LBHS Juniors Accepted to Simons Summer Research Fellowship Program

Arianne Papa and Jane Smyth are part of a select group.

The Long Beach High School juniors are among 31 students nationwide who have been accepted to the Simons Summer Research Fellowship Program at Stony Brook University.

Papa and Smyth, who were selected out of 240 applicants, are the first Long Beach students to qualify for this honor. They will work this summer under the guidance of Dr. Anne McElroy, director of Graduate Programs in the university’s School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences. McElroy and her associates are part of the team working on the Western Bays Project to reduce pollution in the marshlands along Nassau’s south shore.

When she read about the Western Bays Project, Papa contacted McElroy to ask her to mentor her and Smyth, since they had been conducting their own research using mussels to filter pollutants from the waters of Reynolds Channel.

Papa and Smyth have been research partners for the past three years, working on environmental projects and devoting their summers to independent research. Last year’s investigation centered on using mussels to filter DEET from runoff water from the local school pond. 

This past summer, the duo kayaked down Reynolds Channel to take samples of polluted water. Later they began to test treated sewage effluent as well, which led to their project of using mussels as natural biofilters of local bay pollution.

The LBHS students will present their research at the International Sustainable World (Engineering, Energy & Environment) Project Olympiad in Houston on May 5. They have also qualified to compete at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles on May 8.