North Central Regional Junior Science
and Humanities Symposium (JSHS)
2022 Awards
Sponsored by
Administered by
National JSHS Finalists
National JSHS offers these prestigious awards to five finalists from each region. The 60th National JSHS will be held April 20-23, 2022, as an in person competition in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The National JSHS brings together 245 high school students who qualify by submitting and presenting original scientific research papers in regional symposium held at universities nationwide. Approximately 130 high school teachers, mentors, university faculty, military personnel, and others also attend and join in encouraging the future generation of scientists and engineers and celebrating student achievement in the sciences.
FIRST PLACE ($2,000; oral presenter at NJSHS):
Christine Song (Mayo High School), Cure of Breast Cancer - Year 5: A Novel Approach to Treating Hormonal Breast Cancer using Diabetes Medication through Clinical Database and 3D ex vivo Model
SECOND PLACE ($1,500; oral presenters at NJSHS):
Quinn Hughes and Tyler Clair (Minnetonka High School), Using Monte Carlo Simulation to Optimize Vitamin C Production in Brassica oleracea using Abiotic Plant Stress
THIRD PLACE ($1,000; poster presenter at NJSHS):
Stavya Arora (Maple Grove Senior High School), Overcoming Opioids: Analyzing, characterizing, and quantifying the sentiment of Reddit posts’ tone and language prior to a relapse to allow for early intervention
FOURTH PLACE (poster presenter at NJSHS):
Linnea Cooley, Effect of Ethanol and Octocrylene on the Cell Growth and Chlorophyll-a Levels of Cyclotella meneghiniana
FIFTH PLACE (poster presenter at NJSHS):
Adhvaith Sridhar, Immune System Innovation: Ushering in a new era of immunology research by characterizing cell populations most impacted by normal microbial exposure for preclinical research and healthcare treatment development success
Regional JSHS Teacher Award
Sponsored by National JSHS, this $500 award is given to a teacher who has demonstrated excellence in mentoring, honoring the individual teacher and their school's contributions to advancing student participation in research.
Kate Lockwood, Director of Computer Science at St. Paul Academy and Summit School
Outstanding Achievement Awards
The Minnesota Academy of Science awards six students who conduct exceptional scientific research and presentation of their results a certificate and a $50 prize.
Biomedical Sciences: Elizabeth Levinshteyn (Spring Lake Park High School), A Look Into the TINY Earth: Finding Antibiotic Producing Bacteria in Yellowstone Soil
Chemistry: Sarah Peterson & Kendall White (Breck School), Knots or Not? Using electricity to study DNA entanglements in nanochannels
Engineering and Technology: Ruth Mellin & Alexander Moore (St. Paul Academy & Summit School), Project SERSI: Smartphone Enabled Robotic Sign-Language Interpreter
Environmental Sciences: Rowan Rock (Cloquet Senior High), The Use of Mealworm Microbes to Isolate and Identify Bacteria that can Biodegrade Polystyrene
Life Sciences: Grace Finnerty (Cotter Schools), A Chemical-Free Apple Tree Cultivation Technique
Math and Computer Sciences; Computer Engineering: Srinath Hariharan (Woodbury High School), Tumor targeting: Utilizing spatial data science techniques to decode the enigmatic immune response with the goal of informing further efforts to develop immunotherapies for tumor treatment
Medicine and Health; Behavioral and Social Sciences; Cellular and Molecular Biology: Spencer Burris-Brown (St. Paul Academy & Summit School), Assessing the Influence of Personality on Active and Passive Procrastination among Adolescents
Physics and Astronomy; Theoretical Math: Matthew Trussell (Burnsville High School), The effect of concrete texture on heat absorption and emission
Presidential Awards
The Minnesota Academy of Science recognizes one student in each category for excellent research with a certificate and letter of congratulations.
Biomedical Sciences: Isha Kapoor (Mayo High School), Overcoming melphalan resistance in the treatment of multiple myeloma
Chemistry: Cady Pagel (Convent of the Visitation School), Gluten-Free or Gluten Debris: Prolamin and Glutelin Levels in Oat Flours
Engineering and Technology: Trisha Samba & Amira Sinclair (Breck School), Water You Risking? Developing a Novel Maze to Assess the Effects of Thirst. on Risk-Taking Behavior in Mice
Environmental Sciences: Kyla Fung (Minnetonka High School), Sustainable Bioplastics: Seaweed and Hemp-based Alternatives to Fossil Fuel-based Plastics
Life Sciences: Harmony Tracy (Cloquet Senior High), Tough Turkeys Year 2: What habitat types do turkeys now associate with in Northeast Minnesota?
Math and Computer Sciences; Computer Engineering: Leon Luo (Wayzata High School), Does ESG investing affect international capital flows? Evidence from statistical and machine learning methods
Medicine and Health; Behavioral and Social Sciences; Cellular and Molecular Biology: Adhvaith Sridhar (Wayzata High School), Immune System Innovation: Ushering in a new era of immunology research by characterizing cell populations most impacted by normal microbial exposure for preclinical research and healthcare treatment development success
Physics and Astronomy; Theoretical Math: Gabriel Le (Burnsville High School), How Masks Affect Air Flow
Minnesota Junior Academy of Science
Top JSHS presenters (as well as top award winners at the MN State Science & Engineering Fair) will be invited to join the Minnesota Junior Academy of Science (MJAS). MJAS is an honorary society and leadership group of high school and college students from Minnesota who have demonstrated excellence in scientific research. Minnesota’s “Junior Academy” has roots that go back a century or more, although it has not operated for several years. Minnesota’s “Senior Academy” (the Minnesota Academy of Science) is bringing back the Junior Academy in 2022.
