ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

 

 

High School

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The Effect of Copper on Acropora cervicornis
Rebecca Adler, Pine Crest School

My research investigates the lethal and sublethal impacts of various copper chloride concentrations on the critically endangered coral species, Acropora cervicornis. 

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Seagrass fatalities in North Biscayne Bay, South Florida due to increases in nutrients and macroalgae in its environment
Andrea Carbonell, American Heritage School Plantation

A literature review on the seagrass fatalities in Biscayne Bay, South Florida. A number of studies were collected and analyzed in order to find the causes of the recent increases of seagrass deaths in the Biscayne Bay environment. 

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Contaminants Effect on Lemna Minor and Chlorella
Gabriella Ciotti, American Heritage School Plantation

Water pollution is a prevalent issue in our world today that is not going away. We have to develop new methods that can keep up with, and potentially slow and stop water contamination. The objective of this research was to find out whether Lemna Minor and Chlorella could filter out common water contaminants (urea, glyphosate herbicide, copper fungicide, and gasoline), while staying alive and growing. 

 

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Evaluating the Economic and Social Ramifications from Sea Level Rise in the Florida Coastal Region in 2050 and Solutions to Alleviate Potential Damages
Abdul-Jalil Dania, American Heritage School Plantation

Used QGIS to calculate displaced populations. Used data to run through economic and social vulnerability analysis to gauge how two-feet sea level rise in the year 2050 could affect Florida's coastal groups.

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Scuba Diving Tank with Electrolysis
Sriharu Gotluru, American Heritage School Plantation

I developed an electrolyzer that intakes sea water and then produces the specific amount of oxygen according to the pressure levels around the machine for the scuba diver. This is only a replacement for the tank, and a rebreather system must be used as humans cannot directly consume pure oxygen.

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COVID-19 Shutdowns and Air Quality in Colorado: A demographic analysis 
Maya Hunter, Cherry Creek High School

My study investigates the change in PM2.5 that occurred in Colorado as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns and how these trends manifested on a demographic level.

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The Effects of Covid-19 Shutdowns on Light Pollution
Kathryn Huth, Saint Joseph High School

My project was  study to determine if levels of light pollution decreased since people were stuck in their home hypothetically reducing light pollution. My Hypothesis was supported that light pollution decreased during the lockdowns.

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Water Purification Using Agricultural Waste Materials as Adsorbents
Andrea Leng, Blacksburg High School

With the COVID-19 virus spreading in all parts of the world, the usage of disinfectant wipes has exponentially increased. The active ingredients in the wipes include alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (c12, c14, c16), all of which might have negative environmental impacts once released into the aquatic systems. The objective of this research was to test if agricultural waste material-fused filter papers can be used to filter out water contaminated with the disinfectant compounds listed above.

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The Effects of Nano- and Microplastics on Pomacea Diffusa Behavior and Learning
Rachael Liu, American Heritage School Boca/Delray

A study investigating the adverse cognitive effects of microplastics.

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Potential Role of Glyphosate in Human Cancers
Veda Madem, American Heritage School Boca/Delray

I briefly discuss an overview of my project and what led me to where I am in the video. My presentation slides go further in-depth about each source and the information gleaned from them. It also compares the results and glyphosate concentrations used. 

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The Effects of Various Common Ocean Pollutants on the Productivity of Phytoplankton
Lauren McDonough, American Heritage School Boca/Delray

This presentation is a comprehensive overview of research on the effects various common marine pollutants can have on phytoplankton, specifically on the rate of their photosynthetic productivity.  This project mainly deals with the realms of environmental science and marine biology, and have real world application in both.  

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Innovative Climate Change Emissions Reduction: The Cargo Ship Flettner Rotor Centrifugal Vortex Exhaust Scrubber
Charlotte Lenore Michaluk, Hopewell Valley Central High School

Our global cargo ship fleet is responsible for 4% of climate change emissions and particulate pollutants, leading to roughly 7.6 million childhood asthma cases, and 150,000 premature deaths annually. A novel centrifugal vortex scrubber integrated into a Flettner rotor creates a hybrid wind and fossil fuel powered vessel that cleans exhaust while generating auxiliary wind propulsion. 

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Isolation of Geobacter Metallireducens in Diverse Environments
Maya Mohanty, American Heritage School Boca/Delray

This study provides a natural alternative to the status-quo water decontamination methods by using a certain type of bacteria. The results of this study will save millions of lives and countless ecosystems.

