The top three winners of this year's Jersey City Medical Center/RWJ Barnabas Health STEM Showcase who will be delegates to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in May are all from McNair Academic High School in Jersey City. Pictured from left are science research teacher MariaEmma Osoria; students Sivaditya Padmanabhan, Sania Naik and Saumitra Prabhu; and Jersey City Public Schools Science Supervisor Manisha Shah.Michael Dempsey | Journal photo

Three student scientists at McNair Academic High School in Jersey City have won entry into the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair this May.

The students were the top prizewinners at this year’s Jersey City Medical Center/RWJBarnabas Health STEM Showcase, which was held virtually last month due to the pandemic. Each of their projects looks at a way to make life better but in vastly different aspects.

Sivaditya Padmanabhan studied “The Effect of Dimples on a Mid-Sized Automobile’s Aerodynamics.” Saumitra Prabhu studied “Application of Indigenous Technical Knowledge in the Geographic Context of Mid-Atlantic/North-Eastern American Agriculture.” And Sania Naik did her project on “Small-Scale Bioremedial Water Filtration System (Prototyping),” something she’s been working on for four years.

The three were among 17 high school students from around Hudson County who earned gold medals in the competition along with full Presidential Scholarships to New Jersey City University in Jersey City.

Fourteen elementary school students, meanwhile, will advance in competition through the Broadcom Masters program.

The 64-year-old science and technology competition, previously The Jersey Journal Hudson County Science Fair, is a mainstay in the Hudson County academic landscape.

“It provides an opportunity to create projects and do research to help push STEM thinking forward,” Dr. Grace Sanvictores of Hudson Montessori School in Jersey City, who helped prepare her middle schoolers for the STEM Showcase, said. “Secondly, it places them in an environment where they must collaborate and compete by using higher level thinking and reasoning.”

Nearly 300 elementary and high school students from throughout Hudson participated in this year’s event, about 50 more than participated in last year’s event, which was also held virtually due to the pandemic, STEM Showcase Director Kay O’Malley said.

Here’s the full list of medals and awards:

Katharine Facchini, St. Francis Academy, Union City: “Debunking De-Skunking Remedies”

Wiktoria Kozuch, School 25, Jersey City: “Different Light, Different Height”

Aditya Palit, Hudson Montessori School, Jersey City: “Pedestrian Safety System”

Chiara Mauriello, St. Francis Academy, Union City: “Comparing Brown Algae vs. Green Algae for Biofuel Production”

Avi Mehandru, Hudson Montessori School: “Biofuels -- From Greenhouse Gases to a Green World”

Karina Nikolaev, St. Francis Academy, Union City: “Looking Radiant: How Colors and Materials Absorb Heat Differently”

Tessa Szyba, St. Francis Academy, Union City: “Right or Left Domination”

Katherine Lyons, St. Francis Academy, Union City: “Blood Sugar Sensitivity”

Sean Kowalski, Hudson Montessori School, Jersey City: “Lessen the Micros”

Parnika Agarwal, Nicholas Oresko Community School, Bayonne: “Water Conservation -- Building an Electronic Soil Moisture Sensor”

Lucas Ambroise, Emerson Middle School, Union City

Bacteria vs. Disinfectants Under the Microscope

Shreyashi Kumar, Academy I, Jersey City: “Using Magnets & Nano Tech to Clean Oil Spills”

Katelyn Min, Emerson Middle School, Union City: “Marine Oil Spills”

Khadija Adnan, Washington Community School, Bayonne: “Coffee: The Organic Fertilizer”

Jane Dempsey, St. Francis Academy, Union City: “Waste Not Want Not: Microbial Fuel Cells”

Mujtaba Raja, Academy I, Jersey City: “AlgalTECH | An Affordable Solution to Sustain and Bioremediate Sewage Contamination in Low Socioeconomic Neighborhoods in New Jersey Extracting Green Energy (Chlorella vulgaris) From Local Freshwater Reservoirs”

Hanif Kibrea, James F. Murray School 38, Jersey City: “Using Eco Bricks As a Sustainable Building Material”

Victor Nikolaev, St. Francis Academy, Union City: “Don’t Lose Your Cool (or Heat): Making Your Home More Energy Efficient”

Simran Bhatla, Secaucus Middle School: “Which Face Mask is the Most Viable in Social Settings?”

Jeremy Santos and Emanuela Agayby, Mary J. Donohoe School, Bayonne: “Bio Solarization”

Alexandra Blum and Gabrielle Smart, Hudson Montessori School, Jersey City: “The Mood Corner”

Ziva Mezhericher and Mira Strzodka, Hudson Montessori School, Jersey City: “Sleep Study — Are you a Morning Lark or a Night Owl?”

