By Daniel Dunaief
Over 150 students around Long Island recently caught the science bug.
Students from kindergarten through 12th grade made one-minute videos to celebrate historic women in science as a part of the Institute for Advanced Computational Science’s (IACS) second annual competition.
Contestants in the Stony Brook University challenge described their connection with women who sometimes operated in the scientific shadows, while they also described an experiment they did that highlighted an important concept or achievement from the work of historical role models.
“We want to recognize the importance of women in the history of science and engineering,” said Mónica Buggalo, a co-chair of the event and professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and at the IACS. Despite the young age of some of the participants, Buggalo was “blown away by how confident they are. It’s unbelievable.”
On Feb. 13, in honor of International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the finalists provided a two-minute summary of their work and then the IACS named the winners, who will receive cash prizes.
Baylee Stanton from Saxton Middle School and Allison Wong from Lynbrook South Middle School were tied for first place. Each of them will receive $875.
“I’m really proud of myself because this is a pretty advanced topic,” said Wong.
The students presented their one minute videos on any of 10 women.
Wong selected Katherine Johnson, whom she had studied in fourth grade during Black History Month.
“She inspired me to keep learning,” said Wong.
After describing Johnson, who was one of the scientists featured in the movie “Hidden Figures” and for whom two NASA facilities are named, as an “African American mathematician who fundamentally transformed the field of aerospace engineering,” Wong went on to describe her project.
She set up an experiment using a catapult and four projectiles, in which she recorded the flight time and distance for a ping pong ball, cotton ball, bottle cap and marble. She recorded these measurements five times each at three different angles.
In an interview, Wong suggested that Johnson’s legacy is important as she calculated trajectories for the first US manned space flight and for Apollo 11.
Wong, who wants to be a doctor when she grows up, explained that the experience of competing made her feel “really inspired.”
She plans to put the money into a bank account and hopes to use it later in life.
Allison’s father David Wong was thrilled with the program and hopes it grows exponentially over the years, as the experience about researching women role models is inspirational.
David Wong said he himself knew about three of the scientists the contestants profiled, including Rosalind Franklin, who helped determine the double helical structure of the genetic material DNA and Marie Curie, who conducted ground breaking research on radiation and was the first woman to earn a degree from the University of Paris.
The opportunity to learn about the other scientists on the list was “eye opening,” David Wong said.
Designing a paper bag
While many grocery shoppers might take the paper bag for granted, that is not the case for Hampton Street second grader Lucy Samarco.
Samarco learned about Margaret E. Knight, who had 27 patents and 100 inventions and was called “Lady Edison.” Knight developed the machine that created the flat bottomed paper bag, which is still in use today.
Samarco, who won an honorable mention for her entry and will collect $300 from the IACS, said the morning announcements in school included her result in the competition.
Her classmates clapped for her, which made her smile.
Samarco, who made a volcano that included baking soda, white crystals and water the weekend after the competition, wants to be a scientist when she grows up. Her favorite animal is the pink parrot.
Lucy’s mother Tricia Samarco was overwhelmed with emotion.
All the competitors, who were mostly but not exclusively girls, were “absolutely amazing,” said Tricia Samarco. She said she was impressed with their confidence and their ability to speak in public.
Mike Samarco, Lucy’s father, was concerned that the project might be too challenging for Lucy and that he and his wife might not be able to offer much help.
“She kept coming back and saying, ‘This project looks exciting,” Mike Samarco said. Eventually, Lucy’s enthusiasm won the day.
Ultimately, Lucy has no shortage of ambition or ideas, suggesting she wanted to discover things, change the world and, perhaps, become president.
Strawberry DNA
Mineola sisters Julia and Valerie D’Amico, who took home an honorable mention in last year’s competition, received a third place prize for their description and experiment on Franklin.
“She played a great part in discovering DNAs double helical structure,” said Julia, who is in 7th grade at Mineola Middle School. “We were inspired by her.”
The tandem, who received $500 for coming in third, conducted an experiment to extract DNA from a strawberry.
“It was cool seeing how you could do it,” said Valerie, who is in third grade at Jackson Avenue School. Valerie has longer term ambitions to study archeology.
Julia suggested that some of the women scientists from earlier times might have confronted biases against them if they were interested in science or math.
The combination plans to enter the contest again next year as well.
Enriching and enjoyable
Marivia Fernández-Serra, who also co-chaired the event and is a professor in Physics & Astronomy and at the IACS, appreciated how much fun the participants have.
She enjoys watching them take pictures with their scientists.
Fernández-Serra described the event as a “celebration of students.
The goal was of what she described as an “outreach activity” was to “get students excited about doing science and doing research and aspiring to come and start degrees at universities.”
Fernández-Serra suggested that the IACS may break the competition down into different age groups, with entries from elementary, middle school and high school.
Buggalo is thrilled that student competitors are demonstrating interest that extend beyond the challenge.
“There is a lot of excitement about science,” said Buggalo. “Some of them ask about opportunities that the university offers. We do have summer camps and academic activities in research.”
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