campus and roughly 6.5 million pieces of raw data were collected. Both Schafer and Salathé said the day went incredibly smoothly.
“This is in large part because we were so well prepared,” Salathé said.
The entire process was also Schafer’s chance to get involved in research again. After studying the population ecology of stomatopod crustaceans and pygmy octopuses on coral reefs in Belize for her doctoral dissertation, Schafer said the Stanford research project contrasted significantly from the type of research she did as a field biologist.
Salathé is pleased with the whole data gathering process and results should be available in April. “I think we would do it pretty much exactly the same way if we were to do it again,” he noted, giving full credit for the successful effort to Schafer.
“She was excited from the beginning and is the main reason why this Harker-Stanford collaboration has worked out so well,” he said. “It couldn’t have been done without her.”
The 2010 “Technology for Life” research symposium, held Saturday, April 10, in Nichols Center, featured two prominent keynote speakers who have propelled their scientific backgrounds into careers with global impact:
Dr. William McClure, a noted plastic surgeon and humanitarian, is a partner at Napa Valley Plastic Surgery, Inc. A graduate of the University of California-San Diego medical school and Stanford University in plastic and general surgical training, McClure has served as chief of surgery at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa. McClure’s presentation, however, focused on his volunteer work with the group Interplast, doing reconstructive surgery on children in developing countries.
Over 25 years and through 55 missions in 14 countries, McClure has repaired cleft lips and palates, neurofibromas and burn scars. Such deformities often doom a child to a life of shame or debilitating impairment. Referring to the cultural superstitions around cleft lips, a deformity in one out of 100 births, McClure said, “The sad part is it takes only 30 to 45 minutes to repair the deformity and change this child’s life.”
McClure told his audience, “I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was in high school.” But then a math teacher with a burn scar on one side of his head stirred “my first interest in plastic surgery.” During residency, he was assigned to a plastic surgery rotation with the opportunity to take care of children in Mexico. “Something clicked. That changed my life,” said McClure, who saw how a handful of instruments and 35 minutes could change the life of a child with a cleft lip.
The longer-term solution to surgical needs, however, is training physicians and nurses in developing countries to do the operations themselves. “Surgery is a skill,” said McClure. “You learn it by doing it and we teach by doing. If each trip I can train a physician, we get tremendous leverage.”
McClure, who has already traveled to Laos this year and has a trip to Mexico planned, has received several awards for his philanthropic work, and in 2005 met the Dalai Lama. His “life’s journey” advice to students considering medical careers is threefold: Look to the future while living in the moment, be willing to change course, and plant seeds today. He also encouraged everyone to get involved. “It doesn’t take wealth, academic standing or special skills to make a difference. They secret key is compassion,” he noted. “The Dalai Lama says that if we want to be happy in our life, we have to practice compassion.”
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Dr. Christopher Gilbert is the vice president of science and technology at Keystone Dental, Inc. A graduate of the University of California-Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University in materials science, Gilbert has worked with McKinsey & Company, consulting with global biopharmaceutical clients on acquisitions and commercial strategy, and with Hologic, Inc.
Gilbert credited his early career inspiration to his father’s interest in bad science fiction, where fantastical micro-surgical tools and bionic eyes were part of the stories. Some of those medical devices, such as surgical robots and ocular implants, are now reality. Speaking about high-tech therapeutic devices such as pacemakers and small equipment like intravenous pumps, Gilbert said, “Medical technology has revolutionized health care since the 1960s. Discoveries improve lives; they change lives.”
With Hologic, Inc., Gilbert led the U.S. approval and launch of the Adiana permanent contraceptive device. A $210 billion industry with an expected growth rate of 6.5 percent, the medical device market comprises 25 percent of U.S. health care expenditures. Competitive and constantly changing, the highly regulated field interweaves the complexities of business, government, patients, physicians and advocacy groups. Gilbert encouraged students to take a variety of courses and take advantage of biomedical and business departments in college. “You need to interface with a wide range of people,” Gilbert advised.
Gilbert’s career began when a random application to a consulting firm ultimately led to his current position. “Believe in the extreme importance of serendipity in your career,” he said. “What kind of skills do you develop to take advantage of things that fall in your lap?” Gilbert said that the Bay Area economy encourages risks and accepts failure, out of which comes opportunity. “Failure will happen. It takes 10 to 12 years to take a product to market, and many of these fail.”
Noting the interdisciplinary nature of the field, Gilbert counseled, “Many of the skills you are now developing in science will serve you in the future. Many of the problem-solving skills I developed in the sciences have served me well in the business world.”
A new Harker research workshop will be offered as part of Harker’s Summer Institute program. The introductory course will help students develop skills such as observation, critical analysis, conducting experiments and safe, effective use of lab equipment. Students will also go on a marine ecology field trip and see a number of guest speakers.