Sophia Baquerizo and Shannelys Aquino, Union Hill Middle School, Union City: “How to Improve the Effects of Poor Posture Due to Sustained Seating and Heavy Backpacks for Students in School”

Sheila O’Neill and Gabriella Rolon, Nicholas Oresko School, Bayonne: “Hamster Energy”

Capera Jean-Paul and Sarah Labadi, Nicholas Oresko School, Bayonne: “What is the Relationship Between the pH of a Liquid and Its Rusting Effect on Metals?”

Karina Nikolaev, Tessa Szyba, Jane Dempsey, Victor Nikolaev and Katherine Lyons, St. Francis Academy, Union City; Sean Kowalski, Hudson Montessori School, Jersey City; Parnika Agarwal, Nicholas Oresko Community School, Bayonne; Lucas Ambroise and Katelyn Min, Emerson Middle School, Union City; Shreyashi Kumar and Mujtaba Raja, Academy I, Jersey City; Khadija Adnan, Washington Community School, Bayonne; Hanif Kibrea, James F. Murray School 38, Jersey City; Simran Bhatla, Secaucus Middle School

Mujtaba Raja, Academy I, Jersey City

Melanie Arias, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City

Naia Marcellino, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City, and Ariel Cepeda, North Bergen High School

ASM Materials Education Foundation Award

Jennifer Salto, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City

Zoe Weng, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City

IEEE North Jersey Engineering Project Award

Arnav Ambre and Thanhloan Tran, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City

Pariza Hassan, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City

NASA Earth System Science Award

Rosanny Guzman, Union City High School

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Award

Pariza Hassan, McNair Academic High School

Syed Shahid, Bayonne High School, and Ayush Agarwal, Secaucus High School

Society for In Vitro Biology

Alicia Umana, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City

That’s Geography! Cultivating Empathy for the Earth Award

Saumitra Prabhu, McNair Academic High School

USAID: U.S. Agency for International Development

Harshni Patel, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City

U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize

Sania Naik and Murtaza Raja, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City; and Melanie Arias, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City

Michael Reyes, Bayonne High School

Yale Science and Engineering Award

Shamika Deva-Adithiya, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City

Dahlia Diaz, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: ”The Anti Proliferative Effects of Orange Oil On Cells”

Rosanny Guzman, Union City High School: “Curcumin Protects C.elegans From Detrimental Effects of Exposure to Cadmium”

Abriti Chatterjee, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “Raga Musical Therapy: A Study on the Effects of Hindustani Shastriya Sangeet on Common Health Problems”

Naia Marcellino, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “Effect of Toxic Stress on the Brain Development of Elementary and Pre-School Children in Union City”

Valerie Duran, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “Virtual Learning in the United States: A K-12 Teachers’ and Students’ Perspective”

Ariel Cepeda, North Bergen High School: “Critical Analysis and Framework for Determining the Importance of LGBTQ+ Acceptance and Inclusivity in the Mainstream Curriculum”

Bryan Gramajo, North Bergen High School: “50 Years Into the War on Drugs and the Incarceration Solution: A Critical Content Analysis of an Unsuccessful Methodology and Framework”

Murtaza Raja, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “The Impact of Lactic Acid Fermentation in Rice Water Solutions in Eutrophication Prevention as a Biofertilizer Via Effective Microorganism Activity Through Bokashi”

Harshni Patel, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “COVID-19 Variants: A Structural and Functional Analysis of Spike Proteins”

Shaurya Singh, McNair Academic High School: “Novel Study of Diabetic Medicine Metformin for Quantitative Impact on Aging and Poly [ADP-Ribose] Polymerase 1 Expression in Danio Rerio (Zebrafish)”

Marcel Gomes, Bayonne High School: “Advancements in Stem Cell Research and Therapeutic Development in Relation to Cost Efficiency and Organizational Effectiveness”

Melanie Arias, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “Computational Investigation of Ionic Liquids for PFAS Removal from Water”

Daymieri Narvaez, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “Analysis of the Variation of Metal–Halogen Bond Lengths Reveals the True Identity of a Zinc Bromide Compound”

James Pelaez, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “Competition Between Common Aquatic Chemical Species and Ammonia for Catalytic Oxidation Reaction”

Patricia Quito, Innovation High School, Jersey City: “To Utilize Conditioning Towards Polymers and Its Chained Up Molecules”

Atharva Khandelwal, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “Implementation of a Semi-Supervised Machine Learning Algorithm for Waste Removal using Aero Photogrammetry”

Ayush Agarwal, Secaucus High School: “American Sign Language Translation Using Deep Learning”

Benjamin Fitzgerald, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “Using AI to Beat a Video Game”

Michael Reyes, Bayonne High School: “Training and Utilizing Artificial Intelligence to Generate a Photo-like Image of a Human Face From a Hand Drawing as a Supplement for a Facial Description:

Ashita Birla, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “MediGreen: A Comprehensive, Sustainable Approach to Telehealth”

Jennifer Salto, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “Detecting Single Stranded DNA in Artificial Urine by Using ESSENCE Platform”

Arnav Ambre, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “Measuring Blood Alcohol Concentration with Near-Infrared Spectroscopy”

Ved Borade, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “Can Engineering Tactics Help Minimize the Impacts of Earthquakes on Structures?”

