
Congratulations to all students who participated in this year’s Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS). The JSHS Program is a national competition promoting original research and experimentation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) at the high school level and publicly recognizes students for outstanding achievement.
The JSHS program is one of the nation’s longest-running STEM competitions. It is a collaborative effort between the research arm of the Department of Defense (DoD) and nationwide academic research institutions and is administered by the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA).
The following students will be advancing to the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium:
1st Place: Prisha Shroff
Award: $2,000 JSHS Scholarship and $1,000 University of Arizona Scholarship
School: Hamilton High School – Chandler, AZ
Mentor: Hassan Ghasemzadeh, Associate Professor- Arizona State University
Title: HyperGlycemiaAssist: Personalized Blood Glucose Level and Postprandial Hyperglycemia
Prediction using Neural Networks
2nd Place: Chloe Zhan
Award: $1,500 JSHS Scholarship and $1,000 University of Arizona Scholarship
School: Hamilton High School – Chandler, AZ
Teacher: Debbie Nipar, Hamilton High School
Title: Forecasting County-Level Crop Yield in Top Agricultural-Producing States Using Satellite Data
3rd Place: Valeria Tocanos-Pasos
Award: $1,000 JSHS Scholarship and $1,000 University of Arizona Scholarship
Flowing Wells High School – Tucson, AZ
Mentor: Jessica Dietrich, Flowing Wells High School
Title: Examining Hindbrain Activation at Multiple Time Points Following a Small Intestinal Lipid Infusion
in Mice
4th Place: Baochan Fan
Award: $1,000 University of Arizona Scholarship
Hamilton High School – Chandler, AZ
Mentor: Dr. Min-Hyun Kim, PhD, Arizona State University
Title: Hypothalamic EZH2: A Key Regulator of Leptin Sensitivity in Obesity
5th Place: Maritza Roberts-Padilla
Award: $1,000 University of Arizona Scholarship
BASIS Tucson North – Tucson, AZ
Mentor: Dr. Derek Reichel, Roche
Title: Batch Adsorption Study of Methylene Blue using Fresh Prickly Pear Cactus Cladodes as a
Model Material for Textile Wastewater Remediation
Alternate: Meenal Srivastava
BASIS Scottsdale – Scottsdale, AZ
Title: Trust in the Use of Artificial Intelligence Technology in Healthcare
1st Place Poster Presenter: Roberto Serna
Harvest Preparatory Academy – Yuma, AZ
Teacher: Alfred S. Santos
Title: Burnt Potato Peel (BPP)Powder: A Novel Biosorbent to Combat Pharmaceutical Pollution.
2nd Place Poster Presenter: Leonocio Villareal
Harvest Preparatory Academy – Yuma, AZ
Teacher: Alfred S. Santos
Title: Investigating the Effects of Phenylalanine and Lysine on Phaseolus Vulgaris Grown in Acidic Soil
AZ JSHS Teacher of the Year: Alfred Santos
Harvest Preparatory Academy – Yuma, AZ