A sweet 16

Last year, 15 Hewlett High School students were named semifinalists in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. Hewlett science teacher and research coordinator Dr. Terrence Bissoondial never expected to have the most semifinalists in the country two years in a row, but that’s what happened when 16 students were honored in this year’s Siemens competition.

“It was beyond expectations,” said Bissoondial, who coordinated the research for this year’s group. “Last year we did extremely well, but I didn’t think history would be so kind to repeat itself. The students worked really hard, and their projects were stellar.”

The Siemens Foundation, which awards grants for education in science, technology, engineering and math, evaluated 1,348 projects this year, a record number. Of the 2,151 students who took part, 318 were named semifinalists. Ninety-six were named finalists, including nine Long Islanders, but none of those were from local schools.
Hewlett High senior Eric Brooks became the school’s first student to be a Siemens semifinalist two years in a row. Paul Masih Das, a senior at Lawrence High, matched that accomplishment.

“I’m very proud that Siemens has recognized me for my work twice, and I hope in the future I’ll be able to produce new exciting research,” said Brooks, whose most recent project focused on how genetic factors affect prostate cancer. “I’m proud that Hewlett had the most semifinalists in the country. I think it can be attributed to Hewlett’s excellent science research program. There’s not many options in the school, but with what we did have, we were able to go far.”

For his project, Masih Das studied the material graphene, which has superconductor properties at room temperature. “It was just a lot of hard work, and it paid off in the end,” he said, explaining that graphene has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity ever recorded, and could replace silicon in transistors and computer chips.

Siemens Foundation Vice President Jennifer Harper-Taylor said it is not uncommon for students to be honored in back-to-back years, since many students stick with research throughout their high school careers. “It’s not a rarity, but it’s a great thing,” Harper-Taylor said.

In addition to Brooks, Hewlett’s Siemens semifinalists include the teams of Ashley Choe, Spencer Amer and Benjamin Klyachman; Landon Acriche, Kirti Chakote and Matthew Vitha; Stacy Gil, Alexandra Kravitz and Nisha Desai; Elan Yochai, Julia Milch and Maurice Harari; and Aviv Lipman, Alan Chiu and Zachary Gershon.

The recognition from Siemens usually opens up college and career opportunities, according to educators. “That’s a very big accomplishment to have that many students qualify as semifinalists,” Harper-Taylor said. “To garner that type of recognition is a phenomenal accomplishment, and they must have an exceptional science department to be able to do that. The mentors and teachers must be doing a phenomenal job of getting their students involved in research.”

Each year, Hewlett science teachers choose about 30 students from the middle school to join the research program. The students then take a research class and are assigned a topic. After the first year, half of the students drop the course, Bissoondial said. They must read all available research on their topic and write a 20-page research paper that is submitted to Siemens. “We find a new way to look at something that’s been discovered,” Bissoondial said. “It takes a lot of time and patience.”

Lawrence places its exceptional students in a summer research program, typically between their junior and senior years. “All three students from Lawrence High School did wonderful research,” said science teacher Rebecca Isseroff, who coordinates the research program. “It’s not a matter of who Siemens picked. They all picked areas that have the potential to be published in a scientific journal, and I’m very proud of everybody.”

John Kranz, Hewlett’s science department chairman and research coordinator, said having so many semifinalists was a remarkable feat. “There’s no words to describe it — it’s an amazing feeling,” Kranz said. “It’s a pleasure to be involved with such a group of kids that has this level of understanding of science at this young age.”

He added, “Our goal is to inspire these people to achieve greatness and pursue goals they may not have envisioned. It’s a great competition, and it gives them a taste for what a career in research is all about.”

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