The NJ Academy of Science (NJAS) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve and promote the advancement of STEM-related fields among the NJ scientific community. NJAS is affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and is a member of the National Association of Academies of Science (NAAS).
The goal of the academy is to stimulate education and research in STEM fields throughout New Jersey. As part of this mission, NJAS hosts an annual meeting at which high school students present their independent research to a panel of judges. From the projects submitted, 3 projects in each category are selected by the judges. Both the first and second place finishers are selected as delegates to represent New Jersey at the American Junior Academy of Science (AJAS) Annual Meeting in conjunction with the AAAS Annual Meeting. Third place finishers serve as alternate delegates. The Monmouth County Vocational School District sends all first place delegates to the annual meeting.
The students below entered their research projects in the NJAS 68th Annual Meeting. First, second, and third place finishers are also indicated.
10th Grade Participants
Om Agrawal - "Effects of Cereal Plant Straws’ Breakdown on Anabaena inaequalis"
Suchit Basineni - "The Occurrence of Tornadogenesis by Analyzing Multiple Severe Weather Parameters"
Category Award - Earth & Space Science
Indus Boddu - "Novel Two-Phase Switched Reluctance Motor Designed to Reduce Torque Ripple"
Daniel D'Silva - "The Effects of Eclipta Ealba Extract on Planaria"
Jasmine Guo - "Identifying Galaxy Mergers with Self-supervised Deep Learning"
Category Award - Earth & Space Science
Abhinav Kartik - "Effect of Activating Phosphofructokinase-1 On Ethanol Production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae"
Michelle Kim - "Alpha Wave Levels in Mirrorwise Mimicry and Anatomical Mimicry"
Shreya Mahindroo - "Effects of Retinol and Light Therapy on Planaria Tissue Regeneration"
Gajan Mohan Raj - "The Effect of Motor Oil Pollution on Ecosystem Imbalances Through Analysis of Interactions between Dugesia tigrina and Brachionus plicatilis"
Category Award - Category Environmental Science
Anders Nielsen - "Optimal Electrolysis Voltage for the Hydrogen Generation Rate from Seawater"
Category Award - Biochemistry
Advances to represent HTHS as a delegate at 2024 AJAS Conference in category - Biochemistry
Ayan Patel - "Using An LSTM Network to Forecast Eutrophication In Lakes"
Prisha Rai - Improving Cancer Therapies Using Phytochemicals on Model Organism D. tigrina"
Category Award - Health & Medicine
Jyothi Ramesh - "Effect of E.coli K-12 on Planarian Regeneration"
Category Award - Cellular/Molecular Biology
Ishani Singh - "Improving Sign Language Translation to Text Using Machine Learning"
Category Award - Computer Science/Mathematics
Advances to represent HTHS as a delegate at 2024 AJAS Conference in category - Computer Science/Mathematics
Kriti Srivastava - "Redesigning the College Admission Process Utilizing Blockchain Technology"
Category Award - Computer Science/Mathematics
Pramya Surapaneni - "High-Speed Neural Network Tsunami Predictor with Multiple Adjustable Parameters"
Category Award - Earth & Space Science
Advances to represent HTHS as a delegate at 2024 AJAS Conference in category - Earth & Space Science
Pranshu Suyal - "The Effects of Enriched Carbon Dioxide on Epipremnum aureum"
Category Award - Enviornmental Science
Vishrut Thoutam - "Target-Driven Visual Navigation to Find Objects with Given Descriptions"
Bhargav Yarrametsky - "Study of Biodegradable Polysaccharide-based Hydrogel in an Aluminum Battery"
11th Grade Participants
Ishaan Akula - "Implementing an Offline Coordination System for Agricultural UAVs"
Ayush Bobra - "Classifying White Blood Cells in Smear Images Using Deep Learning"
Blake Cregg-Wedmore "Affordable Pulse Oximeter for Accurate Readings in Low Perfusion Individuals"
Category Award - Health & Medicine
Advances to represent HTHS as a delegate at 2024 AJAS Conference in category - Health & Medicine
Haley Deng - "Role of 5-HTP Mediated Serotonergic Activity on Operantly Conditioned Memory Retention in D. tigrina"
Category Award - Psychology/Animal Behavior
Advances to represent HTHS as a delegate at 2024 AJAS Conference in category - Psychology/Animal Behavior
Katherine Fang - "Discovering Habitable Exoplanets Using GPU Folding, Sigma-Clipping, and Deep Learning"
Category Award - Engineering/Physics
Syona Gupta - "The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status and Tap Water Microplastics"
Animish Jain - "Applying Multiplicative Weights Update to Skin Cancer Classification Applications"
Kevin Liu - "Speech Transcription of Huntington's Disease Patients Utilizing Deep Neural Networks"
Category Award - Computer Science/Mathematics
Advances to represent HTHS as a delegate at 2024 AJAS Conference in category - Computer Science/Mathematics
Nidhi Nair - "Genetically Modified E. coli for Accelerated Degradation of PET Microplastics"
Category Award - Environmental Science
Advances to represent HTHS as a delegate at 2024 AJAS Conference in category - Environmental Science
Nikhil Osuri - "Effect of Oldenlandia diffusa and Astragalus membranaceus on D. tigrina Regeneration"
Sreeja Paruchuri - "Supplementing Antibiotics With Varying Sizes of Gold Nanoparticles on E. coli"
Category Award - Microbiology
Advances to represent HTHS as a delegate at 2024 AJAS Conference in category - Microbiology
Arjun Tschand - "Realtime Drowning Detection Using a Motorized Machine Learning Monitor System"
Category Award - Engineering/Physics
Melina Varouhakis - "Effect of predator kairomones on Daphnia pulex"
Category Award - Marine Science
Shravani Vedagiri - "Effects of Vitamin Supplements on the Impact of Blue Light Exposure on Glucose Metabolism in D. melanogaster"
Category Award - Health & Medicine
Advances to represent HTHS as a delegate at 2024 AJAS Conference in category - Health & Medicine
Advika Vuppala - "Detection of Anemia Through Image Threshold Processing of Palpebral Conjunctiva"
Rebecca Wang - "Reduce E-commerce Fulfillment Waste and Environmental Impact by Optimizing Packaging"
Category Award - Computer Science/Mathematics
Caitlyn Zito - "Shoelace Locking Device for Individuals with RA In Finger Joints"
Category Award - Engineering/Physics
Advances to represent HTHS as a delegate at 2024 AJAS Conference in category - Engineering/Physics
Daniel Zlotnick - "A Comparison of Common Flooring Materials in Minimizing Head Injury Severity"