Three NBHS Students Win Science Awards
North Babylon High School students Kevin Schmid, Cameron Billings, and Meghna Kumar have all made the Science Department proud by winning awards.
Kevin Schmid and Cameron Billings won 2nd and 3rd place trophies respectively at the 11th Annual Nassau Community College Science Fair that was held on March 14th with over 200 students from 29 school districts participating. Meghna Kumar won a 1st Division Award and a monetary prize at the 7th Annual Molloy College Science Fair which had 167 students from 21 school districts in attendance.
Kevin's project, titled "Tocopherol and Oil Viscosity" was an experiment designed to reduce an oil's viscosity by adding Tocopherol (vitamin E) until it reached saturation. This was an attempt to create more healthful varieties of consumable oils. Although he disproved his original hypothesis, his experiment proved to be worthy of 2nd place.
Cameron's experiment, "Green Energy," was his own original design of a wind turbine to generate energy without using fossil fuels. His design incorporates the use of magnets to reduce friction and make the turbines more efficient. In addition to that, Cameron took into consideration the obtrusiveness of present day turbines (which is the major reason why people oppose building them) and he designed his wind turbine to fit over existing light poles that line our highways, avoiding additional structures that might otherwise create an eyesore that litters our landscapes.
Meghna's experiment wanted to test if microwave exposure would delay cell regeneration in Planaria. Over a three month time period, she exposed Planaria to varying levels of microwaves that were emitted externally from a typical household microwave and learned that the Planaria with the most exposure regenerated at a slower rate.
All three students are in the class of Ms. Annette Renner who is in only her second year as science research teacher. Under her tutelage, North Babylon High School students are already surpassing the work being performed in similar and more affluent districts. Pictured L to R: Kevin Schmid, Pooja Kumblar, Ms. Renner, Danielle Sluszka, and Cameron Billings at the Fair. Also pictured separately is Meghna Kumar.
