SOMERS, N.Y. - Earlier this month, the Science Research students at Somers High School were ready to show the fruits of their experiments and explorations.
With large posters displayed in the school library, 18 students, preparing for the upcoming Westchester Science and Engineering Fair (WESEF), debuted their presentations to volunteer audiences of parents and fellow students. Their research tackled a wide range of topics from preventing eye cancer to creating a super-powerful fuel with fusion to some of humankind’s greatest questions about the origin of life and the very structure of the universe.
Junior Makaila Eagleton’s research took a step toward understanding of how life came to be by showing that uracil, a building block of RNA, thrives in the heat and pressure that a meteor strike creates.
“This is something that had never been seen before and it was kind of shocking to us,” Eagleton said.
The event, known as WESEF Practice Night, offers the students an opportunity to try out and refine their presentations for the March 15 fair, when 800+ students from more than 40 schools meet at Somers High School to compete.
It is the largest science fair in the country, said Dr. William Maelia, the SHS Science Research director. To excel in it, he said, the students must be “the best of the best.”
“So events like this, when you come out on a Tuesday night with imminent snow coming, to listen to kids present, that’s how they get to that level," he told the volunteers.
The observers, wielding clipboards and pens, asked questions, took notes and offered advice. Dr. David Entenberg, President of the Somers Science Research Foundation, was impressed by the wealth of information the students displayed.
“The breadth of the research is astounding,” he said. “It covers such a wide range of topics!”
Junior Anya Khurana’s research sought to stop uveal melanoma (eye cancer) cells from metastasizing by treating them with a specific metabolite.
“I’m trying to keep these cells dormant,” she said.
Caleb Carpenter, another junior, used computer models for a tokamak reactor – a plasma-containing device – that could potentially harness a fusion reaction. Inside the tokamak reactor, a plasma would be heated to 10 times hotter than the sun by colliding two hydrogen isotopes – deuterium and tritium.
“One gram of this fusion fuel is equivalent to 2,400 barrels of oil,” he said.
Senior Charlotte Wilke-Olsen designed equations to test for Dark Matter, a substance that has fascinated her from an early age.
“It plays a role in the overall structure of the universe,” she said.
Like her fellow student scientists, Wilke-Olsen appreciated the input from the parent and fellow students who came out to help them prepare for the fair.
“It helps a lot to get feedback,” she said. “Also, it just eases the nerves a little.”
Article courtesy of Somers Central School District.
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