Thanhloan Tran, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: ”Using the Seebeck Effect and Body Heat to Harvest Electricity in Coats”

Zoe Weng, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “Green Chemistry Making Alternative Fuel”

Sania Naik, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “Year 4: Small-Scale Bioremedial Water Filtration System (Prototyping)”

Alisha Varma, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “Generating Electricity Using Naturally Made Microbial Fuel Cells”

Jeremy Cubillas, Innovation High School, Jersey City: “Storm Drain Pain Sustained”

Ashly Rivas, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “Removal of Salt and Metals Using Halophytic Plants and Garlic”

Olivia Smith, St. Dominic Academy, Jersey City: “Extracting Heat Energy from Composting”

Gabrielle Bancho, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “Effect of Aerated Compost on the Growth Promotion and Disease Suppression on Lettuce”

Zuha Baig, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “The Effect of Carbon Dioxide on Plant Transpiration”

Zaara Brar, St. Dominic Academy, Jersey City: “Bio-Earth”

Shamika Deva-Adithiya, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “Mathematical Models Representing Transmission of COVID-19 and Vaccination Rates”

Pariza Hassan, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “Analyzing Waste Management Data in the Major Cities of Hudson County”

Amine Kicha, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “Increasing Energy Efficiency in Buildings Using Frit Patterns”

Melanie Soto, North Bergen High School: “A Quantitative Comparative Analysis of the Effectiveness of a Plant-Based Diet as Means For Type 2 Diabetes Treatment”

Syed Shahid, Bayonne High School: “Creation of a Preemptive Glioma Cancer Cell Early Stage Detection Screening Test, Database, and Algorithm Designed for Immediate Automated Results”

Sherlyn Saavedra, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “Investigating the Neuroprotective Actions of Leukemia Inhibitory Factor on Reducing the Severity of Traumatic Brain Injuries”

Daniela Altamirano, North Bergen High School: “A Critical Look at Misdiagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis in Hispanic Indigenous and Mestizo Women of Metropolitan New York City”

Sophia Benavente-Sayani, High Tech High School, Secaucus: “Inhibition of Nosocomial Pathogens by the Bioavailability of Extracted Botanical Wide Spectrum Antibiotics”

Emily Mathew, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “Examining the Effectiveness of Antimicrobial Products”

Shrutee Sangeeta Behera, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “Radiotherapies and their Role in the Catalysis and Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease in Cancer Patients”

Sivaditya Padmanabhan, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “The Effect of Dimples on a Mid-Sized Automobile’s Aerodynamics”

Saumitra Prabhu, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “Application of Indigenous Technical Knowledge in the Geographic Context of Mid-Atlantic/North-Eastern American Agriculture”

Nakshatra Hiray, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “The Effects of Temperature on the Xylem Tissues of Vascular Plants”

Alicia Umana, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City: “Comparing the Transpiration Rate between Sugar Maple and Red Maple Trees”

Tristen Franklin and Sophia Ramos, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “The In Vitro Evaluation of the Antimicrobial Properties of D-Limonene on Penicillium Italicum”

Sourish Bandaru, Yansh Vakharia and Saikarthik Mummadsisngu, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City: “Use of Microorganisms to Mitigate Ocean Acidification”

Petra Nassereddin and Zoubair Belfki, North Bergen High School: “Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection: Building an App to Determine Interest for a Citizen-Science Approach to Tracking long COVID-19 Over Longitudinal Analyses”

Gabriel Rodriguez and Jennifer Salguero, North Bergen High School: “Messy or Mindful? A Look Into the Creative Intelligence of Organized Vs. Disorganized Accelerated and Gifted Middle and High School Students”

Jersey City Medical Center/RWJBarnabas Health President’s Award

Melanie Soto, North Bergen High School; Shamika Deva-Adithiya, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City; and Abriti Chatterjee, McNair Academic High School, Jersey City

STEM Showcase Delegates to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair

Saumitra Prabhu, Sivaditya Padmanabhan and Sania Naik, all of McNair Academic High School, Jersey City

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