ASR News

Lucas gave a poster presentation on the project that he had completed as a part of the Advanced Science Research program. In short, he used an unexpected flaw in one of the instruments onboard the Cassini spacecraft to increase the instrument's resolution.

JSHS is a national competition for high school STEM research established in 1958. To advance to the national JSHS, Lucas presented his project once at the NYC semifinals (along with five other Columbia Prep students) and then again at the NYC finals (along with two other Columbia Prep students). He was one of five NYC students from around 200 applicants to make it to the national level -- the second in Columbia Prep's history (after Raihana Rahman '22) and the first to receive recognition at the national JSHS. Congrats to Lucas!

You can learn more about Lucas's work and the work of other ASR seniors here and at the ASR Symposium on Thursday, May 25. We hope to see you there!

Four other ASR students also submitted projects that met the competition's tough eligibility criteria: Morgan A., Mira L., Annika S. and Stephanie W.

The three finalists will give a poster presentation to expert judges at the fair on Sunday, March 26. The top project from each category (13 total) then moves on to the final round of ISEF, where they will compete with projects from 60+ countries. CGPS has had one ISEF finalist each of the past two years.

Andrew's project is about the nationwide impact of the pandemic on student achievement. A generation of children was impacted by Covid-19 school closures starting in March 2021 when over 50 million students in the US were out of school. Now that students have returned full-time, it’s important to know how Covid impacted achievement in different types of schools. 

Andrew used standardized test score means from NWEA, an educational testing agency that his mentor Dr. Erik Ruzek works for, to understand how much Covid-19 impacted math and reading achievement across schools with differing racial and socioeconomic compositions. But first, he had to work through an entire university-level textbook on doing education research in R, the software for statistical computing he used, to learn how to analyze the massive dataset in a meaningful way. 

His key findings are that, in comparison to the 2018-19 school year, test scores in 2020-21 were significantly impacted more in math than in reading, in higher-poverty schools than in lower-poverty schools and in lower grade levels than in higher grade levels. Consistent with prior research, Andrew found that schools' racial segregation disproportionately impacts Black and Hispanic students in high-poverty schools as compared to those in low-poverty schools.

Joshua's biochemistry project is a continuation of the project that he presented at last year's final round of the Terra NYC STEM Fair. DNA stores the genetic information that cells use as a guide for making proteins. But other molecules that attach to DNA can determine whether a particular piece of DNA gets made into a protein. Joshua's project is about one such molecule called MeCP2, which is important because mutations in it cause Rett syndrome, a fatal neurological disorder. In your cells, DNA is actually wrapped around proteins called nucleosomes, and in last year's project, Joshua found that MeCP2 also interacts with nucleosomes, not just DNA itself. 

This year, Joshua found that nucleosomes actually act as binding "sinks," meaning MeCP2 binds to unwrapped DNA only after first binding to nucleosomes, which was a surprise. He did this by stretching a DNA molecule with nucleosomes between two beads (yes, you read that correctly) and tracking the motion of MeCP2 by using glowing tags attached to the key molecules.

He also found the specific part of the MeCP2 molecule that is responsible for binding, which is crucial information for disease intervention. He did this by gradually cutting off more and more of the molecule and measuring how well it binds at each stage. This is like figuring out which parts of a bicycle are important for its function by removing them one by one: it'll still work without a bell, but not without a wheel. He did this impressive work in Dr. Gabriella Chua's work at the Rockefeller University. 

Lucas's project used an unexpected instrument flaw to increase resolution of the data we have about Titan, one of Saturn's moons. Titan is fascinating because it has an atmosphere, lakes, dunes and all the building blocks of life. The Cassini spacecraft orbited Saturn and took many images of Titan. Onboard Cassini was a spectrometer, which took light from Titan, spread it out into all the different wavelengths and measured the brightness of each; the patterns in these data can tell us what Titan's surface is made of. 

