Sem Students Receive Science Research Awards

First row from left: Dr. Andrea Nerozzi, Sem science teacher and Science Research Group advisor; Erin Hannigan, Dominick Trombetta, Sutchaya Lertburapa, and Valerie Johnson, Sem science teacher and Science Research Group advisor. Second row from left: Steven Liskov, Nathaniel Tucker, Ilya Volodarsky and Melanie Liskov. Group members not present for photo: Mona Lotfipour, Sonali Varhade, XinZi Xu.

Wyoming Seminary Science Research Group students recently earned awards for research projects at both regional and state competitions.  The students presented oral reports and posters of their research to panels of judges and other students.           

On March 8, ten Sem students competed in the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS), Northeast Regional Meeting, at King’s College.  Three students received Excellence Awards, First Awards and Perfect Scores: senior Dominick Trombetta, Shavertown, biochemistry; junior Steven Liskov, Kingston, chemistry; and sophomore Sonali Varhade, Kingston, microbiology.  Trombetta also received a scholarship to the University of Scranton.           

Senior Ilya Volodarsky, Shavertown, and junior Sutchaya Lertburapa, Touliu, Taiwan, R.O.C., received Excellence Awards and First Awards.  Sophomore XinZi Xu, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, P.R.C., received First Award, Perfect Score.  Senior Erin Hannigan, West Pittston; sophomore Melanie Liskov, Kingston; senior Mona Lotfipour, Trucksville; and sophomore Nathaniel Tucker, Mt. Top, all received First Awards.           

The Sem team was also presented with the PJAS Nabisco Award in the Small School category for having the highest percentage of first place awards.           

Nine Sem students also participated in the Pennsylvania Junior Science and Humanities Symposium at Pennsylvania State University held in State College.  Volodarsky received first place in physics and mathematics and first place in the overall competition for his presentation of “NetSort: Introducing a Novel Algorithm for Distributed Sorting Networks.”  He has also been invited to the national symposium in Orlando.  Hannigan also received second place for her poster on “The Effect of Nutrient Levels of Heterocyst Formation in Cyanobacteria.”

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