Gold for Lawrence and HAFTR students at ISWEEP

Two Lawrence High School students, Lee Blackburn and Arthur Chen, along with Justin Lish, a Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway High School (HAFTR), all juniors, collaborated on a research project that won the gold medal at the 2015 International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering and Environment) Project (ISWEEEP) competition in Pittsburgh last weekend.
The project studied the use of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) hydrogen fuel cells as sources of energy. Although these cells are presently seen as expensive and inefficient, the group discovered a way to synthesize metal-graphene sheets and apply them to the PEM cells, increasing their power output and significantly decreasing the cost needed to fuel them.
They competed against other teams from nearly 70 countries and more than 40 U.S. states at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas from May 7-10. Lawrence High science teacher Rebecca Isseroff and Dr. Miriam Rafailovich, of Stony Brook University’s Garcia Center, served as the students’ project mentors.
Blackburn, Chen and Lish were also regional finalists in the 2014 Siemens competition in Math, Science and Technology Competition.