But there are two problems. First, the spectrometer's resolution was pretty low, which made it hard to identify compounds — just like it's hard to identify birds in a blurry image of a city. Second, it turned out that the wavelengths which the instrument was made to measure were shifting over time, which meant it was becoming more sensitive to a new set of wavelengths.

Lucas's mentor, Dr. Paul Corlies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, realized that this shift can be used to increase the instrument's resolution. After learning how to manage the incredible amount of data collected by the spacecraft and how to filter and correct it to remove noise, Lucas implemented the technique, which ended up increasing the instrument's resolution by a factor of five! This wasn't enough to discover any new compounds on the surface, but it was an important proof of concept, and there are still more techniques Lucas can use to improve the resolution even further.

Congratulations to Andrew, Joshua and Lucas!

JSHS is a national competition for high school STEM research established in 1958. About 100 semifinalists from NYC competed for the 16 finalist spots, and three of them went to Prep School students — more than to any other school besides Bronx Science. 

Maya S. won second place in the medicine and health category, Lucas L. tied for first place in physical sciences and Stephanie (Yuxuan) W. tied for first place in life and behavioral sciences. Their successes are the results of months or years of hard work on their projects and a very intense two months of presentation and Q&A practice and revisions, to which their ASR peers have contributed with feedback and Q&A grilling.  

Maya's project evaluated the effectiveness of a gene therapy treatment for Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD). MSUD is a genetic disease in which a certain enzyme fails to break down a certain kind of protein. The disease can be fatal if untreated, and existing treatments are difficult to maintain, have side effects or are not very effective. Thus, Maya's mentor, Dr. Heather Gray-Edwards at UMass Medical School, and her colleagues are testing a gene therapy for MSUD. In this therapy, a modified virus delivered a healthy copy of the mutated gene to the cells; the cells then take this gene and use it to make the deficient enzyme. 

The therapy was tested in a cow model of the disease, which Maya got to meet during her summer internship. Maya evaluated the levels of key amino acids and neurotransmitters in the cow to determine whether the therapy was working as intended, as well as the concentration of the inserted viral genome over time to check whether it was spreading to new cells as the cow grew. Unfortunately, all the results indicated that the therapy was not effective. But this was only the first such test in a cow model, so there is still hope.

Lucas's project used an unexpected instrument flow to increase resolution of the data we have about Titan, one of Saturn's moons. Titan is fascinating because it has an atmosphere, lakes, dunes and all the building blocks of life. The Cassini spacecraft orbited Saturn and took many images of Titan. Onboard Cassini was a spectrometer, which took light from Titan, spread it out into all the different wavelengths and measured the brightness of each; the patterns in these data can tell us what Titan's surface is made of. 

But there are two problems. First, the spectrometer's resolution was pretty low, which made it hard to identify compounds — just like it's hard to identify birds in a blurry image of a city. Second, it turned out that the wavelengths which the instrument was made to measure were shifting over time, which meant that it was becoming more sensitive to a new set of wavelengths.

Lucas's mentor, Dr. Paul Corlies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, realized that this shift can be used to increase the instrument's resolution. After learning how to manage the incredible amount of data collected by the spacecraft and how to filter and correct it to remove noise, Lucas implemented the technique, which ended up increasing the instrument's resolution by a factor of five! This wasn't enough to discover any new compounds on the surface, but it was an important proof of concept, and there are still more techniques Lucas can use to improve the resolution even further.

Stephanie's research was about a heavy topic: loneliness in teenagers. Loneliness has a strong link to many poor physiological and mental health outcomes, sometimes as strong as smoking and poor diet. The problem has worsened during the pandemic due to social isolation. However, take a group of people who are all equally lonely, and you'll find that some are suffering tremendously, while some seem to be just fine. How come? 

Some of this is due to what scientists call "protective factors": characteristics that protect people from the negative effects of a risk factor. Stephanie's project set out to examine the role of three factors that had been studied before: resilience, hope and wisdom. She chose to focus on students of high school age because research on these protective factors in this group was lacking. 

