Jericho High School juniors Pooja Rambhia and David Zheng were recently named Regional Finalists in the prestigious Siemens Science Competition. David will represent Jericho at the Carnegie Mellon Region Four Competition and Pooja will represent Jericho at the Region One California Institute of Technology Competition. Regional competitions will take place during the month of November. Finalists are guaranteed at least $1,000 for participating in one of six regional judgings. Those chosen for the national finals in December can win scholarships ranging from $10,000 to $100,000.

David Zheng (Grade 11), and Jeffrey Xu (Grade 12 from Landon School in Bethesda, MD) submitted a project entitled: Intra-Molecular Vibrational Couplings of Alanine and L-C-Propargylglycine Using ab initio Calculation and Nonlinear Infared Spectroscopy Simulations in the Chemistry Category.

Pooja Rambhia (Grade 11), Sara Snow (Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls, Hewlett Bay Park, NY) and Brandon Hsu (Monta Vista High School, Cupertino, CA) submitted a project entitled: Surface Induced Fibrinogen Fibril Self-Assembly in the Absence of Thrombin in the Biochemistry Category.

As Regional finalists, students are required to prepare poster and PowerPoint displays of their research, and an oral presentation about their research and findings at universities around the country. Presentations are followed by question-and-answer sessions between judges and students. Unlike other student research contests, Siemens accepts team entrants along with individuals. The Siemens Foundation believes that because adult scientists frequently work in teams, students should be allowed to collaborate on research projects as well.

Jericho High School students also earned eight semifinalist spots in this prestigious competition. These students include:

Esther Lee (Grade 12) Project title: Sustained Release of Lidocaine via Thermoresponsive Hydrogel and Co-Axial Electrospun Membrane, Category: Biology.

Angela Jung and David Jung (Grades 12 and 11) Project title: Use of human monoclonal antibodies 27.B1 and 27.F7: to identify the novel breast-cancer antigen GIPCI, Category: Immunology.

Tiya Nandi and Susie Ahn (Herricks High School) (Grades 11 and 12) Project title: Layer-by-Layer Assembly of a Bilayer tissue through the Harvesting of Cell Sheets from Photosensitive Polymer Surfaces, Category: Medicine and Health/Biochemistry.

Brittany Hsu and J Michael Brill (School for Math and Science, NYC) (Grades 11 and 12) Project title: Engineering Novel Techniques for Iron Oxide Retention onto Chemically-modified Fiberglass-based Adsorbents, Category: Environmental Engineering.

Priyanka Chopra (Grade 12) Project title: Serotonin and Morphine Neuroprotective/Inhibitory Effects on Beta-Amyloid Plaque Formation, Category: Biology.

David Weiss (Grade 12) Project title: Characterization of F350: a Novel Mediator of Pathological Inflammation, Category: Biology.

Pragya Kakani (Grade 11) Project title: A Microarray Based RNA In Situ Hybridization Screen for Novel Cell Adhesion Genes in Cerebellar Basket and Stellate Interneurons, Category: Biology.

The following Jericho High School students submitted projects as well:

Melissa Rudofsky (Grade12) Project title: Anisotropic Magnetic field Response of Semimetal Bismuth Thin Films, Category: Physics.

Liana Mari (Grade 12) Project title: Strain Saturation: Use of Indentation Tests to Analyze Plastic Properties of Thermal Spray [HVOF (JP5000) and Plasma Spray (Triplex Low, Medium, and High Speed)] Coatings, Category: Materials Science.

Verghese Polakunnil (Grade 12) Project title: Graphene NanoRibbon Based Field Effect Transistor Incorporating a PNA DX array Dielectric, Category: Electrical Engineering/Molecular Chemistry.

Sahir Raoof and Herman Gill (Half Hollow Hills High School East) (Grades 10 and 12) Project title: Comparative expression pattern analysis of gsh2, sox1, hes1 and hes5 during neurogenesis and gliogenesis phases of spinal cord development in mouse embryos, Category: Genetics.

Chris Lam and Matt Lam (Grade 11) Project title: Synthesizing Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) Coatings With Ion Source Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) for Tribological and Optical Properties, Category: Chemical Engineering.

Sophia Hsien and Jaime Chang (Grade 11) Project title: Neurochemical Findings in an Animal Model of Pesticide-Induced Attention Deficiency Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Category: Neuroscience.

Jennifer Kim (Grade12) Project title: Improvement of Lymphocytic Myeloma Hybridoma Fusion Efficiency and Inhibition of Cytotoxic Reactions using G418 and HAT, Category: Biology.

Sagar Rambhia and Joshua Lobel (Syosset High School) (Grades 9 and 11) Project title: Computerized Diagnosis of Myocarditis using Conventional ECGs to Augment Current Clinical Practice, Category: Health and Medicine.

Dayna Greenstein (Grade 12) Project title: NGF/TrkA Signaling in the PC12 Cell Line,Category: Biology.

Adam Weser (Grade 12) Project title: Use of Differential Equations to Model Human Cardiac Cycles, Category: Mathematics.

Priya Gandhi (Grade 12) Project title: The Applications of Polyhedron Nets on Viral Protein Modeling, Category: Mathematics.

Michael Tischler (Grade 12) Project title: Analysis of Polymer Substrates as Inducing Surfaces: Novel Implications for Optimizing Dental Pulp Stem Cell Differentiation, Category: Bioengineering.

"We are very proud of the efforts and accomplishments of all our students who submitted research projects to the Siemens Science Competition," said principal Joseph Prisinzano. "Our science research program continues to attract increasing numbers of students dedicated to pursuing serious and inventive scientific research. We would like to thank the district administration and the Board of Education for their commitment to providing ongoing support for this outstanding program."

The Siemens Foundation established the Siemens-Westinghouse Competition in 1999. The competition encourages students to undertake authentic scientific research in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology, or any combinations of these disciplines. Siemens is considered one of the leading science and mathematics research-based competitions for high school students in the nation because of high academic standards and a rigorous judging process. The Siemens competition (the name of the competition was shortened last year) is one of the three major national science competitions to which Jericho High School students submit projects.