Hewlett High School seniors are Junior Science and Humanity Symposium semifinalists

Students to present their research on Super Bowl Sunday at York College in Queens

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Aditi Dam and Julia Grossman, seniors at Hewlett High School, were named semifinalists in the Junior Science and Humanity Symposium competition. Both were invited to present their research at the Symposium on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 3 at York College in Queens.

Sponsored by the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, the JSHS is a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) competition that aims to promote original research and science experimentation at the high school level. Students compete at a regional symposia for selection to the national symposium. College professors and working scientists and engineers, applying the Academy of Applied Sciences guidelines evaluate the presentations from the students.

Dam will present her research titled: “Constructing and Comparing Regulatory Networks in Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer and Castrate-Resistant Prostate Cancer Using ATAC-seq Data to Identify Novel Transcription Factors for Target Therapy.”


She focused on trying to identify genes using bioinformatics (the interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data) that are deregulated in specific types of prostate cancer. Dam identified several candidate genes that are now being studied with hopes of developing specific treatment for these cancers.

Grossman, who was also a Regeneron Science Talent Search semifinalist, will present her research titled: “Use of fluorine as a proxy to determine the effect of geothermal fluids on strain rate, effective crustal viscosity and landscape deformation in the Great Basin.”

With earthquakes being difficult to predict and there is no reliable marker that can indicate where and when an earthquake will occur. Grossman’s research focused on using the level of the element fluorine to indicate strain in the Earth’s crust and as subsequent predictor of earthquakes.

Bar-Masiah’s research is titled: “An Examination of Adolescent Bystander Behavior in Bullying Situation.” The study found that gender was a significant variable of bystander behavior, age was not a significant factor and teens with the highest grades would be defenders in physical bullying situation.

Pathiranage’s research “Revisiting Piaget in the Twenty-First Century: An Investigation of Hoe Adolescent Schemas Influence Understanding and Response to Stressors.” The study found that the relationship between positive schema (a pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them) and stress was significantly stronger than the relationship between negative schema and stress.

Steertgem’s research “Observing the Invisible Nature of Shame: An Investigation of the Presence and Expression of Adolescent Shame.” The study found that adolescents experience high levels of shame, with the most shame expressed in peer situation and the least in parental situations.