Namrata Anand, Gr. 12, recently earned second place in the Intel Science Talent Search People’s Choice Awards. Anand was one of 40 national finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search, the winners of which were chosen by Intel and the Society of Science and the Public in March. Following the contest, an online vote was conducted at http://www.inspiredbyeducation.com/ to decide the People’s Choice winners.
Anand received a Dell Netbook for taking second place with her project, which studied the chemical composition of the Andromeda galaxy. The findings she made in the project could lead to the discovery of areas with a high likelihood of containing extraterrestrial life.
Alex Han, Gr. 12 and Jacqueline Wang, Gr. 9, have been selected as two of the five delegates from the Northern California region to attend the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS), held in Bethesda, Md., from April 28 to May 2. Han also earned a $1,000 scholarship and will present at the symposium.
The two students earned the all-expenses-paid trip to Bethesda after presenting their own scientific research at the regional JSHS held at the University of Nevada, Reno from March 18-20. At the national symposium, Han and Wang will each have the opportunity to compete for military-sponsored scholarships.
A team of 13 Harker students, advised by upper school math teacher Anthony Silk, were among the top 20 teams in the National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC), organized by the Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS).
The team’s project was called the Cellular Attachable Rotating Earpiece (CARE), a device that attaches to an electric wheelchair, allowing amputees to speak on their cell phones normally instead of having to speak loudly or yell. A prototype of CARE was tested with Donna Yeager, a good friend of upper school Spanish teacher Diana Moss. Yeager visited the Saratoga campus in December to test the device, which is conveniently located on the headrest and includes an earpiece and microphone.
Yeager brought three of the students along with Moss onto the set of her cable access show “On The Move” to discuss their project and the process of its design and implementation. During the competition, the students produced a video detailing the design and construction of the device.
On the heels of the recent announcement of Harker’s four Intel Science Talent Search (STS) semifinalists, word came Jan. 27 that Namrata Anand, Gr. 12, was named a finalist in the contest. Anand, whose project analyzed the chemical composition of stars in the Andromeda galaxy, received $7,500 and will travel to Washington, D.C. in March to compete for the $100,000 grand prize with 40 other finalists from across the country. She will also have a chance to meet and greet with Nobel laureates and President Barack Obama.
Anand is Harker’s first Intel STS finalist since 2006, when Yi Sun went on to claim second place and won a $75,000 scholarship.
Kate Schafer, upper school biology teacher, credited the mentors involved who assisted the semifinalists, and also recognized the “many students that enter and put in amazing amounts of time” into their projects.
Anand and other students working on Andromeda-related projects received mentoring from Raja Guha Thakurta, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, as well as UCSC P.h.D students Evan Kirby and Kristen Howley. Karoline Gilbert, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Washington Seattle, also assisted with Thakurta with mentoring the students. The mentors provided everything from custom software to personal guidance to the contestants as they worked on their projects.
Four Harker upper school students were named Intel Science Talent Search semifinalists at a special assembly on Jan. 13. Each student was awarded $1,000 and has a shot at becoming one of the 40 finalists who will compete in Washington, D.C., for the $100,000 grand prize. A total of 300 semifinalists were chosen nationwide from an initial pool of 1,700 contestants.
Of the four semifinalists, all of them seniors, three were selected for projects focusing on the Andromeda galaxy. Namrata Anand’s project analyzed the chemical makeup of stars to learn more about the galaxy’s history, while Andrew Zhou studied the different star types in the galaxy. Kevin Zhang looked at the similarities between Andromeda’s stars and those found in other galaxies. Vishesh Jain was awarded for his project that analyzed heart disease diagnosis techniques.
Last year, Harker produced six semifinalists, the most ever by a West Coast school and the seventh-most in the nation. Harker alumnus Yi Sun ’06 took second place in the 2006 finals, earning $75,000.
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.
[Update] Stanford researchers were on campus today running a trial experiment in anticipation of a full scale study in January. This is their second visit to the campus; there was an earlier trial run in November. Harker is the only school participating in the study, said Kate Schafer, biology teacher, who is working with the Stanford researchers to effect the data collection.
