Dr. Joel Pardee and Dr. Max Gomez with 7th-grade student winners of the Most Creative Award: Daniel Vithlani, Zann Isacson, Emily Melas, Gaurav Saharia, and Salem Gutic.
The Seventh Annual Cornell Science Challenge, a joint effort of Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences and the East Side Middle School in Manhattan, was held in Olin Hall Gym on March 30, with Dr. Max Gomez of WNBC-TV presiding.
The Challenge is a 12-week program that gives 120 seventh-grade students the opportunity to be mentored by 24 volunteers from Weill Cornell Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; and The Rockefeller University. Participating mentors include graduate students, technicians, faculty members and postdoctorate fellows. The key goal of the program is introducing the middle-school students to the scientific method: hypothesis, experimentation and analysis.
Graduate student Michael Bruno (far left), Helen Nickerson (far right) from the Department of Medicine, and students from East Side Middle School.
From January 6 to March 30, mentors met with students at P.S. 158 (located at York Avenue and 77th Street) as well as after school and arranged visits to laboratories at Weill Cornell, The Rockefeller University, and Sloan-Kettering Institute. Working in groups of four to five students, each team chose a research topic and hypothesis, and designed and conducted an experiment to test the hypothesis. Afterwards, they collected and analyzed the data.
"The Cornell Science Challenge is designed to give middle-school students hands-on experience with hypothesis-driven science—and, at the same time, have some fun," said Dr. Brian Turner, fellowships and outreach director for the Graduate School. "In the last seven years, almost 1,000 middle-school students have participated. The program fills a huge need for improving the access to quality science education, in an enthusiastic and supportive environment."
Judges Larry Lyons from the Department of Medicine and graduate student Andrea Brenner tally the students' projects.
Dr. Joel Pardee, associate dean of the Graduate School, acknowledged the hard work of the middle-school class' teacher, Alicia Pilgrim, and commented on how impressed he was with the accuracy and professionalism of the students' work.
Four junior judges, winners from last year's competition who are now eighth-graders, helped judge the competition along with graduate students. WNBC-TV's Dr. Max Gomez presented awards in various categories, which included Best Scientific Method, Best Presentation, Best Creativity and the People's Choice Award.
Kreshnik Zeqiraj, a seventh-grader, designed the "2004 Cornell Science Challenge" T-shirts.
2004 Cornell Science Challenge Topics and Winners
Best Scientific Method: "Out of Breath"
Sofia Antonelli
Amanda Eubanks
Irat Issu
Melanie Rodriguez
Eretrea Woldehaimano
Sara Sloane
Best Scientific Method (runner-up): "Making Sense Out of Aging"
Michael Bruderer
Cynthia Bryant
Alexander Chan
Julia Simon
Most Creative: "Got Heart?"
Luca Balac
Matthew Barall
Whitney Kerr
Ayana Kone
Jeffrey Steitz
Most Creative (runner-up): "Coloring Your Mood"
Salem Gutic
Zann Isacson
Emily Melas
Daniel Vithlani
Gaurau Saharia
A young scientist from East Side Middle School explains his experiment to a curious onlooker.
Best Presentation: "If You Plant It, It Will Grow"
Simon Schiller
Naz Yalbir
Gabriella Lefanowicz
Richy Rosario
Tara Stern
Best Presentation (runner-up): "Our Invisible Neighbors"
Ethan Illfelder
Laura Rossi
Nicole Salazar
Naslihan Yildirim
Junior Judge Award: "That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles"
Luke Brown
Andrew Gelles
Bylan Tramontin
Gemma Breit
People's Choice Award: "Eat and Run"
Jason Berliner
Die Kane
Jenna Ko
Emily Shuman
Arya Tabatabai
Photos by Amelia Panico.