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or the past three decades, the Regeneron Science Talent Search competition has been recognized as the epitome of pre-collegiate STEM achievement. On Jan. 9, seniors Jasper Huang, Rohan Mehrotra, Advait Patil, Vinay Senthil, Melissa Wei and Bill Zhu were announced as part of the Top 300 semi-�inalist scholars; on Jan. 23, Patil and Mehrotra advanced as Top 40 �inalists. The selection process is highly tedious and competitive, requiring applicants’ research paper grades, letters of recommendation, essays, test scores, extracurriculars, transcripts and more. This narrows the contestant pool down to a small but highly gifted group of scholars. Wei primarily worked on an online application to �ind electron transfer pathways within proteins. “It is important to discover these
MELISSA WEI
[paths] because currently it is pretty hard to �ind electron transfer pathways,” said Wei. “This is the �irst automated application platform to �ind electron transfer pathways.” Encouraged by the academic environment at Lynbrook, Mehrotra began emailing professors at various colleges and soon started working with a chemistry professor in the Stanford University labs. “Whenever you take a drug, you’re taking an oral pill or getting an injection, but the issue is that it causes the drug to be distributed all around your body and not just where it is needed,” said Mehrotra. “What I developed is a nano�ilm that can be implanted at the location of the disease in your body, and when electric stimulation is applied, it releases the drug directly at the site of infection.” Patil �irst expressed interest in science when he began researching in seventh grade, spurred on by his participation in elementary school science fairs. He completed his submission, a computational framework that analyzed the stem of interactions and created networks for how different types of cells in different populations interact, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “When you do research, you normally experiment on one type of organism, and you can’t really understand how it actually applies to the natural world,” said Patil, “So I created a computational framework that
ROHAN MEHROTRA
BY ASHLEY SONG
VINAY SENTHIL
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS BY NEWS SECTION AND JONATHAN YE
ADVAIT PATIL
Lynbrook celebrates Regeneron STS scholars BILL ZHU
JASPER HUANG
analyzes the stem of interactions and created networks for how different types of cells in different populations interact.” Zhu spent nights stargazing as a child, endlessly fascinated by the cosmos. He visited observatories regularly and kept updated on new discoveries and breakthroughs. For his project, Zhu utilized a stacking procedure to systematically bring out the signal of the galaxies to study their overarching properties. “Despite all the signal-boosting techniques, there was very little residue left over, meaning the host galaxies are likely very close to their neighboring quasars,” said Zhu. “I ran simulations to constrain the impact parameter (distance between quasar and galaxy) to be around 4 - 7 kiloparseconds.” Huang’s project focused on analyzing the sounds of peoples’ footsteps using several machine learning techniques. He was inspired by the realization that he could recognize his family member’s distinct footsteps around the house. Huang was ecstatic when he found out he quali�ied for RSTS’s Top 300. “I felt the same sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, and exhilaration when one gets a new high score in Crossy Road, Flappy Bird or the like,” said Huang. Senthil was inspired to design his project when he saw doctors at the Bay Area Robotics Symposium struggling to view the inter-
nal passages of lungs. Senthil said, “Currently, doctors examine lungs using a �luoroscopy machine that emits radiation, affecting doctors and patients, but only making 2D-images. With yoga mats representing the insides of lungs and a webcam, I built an algorithm. It constructs 3D models of bronchioles from videos of bronchoscopes without radiation and at a fraction of the cost.” For Senthil, landing a spot as a semi-�inalist was particularly special because, unlike his peers who had the help of professional lab equipment, he worked on his submission solely at home. These scholars have represented Lynbrook exceptionally; their achievements re�lect their hard work and ambition. “Never give up,” said Zhu. “Do not let any competition result de�ine your work and grit.” Watch the projects at tinyurl.com/lhsrsts
SADHANA SARMA — EPIC
FUHSD faculty votes for new bell schedule BY HSIN YEN HUANG
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UHSD recently released two new schedules, to take effect in the 2018-2019 school year, after following recommendations from the FUHSD Community Wellness Task Force, a committee formed by superintendent Polly Bove to address student mental health. From Jan. 19 to Jan. 23, teachers at each school voted between a two-block and four-block option, with each school adopting the choice that received the majority of the faculty’s votes. Lynbrook and Monta Vista will be using the two block schedule, while Homestead, Fremont and Cupertino will be using the four-block option. Notable changes have been made to suit the lifestyle and needs of both students and teachers. Under the new schedule, schools will start later than 8:00 a.m. every day to follow the advice of major medical groups such as the American Association of Pediatrics, who recommend later start times to improve student alertness and performance. Consequently, school end times will be pushed back, impacting the schedule of sports games. The passing periods between consecutive block periods will also be extended
from �ive to ten minutes to allow students a short break before classes. Students will receive a third tutorial period, and a committee has been formed to discuss possible plans and workshops for students to attend during the extra tutorial. For teachers and administration, morning collaboration periods have been split into two shorter sessions. “Hopefully, students sleep more, because whether a student is an at risk kid or a kid who wants to get into top schools, there’s these drives to not sleep,” said teacher Patrick Kitson. “Those are the concerns and that’s why we would do this as a district.” Since there will only be two different schedules across FUHSD, students planning on taking Career Technical Education (CTE) classes on other campuses will have an easier time traveling to class; an improvement from current conditions, where every school has its own schedules, making district wide staff meetings inconvenient to organize. “The district is trying to �ind ways for students who want to take a CTE class like biotechnology, which is something some Lynbrook students are taking,” said principal Maria Jackson. “If schools have less variation in schedules, it gives students the opportuni-
ty to take those classes.” While the deferred start time may be welcomed by sleep deprived students, student athletes will miss out on valuable class time for games. To address this issue, the Wellness Task Force has recommended that the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League schedule games no earlier than 4 p.m. to accommodate for athletes with later class end times. “I think the new schedule will be okay overall, because the day is relatively the same, just pushed back,” said junior volleyball and basketball player Kavitha Thirumaran. “The downside is that sports and other after school activities will start later, which could mean going to bed later.” Prior to the vote, parent and student surveys were sent out to gauge the opinions of the community; response rates, however, were low. The schedules were created by the district of�ice, who sent the two choices to each of the �ive schools, where faculty members held multiple meetings to suggest improvements before schedules were �inalized. With numerous changes to grow accustomed to, the new schedule will be another component to keep in mind once the next school year begins.
OWEN LAI// pg. 13