Fox Lane students take on regional science competition

BEDFORD, N.Y. - Earlier this month, three Fox Lane High School Science Research students competed at the New York-Upstate Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) competition in Rome, NY. The symposium, which is supported by the Department of Defense, challenges students to showcase the findings of their original STEM research in an oral presentation or research poster.

Junior Eliana Chiariello and seniors Zach Cohen and Gabriel Wierzchowski represented Fox Lane with their impressive projects. The students studied the origins of painted lady butterflies, primordial black holes, and the financial burden of treatment and how it differs between patients with asthma and COPD respectively.

The Bedford Central School District spoke to each of the students about their research and preparation for such a big competition.

Eliana Chiariello

Can you explain your project?

My project was on the origins of painted lady butterflies in Cameroon, a country in Africa. Over time, various stable isotopes and atoms are accumulated in butterflies through their food and water sources. Additionally, stable isotopes have unique abundances in nature depending on their region.

In my study, we used stable hydrogen which is found in water sources, and stable strontium which is found in soil and eventually plants that butterflies consume. To find the origins of the butterflies, we compared specific stable isotope content of the wings to locations all over Africa and Europe through statistical analysis. Their most likely areas of origin were then found through probability maps that highlighted the areas that had isotopic content that most closely matched the isotopic content of the wings.

What led you to study this topic? 

I have had a fascination with butterflies ever since I witnessed a monarch butterfly migration on a beach in South Carolina many years ago. I reached out to some potential mentors in the field and found my current mentor, Dr. Megan Reich at the University of Ottawa, who was studying origins of butterfly migration utilizing stable isotope geochemistry. I originally planned to research monarch butterfly migration in New York, but there were some issues with sample collection, so we had to switch gears. However, studying painted lady butterflies has been a really rewarding experience, and I can't wait to see where it takes me!

What did the research process look like for this project?

During August of 2024, I was able to visit my mentor's lab in Canada for two weeks to conduct the preparatory methods for stable isotope analysis. Our butterfly samples were sent to us by Dr. Gerard Talavera of the Institut Botànic de Barcelona, prepared for stable isotope analysis by me with my mentor's assistance, then sent to various locations for the actual analysis. The raw data was then coded into probability maps that showed where the highest probability of origin was for each sample. Through an examination of these maps, we were able to discern the origins of Cameroonian butterflies. 

Were you surprised by any of your findings? 

While there was nothing particularly surprising from our findings, we provided novel evidence for a unique migration. We had suspected that painted lady butterflies from Central Africa made a migration across the Sahara Desert, and this study was able to provide empirical evidence for this migration. This makes painted lady butterflies the only insect species to migrate across the desert!

Also, we were able to characterize the movements of Cameroonian butterflies for the first time, something that will be useful to monitor butterfly migration patterns in the future.

How could your research benefit society in the long term? 

By defining the origins of butterfly or insect populations, we are able to create targeted conservation efforts and a basic understanding of their migratory patterns. Insects can act as indicator species, animals that are the first in their ecosystems to experience environmental changes, so if their migration patterns are abnormal through observation, we can figure out if there is a large environmental issue.

What was it like competing in a big competition like this?

Even though I was so excited and grateful for this amazing experience, I was pretty nervous leading up to the competition because it was my first one with an oral presentation and only my second science research competition ever. To prepare, I presented to my family and science research class for feedback. At big competitions such as JSHS, it is easy to feel stressed due to the high caliber of everyone's project, but I ended up having a great time. I was able to talk about something I have a lot of passion for, make friends, and learn what oral presentations are like for professional scientists.

Zach Cohen 

Can you explain your project?

My research paper is called “Gravitationally Induced Dissociation of Hydrogen by a Primordial Black Hole.” We think it's possible that, shortly after the Big Bang, the high energy density that existed throughout the universe could have allowed for the formation of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs). Although we haven't observed any directly yet (they would be much smaller than your ordinary stellar mass or supermassive black hole), the implications of their discovery would be groundbreaking.

The purpose of my study was to model how these PBHs would interact with the matter around them, which could potentially be useful in their detection and/or help us understand the effects they would have on astronomical objects they come into contact with (what would happen if it came into contact with a planet's atmosphere? a star? etc.). I decided that, as a starting point, the best course of action would be to test how one atom of hydrogen would interact with a PBH; from there, the findings could be extrapolated to more complex systems (such as larger atoms or molecules). It was found that, as a hydrogen atom approaches a black hole, it is ripped apart into two particles, a proton and an electron, in a process known as gravitational dissociation. 

What led you to study this topic? 

My mentor, Professor Jeff Lee from Baylor University, has spent years researching the possibility of black holes made of energy (aka Kugelblitze), of which PBHs are an example. Much of his research (and my junior year project) tackles the idea of creating these black holes artificially, as well as the dangers and utility that may come with that. One danger highlighted by Professor Lee was the potential consequence of a Kugelblitz/PBH coming into contact with Earth's atmosphere: he hypothesized that it would, one way or another, end up dissociating/destroying the quintessential gases that keep us alive. Professor Lee suggested that I work on this idea, though the results of this study don't exclusively apply to Earth's atmosphere.

What did the research process look like for this project?

The first step was to learn quantum mechanics, which is a branch of physics that explains how very small, fundamental particles interact. In quantum mechanics, particles do not have a definite location: they exist in every place possible at once, in something like a "cloud" of probability. You can get any information you want out of a system (e.g. its probability cloud at any given time) through something called the wave function, which is unique to each system.