The course and is open to students entering grades 9 and 10 in the fall and takes place July 6-23, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Students must have completed a middle school science curriculum with a B average or better to attend the workshop. It will be taught by upper school science teacher Matthew Harley at Nichols Hall on Harker’s upper school campus at 500 Saratoga Ave. in San Jose. The cost for the course is $698. For more information on other courses offered during Harker’s Summer Institute, please visit the Summer Institute homepage.
The Harker Research Symposium will take place April 10, 2010, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Nichols Hall. Submissions are due Fri., Jan. 29, 2010.
Since 2006, the Harker Research Symposium has offered students with a passion for a science a forum to present and discuss the results of their many hours of research and experimentation. Visited by more than 300 people annually, the symposium has featured students presenting on a wide variety of topics and has attracted an impressive array of guest speakers.
The symposium is open to students in Gr. 6-12 who wish to share their work with fellow students, parents or even those currently working in the field of research. Students often give paper presentations, which consist of 12-minute talks about research documents they have produced, followed by an eight-minute Q&A session. They also have poster presentations, in which they display their research results on three-panel boards and take questions from attendees.
The Nichols Hall atrium was the setting for a confluence of art and science at Harker’s fourth annual science research symposium, New Frontiers, in mid-March. Over 300 attendees enjoyed breakfast, The Science of Art display in the upstairs gallery and music by the Harker String Quartet while viewing student presentations on site and streamed via the Internet.
All told, there were 37 MS and US presentations, 22 student papers, two alumni presenters from the class of 2004 and two keynote speakers.
With enthusiasm and confidence, students presented their work and answered questions from both guests and each other. Vikram Sundar, Gr. 7, sought out faculty mentor Rajasree Swaminathan, MS science teacher, and the Science Research Club to support his look at the use of capacitors to provide a steady current to charge solar lithium-ion batteries. “Research is a lot of fun,” Sundar said. “You can make it your own.”
“Kids argue logic and reasoning with one another, and challenge each other to do better and better,” said Huali G. Chai, mother of Siemens semifinalist Andrew Stanek, Gr. 12.
Papers were given on topics ranging from a survey of insect pollinator biodiversity on plants in Costa Rica to the activation of two proteins by airborne particulates relative to lung damage.
Emily Carr, Gr. 12, credited her faculty mentor, biology teacher Kate Schafer, with inspiring her to take Harker’s research class and develop her work on the effect of estrogens on sea urchins. “The class was terrific and Harker was very supportive,” Carr said.
Intel finalist Denzil Sikka, Gr. 12, credited Harker’s research class with the opportunity and support to develop a new algorithm for aligning large data sets. “Harker teachers are really open,” she said. “As long as you are willing to put in the work, they are willing to support you.”
Senior Dominique Dabija found a summer internship at Stanford University to develop her program that makes it easier to visualize the way a signal travels in a protein, and its effect on amino acids. She is also a member of Harker’s Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (WiSTEM) club, conducted the symposium’s CSI: Harker workshop, and was an Intel and Siemens semifinalist.
From afar, alumni Alfred Pokmeng See ’04, Johns Hopkins University, and Nikhil Deshmukh ’04, Princeton University, each led interactive videoconference sessions on their work with malignant brain tumors and neural activity in spatial navigation, respectively. This year’s event also featured two keynote speakers. Nimet Maherali, Ph.D. candidate at Har vard University Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cancer, spoke about “Cellular Alchemy and the Making of a Research Scientist.” Dr. Andrew Chan, senior vice president of immunology and antibody engineering at Genentech, addressed guests regarding “Science, Biotechnology and Medicine in the 21st Centur y.” Sponsors for this year’s event were Roche, Fortebio, Hunter Labs, Nanosyn, Pearl Therapeutics, Relypsa and Health Hero Network/Bosch.
The symposium was established by Anita Chetty, science department chair, as an opportunity for students to enter research competitions and share their work prior to graduation, and for alumni and other research leaders to link lab work with real world applications and careers. Alumnus Deshmukh noted, “I think it’s fair to say that the majority of my peers in graduate school did not even know what research was until junior or senior year of college; to have such an experience as a high school student can make a huge difference.”
Cal Tech student Aarathi Minisandram ’08 credits Chetty with helping her solidify her interest in pre-med. “The symposium is amazing,” she said. “The upper school resources are better than most colleges and the variety of science courses helped me broaden my horizons.” Minisandram ser ved as WiSTEM co-president when at Harker. “You see companies here and they are really interested in our work,” said Minisandram.
Chetty expressed her delight in the completion of Nichols Hall, which brings together all the sciences in one location and promotes the sharing of knowledge. “Thank you for making my dreams come true,” Chetty said as she expressed appreciation to the students, parents, mentors and faculty for their passion and patience, along with alumni who represent Harker and return to share. She also thanked the administration and lifetime trustee Diana Nichols for their support. Looking ahead, Chetty hopes to increase opportunities for students to find mentors, and expand the event to include students from schools across the country. She is also considering videoconferencing with sister schools in Australia and Switzerland. Next year’s symposium will be held on March 20, 2010.