With the guidance of her mentor, Dr. Antonia Ypsilanti from Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, Stephanie adapted and distributed a survey to 181 students from seven high schools in New York. She found that resilience, hope and wisdom do indeed act as protective factors against the negative psychological effects of loneliness. This implies that when seeking to address loneliness, it's important to look not only on the outside (e.g., improving social connections), but also on the inside (e.g, building up certain traits).

Maya, Lucas and Stephanie will present to expert judges and handle their questions at the final regional JSHS round on February 25. Top five finalists will get to represent NYC at the national JSHS in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Regeneron STS, formerly known as Westinghouse STS and Intel STS, is the nation's oldest and most prestigious science and mathematics research competition for high school seniors. 1,949 seniors from around the U.S. submitted their research projects to the STS this year. "For a program this new to have two out of eight seniors get into the top 300 out of the whole country is absolutely amazing," said ASR teacher Ilya Yashin. Applicants compete for the distinction of being named semifinalists and finalists and for a total of $1.8 million in prizes. As two of the top 300 STS scholars, Andrew and Joshua will each receive $2,000, and CGPS will receive a total of $4,000 to use toward STEM-related activities. 

Andrew, who has a passion for education and tutors disadvantaged students through his organization Tutor Link NYC, researched the impact COVID-19 has had on student achievement across the nation. "I wanted to know the magnitude of COVID-19's school-level impact on education, particularly between schools with differing poverty and segregation levels," he explained. "I found a significant negative impact on achievement for Black and Hispanic students in highly segregated and high-poverty schools and lesser impacts for those in segregated, but low-poverty schools." Andrew's project required high-level data analysis, for which he had to learn how to program. By combing through different websites online and working his way through an undergraduate textbook on the subject, he taught himself how to code over approximately half a year. This enabled him to "compare mean test scores before and during COVID-19 to understand the impact of different variables on achievement."

Joshua focused his research project on epigenetics, the study of how DNA is expressed, with a particular emphasis on methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2), which can cause genetic disorders such as Rett syndrome if mutated. "MeCP2 binds to chemical tags on DNA, and when bound to these tags, MeCP2 regulates DNA expression," said Joshua. "However, MeCP2 has never been studied on chromatin, which is significant, as MeCP2's behavior on chromatin is a more accurate representation of MeCP2's behavior in the human body." Joshua's initial interest in this topic stemmed from his two foremost passions in science — microscopy and biology. "It's crazy how these tiny molecules that we can't even see have such a great effect on our lives," he shared. 

Both students are thrilled to be named semifinalists in the STS and are grateful to the ASR program for equipping them with the tools necessary to reach this milestone. "I wouldn't have been able to do this without Mr. Yashin," said Joshua. "He taught me so much about not only the research process itself but also writing a paper and how to present." Joshua and Andrew would also like to thank their families and mentors, Dr. Gabriella Chua from Rockefeller University and Dr. Erik Ruzek from NWEA, respectively, for all their support throughout this challenging but rewarding journey. "This has been one of the best high school experiences," said Andrew. Congratulations!

The Symposium welcomed in the students accepted into ASR for next year, showcased the hard work of ASR students and celebrated the departing seniors. The event was planned and put together in large part by the ASR students themselves. The four ASR seniors—Raihana R., Akshay S., Siyang W. and Yuqiao Z.—gave polished presentations on their research projects and received their ASR diplomas, which recognized their accomplishment of completing this rigorous program. After the senior presentations, ASR juniors and sophomores presented their completed projects, planned or ongoing projects, or fields of study in the poster session; you can visit the virtual poster session here.

The Symposium also featured Fabiha Rafrafin ’21 as the keynote speaker. Fabiha was a member of the first class of Columbia Prep's ASR graduates last year, and is currently a cognitive science major at Yale University. Fabiha spoke about the profound influence ASR has made on her and her academic career.

ASR students had also designed and edited the Symposium program, which contains everyone's research abstracts and photos. You can also access photos from the event here. 

We hope to see you at the 2023 ASR Symposium!