Ossining High School Students Earn Top Awards at International Science Competition

All five Ossining High School students who competed in last week’s International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering & Environment) Project Olympiad last week placed in the top three within their respective research disciplines.

Each year, ISWEEP brings the best high school science and engineering projects to Houston to celebrate the need for research that is focused on world health and sustainability. Top students from the United States and international high schools compete to attend the event. This year, five OHS students in the Science Research Program were among 25 selected to represent Westchester and Putnam counties at the five-day conference.

The students are junior Sarah Hoffman; junior Skyler Jones; senior Lior Raz-Farley; senior Isabel Slingerland; and senior Yooshin Tanai.

• Skyler placed second in the energy category for research she is conducting at Columbia University on improving crystals used to make solar cells.
• Yooshin placed third in the energy category for research he performed at the City College of New York. He calculated that 11 percent of the United States’ energy needs could be offset if all common household garbage was recycled.
• Isabel finished second in the engineering category. Her research, conducted at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center, determined the optimal sequence of visual and auditory input to augment learning. It is particuarly relevant for the development of novel teaching methods for students with special needs.
• Lior placed third in the disease prevention category for her investigation that shows white blood cell migration through the blood-brain barrier may have significant influence on infantile spasm, a form of epilepsy. She carried out her research in the laboratories of New York Medical College.
• Sarah finished second in the disease prevention category. She investigated the link between diabetes and the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. She conducted her research at Rockefeller University.

(Photo: from left to right, Isabel Slingerland; Lior Raz-Farley; Skyler Jones; Yooshin Tanai; Sarah Hoffman.)