Hewlett High School students are semifinalists

Four Hewlett High School students were named semifinalists in the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. Seniors Elizabeth Balzac and Carrie Zheng took part in the Social Science category. Senior Benjamin Sherman and junior Anneliese Baum were in the Science Research category.

Balzac’s project “The Complex Nature of Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: An Investigation of Cognitive Bias, Personal Connection and Trust.” It investigated how much cognitive bias could affect people’s decision to get a Covid vaccine through three "subscales:" prior beliefs about the vaccine, vaccine-related information and the vaccine decision making process.

“Do Contingencies of Self-Worth Influence Maternal Perceptions of Adolescent Autonomy?” is Zheng’s project. She found that the self-worth of a mother, depending on what it is based upon, may influence the relationships that moms have with their children.

Sherman studied ways to optimize the efficiency of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells or proton exchange membrane fuel cells. He demonstrated that incorporating small sized gold nanoparticles in PEMFCs would oxidate carbon monoxide and resultingly increase cell power efficiency. His research is “Size Optimization of Gold Nanoparticles Functionalized on PEMFC Interfaces to Increase Power Efficiency.”

Baum studied the effect of KH-4-43, a novel chemical inhibitor, on specific ovarian and pancreatic cancer cell lines to better understand chemoresistance.

She found that different cancer cells respond differently to the inhibitor and that understanding cell resistance during chemotherapy can help develop a combination therapy to decrease chemoresistance.

Baum’s Research is titled: “Profiling pathway dysregulation in ovarian and pancreatic cell lines upon the loss of CUL4 E3 Ligase activity using novel inhibitor KH-4-43.”

The semifinalists will present virtually on Feb. 6. Finalists and winners will be announced toughly two weeks later