LBHS Team wins Big at Intel Competition

The Long Beach team of Arianne Papa and Jane Smyth earned a Second Place Grand Award in Environmental Sciences at Intel ISEF, held on May 8 to 13 in Los Angeles.

Intel/ISEF is recognized as the world’s premier science competition, exclusively for students in grades 9-12. Papa and Smyth were joined at the competition by fellow LBHS students Hannah Berkowitz, Jackie Bokor, Elan Heller and Eric Rubin, who all qualified for this honor by earning first-place awards at the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair (LISEF).

Papa and Smyth’s project, entitled “Mussels: A Natural Approach to Sewage Treatment,” also earned two special prizes: $5,000 first-place prize from King Abdul-Aziz and His Companions Foundation for giftedness and creativity, awarded to projects that contribute to innovations in potable water.

The duo also walked away with a $2,500 first-place prize from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, awarded for best demonstration of interdisciplinary research.

Additionally, Papa and Smyth qualified to represent New York State at the national level of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition in Chicago from June 23 to 25, where they will be vying for a chance to represent their country in the International Competition, held in Stockholm. This is the world’s most prestigious prize for outstanding achievements in water-related activities. It honors individuals, institutions or organizations whose work contributes broadly to the conservation and protection of water resources and to improved health of the planet’s inhabitants and ecosystems.

The two were also accepted to the Simons Summer Research Fellowship Program at Stony Brook University, where they will be continuing their research under the guidance of Dr. Anne McElroy, director of graduate programs in the university’s School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences, as part of the team working on the Western Bays Project to reduce pollution in the marshlands along Nassau’s south shore.