What is SRD?

SRD is a year long course focusing on independent learning and project creation. You will work on a project that you designed from August - February. You are required to compete at science fair and could potentially advance to regional, state, or international fair.

After science fair is over, you will work on applying for internships and helping incoming VRHS students with science fair projects.

Look At What We've Done This Year!

Melyanna Ahmed

Mitochondrial dysfunction in T2DM and insulin resistance

Translational Medical Sciences

Taylor Hopkins & Athena Le

Next-Gen Vision Screening: A 3D-Printed Device for Rapid Prescription and Eye Health Evaluation

Biomedical Sciences

5th place in Biomedical Science at GARSEF

Superintendent’s Award

Aarav & Shiva

Optimizing Melittin Stability through Comparative Modifications: To Enhance and Extend Antimicrobial Lifetimes.

Microbiology

1st place in Microbiology at GARSEF

State Science Fair Finalist

Eunchae Kim

Quantitative Modeling of CD19 Antigen Density and Tumor Control Probability for B Cell Malignancies

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

$1000 Deere Family Scholarship

Manya Kodeboina

Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Dunaliella salina Algal Extract and Evaluating Their Antioxidant Activity

Earth & Environmental Science

Gabriella Thiakos, Rikita Veluru, Aliza Azam

Implementation of the AM141 strain C. elegans model of Huntington’s Disease and introducing coenzyme Q-10, Vitamin C, and polyphenols in order to analyze the preventability and reduction of glutamine-40 accumulation through the observation of mobility, early death rates, and reproduction.

Behavioral & Social Sciences

2nd place in Behavioral & Social Sciences at GARSEF, State Qualifiers 

3rd place in Behavioral & Social Sciences at TXSEF

Invited to participate at the Governor’s Science and Technology Champions Academy

Srinitya Gurram

GFP Stress Reporter–Based Differentiation of Ras-Driven Hyperproliferative C. elegans as a Model for Early Oncogenic Stress Detection 

Biochemistry

Regional CRISPR Academy Special Award along with $250

Nate Ponce & Neev Challagulla 

A Novel approach to addressing Cyanobacteria bloom

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Jyotirmay Meena

Multimodal Machine Learning Reconstruction of an Ancient Flood Environment Using Semantic Text Analysis and Environmental Image Classification

Earth & Environmental Sciences

5th Place in Earth & Environmental Sciences at GARSEF 

Austin Geological Society Award 

Mann Brothers Ecology Scholarship ($1000)

Aubrey McCallum & Addison Chenault

Testing the Effectiveness of Different Over-the-Counter Medications on Corynebacterium xerosis to Aid Acne Prevention in Teens and Adults

Microbiology

4th place at Regional Science Fair

Adarsh Gopinathan

Evaluation of the efficacy of P. Microspora in plastic decomposition in varying temperatures

Environmental Engineering

5th Place in Environmental Engineering @ GARSEF in 2024