The 65th NJ Academy of Science Virtual Research Competition
This year marked the NJ Academy of Science (NJAS) 65th anniversary of bringing students and researchers together to exchange scientific ideas together. Due to the COVID-19 health crisis, the NJ Academy of Science (NJAS) 65th annual meeting was modified into a virtual research competition. Despite the challenges, there were more than one hundred participants who submitted their premier scientific video presentation.
The virtual research competition gives students (High school, undergraduate and graduate students) a chance to present original scientific research and compete for the opportunity to have their research abstract published, to compete at the 2021 national American Junior Academy of Science (junior academy level), or serve as the NJ Academy of Science delegate at the 2021 American Association for the Advancement of Science (senior academy level).
The NJAS Board would like to Congratulate all the participants for their support and commitment to science. Please see below for the 2020 NJ Academy of Science Virtual Research Competition Winners.
Senior Academy Winners
Cell and Molecular Biology:
1st place: Lea Marjana
2nd place: Mark Bodnar II
3rd place: Veronica Holganza
Ecology, Environmental, or Marine Science:
1st place: Elika Moallem
2nd place: Sudeep Khadka
3rd place: Madison Perry
Health or Medicine:
1st place: Shweta Sapkota
Microbiology:
1st place: Jacqueline Mehr and Jeffrey Yang (tie)
3rd place: Indira Sawh
Honorable Mention:
Venisse Abanilla
Julia Annuzzi
Keid Berisha
Ashanae Gordon
Jessica Hatcher
Kriti Sitaula
Yaman Thapa
Facundo Torres
Saliha Ulgur
Orion Yedidia
Maria Zamora
Junior Academy Winners
Botany:
1st place: Meghan Lu and Isabella Onofrietti (tie)
2nd place: Brad Miller
3rd place: Cassandra Vongrej
Cell & Molecular Biology:
1st place: Sasha Shifter and Sofia Kaplan (tie)
2nd place: Bill Zhang
3rd place: Jonathan Tenenbaum
Biochemistry:
1st place: Lana Van Note
2nd place: Abhay Rao
3rd place: Benjamin Shain and Benjamin Lin (tie)
Ecology:
1st place: Hassan Choudhry
2nd place: Christine Kim
3rd place: Isabella Fuentes, Shivani Patel, and Sidharth Srivastava (tie)
Physics and Engineering:
1st place: Arya Tschand
2nd place: Edward Kim
3rd place: Daniel Tobengauz
Health and Medicine:
1st place: Yu-Xuan Liu and Shruti Kedharnath (tie)
2nd place: Julia Smolyak, Emily Hashem, Giovanna Onofrietti, and Apollo Lee (tie)
*3rd prize was exempted for this category
Math & Computational Science:
1st place: Lily Chen
2nd place: Bradley Xu
3rd place: Justin Zhang
Microbiology:
1st place: Michael Kravets
2nd place: Kathleen Antonakakis
3rd place: Jawa Rayan
Psychology:
1st place: Grace Pluemacher
2nd place: Katherine Monroe, William Shullich, and Emily Guan (tie)
3rd place: Aarya Doshi
Grant-in-Aid Winners
1st place: Emily Delgado
2nd place: Harshni Parag Patel
3rd place: Ramzi Saber and Galena Gomez
The NJAS Board gratefully acknowledges the following scientists and educators who volunteered their time as judges for the 2020 NJ Academy of Science Virtual Research Competition
Dr. Maria Agapito (Bard High School Early College/Kean University)
Dr. James Arnone (William Paterson University)
Dr. Mina Armani (Jose Marty STEM Academy)
Dr. Deepak Bal (Montclair State University)
Dr. Melissa Baralt (Berkeley College/Montclair State University)
Dr. Agnes T. Berki (Caldwell University)
Dr. Josephine Blaha (Holmdel High School)
Dr. Jaclyn Catalano (Montclair State University)
Dr. Dan Celenti (AT&T Labs (retired)/Brookdale Community College)
Dr. Grace Cook (Bloomfield College)
James Danch, MS (Colonia High School)
Nancy Farlow, BS (Jersey City High School)
Alejandra I. Ferrer - PhD Candidate (Rutgers University)
Dr. Eric Forgoston (Montclair State University)
Dr. Jing Gao (Kean University)
Dr. M. Denise Gemmellaro (Kean University)
Dr. Juyoung Ha (Kean University)
Dr. Eric Iannacone (Raritan Valley Community College)
Cynthia Israel, MS (Rutgers University)
Dr. Julian Paul Keenan (Montclair State University)
Dr. Robert Lippincott (NJ Department of Environmental Protection)
Dr. Laura Lorentzen (Kean University)
Dr. Kendall Martin (William Paterson University)
Dr. Anand Mhatre (Bard High School Early College)
Dr. Daniel Millemann (NJ Department of Environmental Protection)
Dr. Tiffany Morris (Bard High School Early College)
Rachana V. Nair, MS (Fairleigh Dickinson University)
Dr. Yelena Naumova (Raritan Valley Community College)
Cailin O’Connor, MS (Kean University)
Dr. Robert O’Hagan (Montclair State University)
Dr. Julia Olayanju (Global Food Health Institute)
Nan Perigo, MS ((Kean University)
Marius Pelmus, MS (Seton Hall University)
Dr. Nicholas Procopio (NJ Department of Environmental Protection)
Dr. Rongsun Pu (Kean University)
Yuriko Root, MS (Kean University)
Dr. Samantha Schlachter (College of Saint Elizabeth)
Dr. Ileana Soto (Rowan University)
Sean Stratton, MS (Rutgers University)
Dr. Brian Teasdale (Kean University)
The NJAS Board gratefully acknowledges the following scientists and educators who volunteered their time as grant reviewers for the 2020 NJ Academy of Science Grants-In-Aid
Roberta Batorsky, MS (Penn State University)
Dr. Jing Gao (Kean University)
Dr. Laura Lorentzen (Kean University)
Dr. Copty Nader (Raritan Valley Community College)
Dr. Jeffrey Rosenfeld (Rutgers University)
Dr. Patrick Weir (Felician University)
Eric Wendell, BS (Mercedes-Benz USA)
Dr. Jeanette Wilmanski (Saint Peter's University)
Cecilia Wisniewski, MBA (M & J Associates)
The People's Choice Award
This year, the NJ Academy of Science (NJAS) social media committee established a new award called the People’s Choice Award to bring the scientific community together. This award is given to the competitor with the most likes on NJAS YouTube page.
Physics & Engineering: Marissa Teitelbaum (20 likes)
Cell Biology: Jonathan Tenenbaum (68 likes)
Health Medicine: Lindsey Lung (227 likes)
Ecology: Christine Kim (141 likes)
Math Computational: Melanie Chen (15 likes)
Psychology: Aarya Doshi (81 likes)
Microbiology: Rayan Jawa (20 likes)
Biochemistry: Abhay Rao (48 likes)
Botany: Patryk Dabek (354 likes)
According to the listed results above, NJAS social media committee can conclude that the winner of the People's Choice Award is Patryk Dabek with 354 likes!
