Irvington High School Students Earn Honors At National Research Competition

IRVINGTON, NY — Irvington High School science research students Jacob Dunefsky, a sophomore, and Jimmy Park, a junior, won honors at the MIT INSPIRE competition, a national high school research competition in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Dunefsky, who competed in the linguistics category, won the honorable mention award for his project, “An Analysis of the Reduplication of Emojis,” which investigated the synonym reduplication and total reduplication of emojis in Twitter posts.

Park, who competed in the anthropology category, won second place and $500 for his research, “Main Factors Contributing to Cognitive Growth in Preschool Children in Tanzania and India,” according to a district spokesman. He has been working with his mentor Dr. Haein Shin, an education technical adviser at Earth Institute at Columbia University.

"I’m so proud of both Jimmy and Jacob,” said teacher Nadia Parikka, who co-advises the Science Research program with Geraldine Winterroth. “They showed true independence and responsibility in their research and placement with the MIT Inspire competition.”

Dunefsky and Park were among approximately 105 finalists who advanced to the competition, held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from April 10-12. According to the committee of experts, each finalist demonstrated the ability to think critically, innovate and engage in meaningful inquiry.

Photo caption: From left, Jacob Dunefsky and Jimmy Park. Photo credit: Irvington Union Free School District.