The original goal of the project was to find the wave function of this system, which could be solved for using the famous Schrodinger equation. However, the Schrodinger equation I had to solve was analytically unsolvable (you can't just math it out to get the wave function; there is no exact solution), so I had to make a computer simulation to approximate it. I taught myself Python (a coding language commonly used in scientific work) and spent several hours writing, optimizing, and revising/debugging my code.

Eventually, it was able to run passable simulations in under an hour, so I was able to get my project in just before the deadline. I went down so many dead ends and hit several roadblocks throughout this process, but each time I could see a couple of cracks in the wall, and I'd bash my head against it until something broke down. I spent four months and hundreds of hours on it overall, and although there was a great risk in that time commitment (it would have amounted to nothing if I was unable to get it done), I think it paid off.

Were you surprised by any of your findings? 

As part of my project, I ran multiple simulations that started the H-atom at different initial distances from the PBH. I was surprised to discover that, although the electron predictably moved faster towards the PBH when it was placed closer, the proton demonstrated the opposite trend (moved faster the farther it started from the PBH). I realized that this was because of the proton's interactions with the electron and was able to verify it using some classical (non-quantum mechanical) math. Because the atom is more dissociated at closer distances (the electron is farther from the proton), the electron has less of a pull on the proton, so it moves slower. 

How could your research benefit society in the long term? 

The discovery of PBHs could provide explanations for several unexplained phenomena. For example, there are papers out there that provide a framework through which PBHs could explain most, if not all, of the extra gravity we attribute to dark matter.

You could also argue that this paper could help us defend Earth by demonstrating that PBHs would, in fact, have harmful effects on our planet — though I'm sure we all saw that result coming. Overall, I just think this is a really cool topic to study, and it resulted in some interesting graphs and helped me develop my skills in physics — it doesn't need to have big implications; I'm just happy to add to the pile

What was it like competing in a big competition like this?

I loved being involved in this competition. The 12-minute slide presentations were a breath of fresh air, as at typical competitions we only have around 7-8 minutes. I was definitely nervous going into it, but the people who ran it were great at making everyone feel comfortable. Overall, I think this competition improved my skills in communication, especially when it comes to understanding which details to keep in and which to leave out when giving a brief presentation.

Gabriel Wierzchowski

Can you explain your project?

I researched the financial burden of treatment and how it differs between patients with asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). For example, patients with asthma more frequently requested support for hospitalizations, whereas patients with COPD more frequently requested money for lodging expenses.

I’m also looking at socioeconomic and cultural factors that influence the success of crowdfunding campaigns. Since all of our research is based off of GoFundMe campaigns, we’ve noticed that patients with COPD avoid mentioning their history of smoking and receive less donations than those with asthma; this is likely because of the phenomenon of “social deservingness:” because smoking is a risk factor for COPD, those with the disease are believed to have “brought the disease on themselves.”

Although we have a wide variety of findings, the gist of the project is that I looked at how obstructive lung disease affects the financial security of patients through GoFundMe campaigns.

What led you to study this topic? 

In my junior year, I conducted lab-based research on drug effectiveness in preventing pancreatic cancer. I loved this project, but dealing with statistics and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) values muddled the true reason of our research: to help patients alleviate or prevent pancreatic cancer. As a result, I looked for a more direct human-based project for my senior year. I love this topic because I get to read the stories of the everyday lives of so many people needing help; it’s a call to action that inspires me to continue my work.

What did the research process look like for this project?

The research process began with the qualitative coding for the project. Over two months in the summer, a graduate assistant and I cross-coded hundreds of GoFundMe campaigns to categorize them using our previously established criteria. Once we had properly categorized our campaigns, I conducted statistical analysis on the collected data to look for disparities using three key comparisons: patients with asthma and COPD, insured and uninsured patients, and patients from areas of different median incomes.

Once I had discovered differences in campaign requests and fundraising for each of these comparisons, I visualized our data in tables and graphs using t-tests and ANOVA tests for my paper and presentation.

Were you surprised by any of your findings? 

One surprising outcome we discovered in our research was that patients in middle-income areas had a higher average number of donors as compared to their higher-income area counterparts. As expected, patients in high-income areas garnered more total donations, but discovering the great number of donors that patients in middle-income areas had made us realize the power of community building and engagement in people’s lives; previous studies have highlighted how tight knit these communities are, which may be connected to this surprising statistic.

How could your research benefit society in the long term? 

The main long-term goal of our research was to guide future government policy and insurance plans by detailing the most burdensome expenses in the lives of patients with obstructive lung disease.

As a secondary goal, we looked for the influence of social characteristics on GoFundMe success, which can be utilized to try and reshape similar crowdfunding platforms. We found that campaigns from lower-income communities typically garner much less funding than those from middle- and high-income communities, which widens the economic gap between these classes and can lead to a cycle of financial insecurity in impoverished communities.

What was it like competing in a big competition like this?

Participating in such a prestigious competition was both an exciting and nerve-wracking experience for me. I was terrified before my presentation, but the kindness and calmness of the judges allowed me to calm down quickly before I began. The most important takeaway I had from JSHS was that confidence is key — when you believe in yourself and rid your mind of “what if…,” your self-confidence is palpable and inspires others to listen attentively to you.

Article courtesy of Bedford Central School District.