Today, researchers hung motes around the necks of 100 students and teachers to help plan for the full-scale data collection in mid-January. Prior to the final event, letters will be sent to parents explaining the process, and the lead investigator, along with others involved in the experiment, will address the students in assembly. The day before the event, students will be briefed on the next day’s activity. The actual data collection for the study will be made on January 14.
Nov. 16, 2009
Come January, the upper school will be participating in a groundbreaking Stanford study on the way viruses are spread by human interaction. By outfitting all members of the Saratoga campus with motes, a device measuring human interaction, researchers hope to gain insight into the way viruses are spread among individuals. The National Science Foundation provided funding for new technology developed for the study.
Recently, a trial run was done on campus with the motes on a small number of students. However, there were some inconsistencies with the technology and as a result several of the researchers have been back to work out the kinks. Another test is scheduled to run around mid-December.
Prior to the final experiment, the Stanford professors will explain the nature of the research in an assembly. One interesting aspect is that the research is being conducted by professors of sociology, biology, computer science and statistics, giving our students insight into the interdisciplinary nature of much major research. Ultimately, the professors will submit results for publishing in major publications.
[Update] Stanford researchers were on campus today running a trial experiment in anticipation of a full scale study in January. This is their second visit to the campus; there was an earlier trial run in November. Harker is the only school participating in the study, said Kate Schafer, biology teacher, who is working with the Stanford researchers to effect the data collection.
Today, researchers hung motes around the necks of 100 students and teachers to help plan for the full-scale data collection in mid-January. Prior to the final event, letters will be sent to parents explaining the process, and the lead investigator, along with others involved in the experiment, will address the students in assembly. The day before the event, students will be briefed on the next day’s activity. The actual data collection for the study will be made on January 14.
Nov. 16, 2009
Come January, the upper school will be participating in a groundbreaking Stanford study on the way viruses are spread by human interaction. By outfitting all members of the Saratoga campus with motes, a device measuring human interaction, researchers hope to gain insight into the way viruses are spread among individuals. The National Science Foundation provided funding for new technology developed for the study.
Recently, a trial run was done on campus with the motes on a small number of students. However, there were some inconsistencies with the technology and as a result several of the researchers have been back to work out the kinks. Another test is scheduled to run around mid-December.
Prior to the final experiment, the Stanford professors will explain the nature of the research in an assembly. One interesting aspect is that the research is being conducted by professors of sociology, biology, computer science and statistics, giving our students insight into the interdisciplinary nature of much major research. Ultimately, the professors will submit results for publishing in major publications.
Raji Swaminathan’s Gr. 7 science students spent a week in October learning about momentum and how it is an important factor in analyzing automobile collisions.
In this lab, students experimented by rolling a cart from varying heights from a ramp, and saw that the velocity of the cart increased with the height from which it rolled. Since the mass of the cart is constant, the students realized that the cart’s momentum depends upon its velocity. As the cart rolled down from different heights, it was made to crash into an object at the bottom of the ramp. Students observed that the greater the momentum of the cart, the further the object was pushed, which measured how much damage was being done to the automobile. “These students, who will be driving in the future, learn a valuable lesson that the higher the velocity of the car that they are driving, the higher its momentum, the higher its kinetic energy and the greater the amount of damage if it unfortunately is involved in a crash collision,” Swaminathan said.
This year’s Gr. 4 and Gr. 5 Gallon Creation contest resulted in more creative entries from young science enthusiasts. The contest, which began last year, challenges students to create “gallon guys” and “gallon gals” (in addition to some “gallon animals,” including a dog, sea turtle, bird and lion) using divisions of a gallon (such as four quarts, eight pints and so on) to create the body and limbs. Winners were separated into two categories, one for creativity and one for functionality, or how well the creation showed the relationship between the measurements.
Winners for creativity were Emma Brezoczky, Kate Chow and Amy Dunphy, all Gr. 4. Functionality category winners were fifth graders Lavinia Ding and Alexis Gauba and Stephanie Swanson, Gr. 4.
Harker’s Nichols Hall, a LEED Gold Certification winner, was runner up at the 2009 Structures Awards held by the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. The awards recognize the best in Silicon Valley real estate, construction and development and winners were announced at a dinner and featured in a special publication in late September. Nichols Hall was one of only two finalists in the Green Project of the Year – Private category and over 500 attended the dinner to honor the finalists.