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Determining the Effects of Pollution on Motor Function and Development on Drosophila melanogaster
Saumya Narang, American Heritage School Plantation

This presentation is a google site that includes a home, introduction, abstract, presentation, and discussion page. The menu and the buttons in the footer can both be used to navigate the site. This project entailed determining the effects of pollution on fruit flies. Three assays were conducted to determine this; a larval crawling assay, a locomotor assay for larval peristalsis contractions, and a rapid iterative negative geotaxis (RING) assay. The drosophilas' development was also observed to determine how development was impacted. The results and observations exhibited that pollution negatively impacted the fruit flies, as hypothesized. Because of the gentic similarity between humans and drosophilas, these results could be used to show how humans could be impacted by pollution. These results could be useful all over the world, especially in low-income countries as it indicates how harmful pollution really is. 

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Comparison of ARCHER MPERC to NHC Analysis
Lorenzo Pulmano, American Heritage School Plantation

The presentation discusses a literature review completed on Automated Rotational Hurricane Eye Retrieval (ARCHER) Microwave-based Probability of Eyewall Replacement Cycle (MPERC) algorithm results for all Atlantic basin tropical cyclones from 2017 to 2019.  Results derived from the algorithm were then compared to the National Hurricane Center's (NHC) official reports for each storm.

 

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Associations Between Prenatal Maternal PM2.5 Exposure and Infant Temperament at Age 6 Months
Fataha Rahman, The Bronx High School of Science

My presentation is on Tumblr and includes my abstract,  a poster, a short video, and the slides used in the presentation. My project is on assessing the impact of PM2.5, a form of air pollution, on the temperament of infants at the age of 6 months. The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised was used to assess their temperament.

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Detection of C. parvum Transposons in Potable Water Using Genetically Engineered Bioelectric Sensors
Gitanjali Rao, STEM School Highlands Ranch

Cryptosporidiosis (Crypto) has a substantial health impact globally, particularly in lower-income countries, and is the most common cause of waterborne disease in the world. With genetic engineering, the research goal is to develop a real-time solution for common people to indicate the presence of C.parvum in potable water. My work involved simulating the creation of a genetically engineered B.cereus microbe and creating a correlation map between the concentration of C.parvum and voltage released. A device was designed to measure the electric impulse using a biosensor. The detection works without the need for complex preparations and highly-trained technicians. In the future, the test results will be verified with the device prototype. The solution can be expanded to detect other parasitic contaminants.

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Deep Learning Approach for Short Term Load and Variable Renewable Energy Forecasting for the Smart Power Grid
Diptanshu Sikdar, BASIS Independent Silicon Valley

The goal of this project is to use Deep Learning to forecast the electricity demand and variable renewable energy supply to optimize the power grid. To meet the growing need for electricity to power homes and EV’s, utilities need efficient electricity distribution to reduce operational costs and stress on grid infrastructure. A critical component of the Smart Grid is accurately forecasting electricity demand and renewable energy to avoid wasting excess electricity and reduce shortages, which cause brownouts or blackouts. My deep learning models accurately forecasted the load and solar power generation, enabling a broader integration of renewables, efficient energy management, and reduced peak load conditions, blackouts, and carbon emissions.

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Effiencies of Carbonic Anhydrase
Sanshray Singh, American Heritage School Plantation 

A presentation on the aspects of the salability of a novel chemical process

 

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The Impact of Biopolymers on Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems
Aleksander Stec, Sandy Creek High School

Over the past 4 years I've worked to create an alternative to PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic which is a major pollutant in our terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. To do this I created plastic from yams, avocado, potato, and corn. After extensive testing I found that avocado plastic has the best results, decomposing in 15 days once exposed to the elements, and  acts as a natural fertilizer, accelerating plant growth.

 

 

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Predicting Pandemics
Benjamin Sukenik, American Heritage School Boca/Delray

My presentation includes how the researcher used data form past  pandemics to create an algorithm able to predict statistics for present and future pandemics.

 

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The Effectiveness of Invasive Seaweeds as Biofuels
Maya Volot, American Heritage School Boca/Delray

The goal of this experiment was to be able to determine which seaweed would have a higher yield of Bioethanol fuel to help alleviate coastlines while also potentially helping with global warming. 

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Environmental Impacts on the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Quantitative Analysis
Amelia Yu, Henry M. Gunn High School

My presentation introduces my research investigation of the impacts of environmental factors on the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an empirical research project that used quantitative, secondary data from national and international organizations. Matlab, Excel, and AgriMetSoft were used to do a correlation and regression analysis. When significant correlation was found, linear and polynomial regression models were applied. The analysis shows that at both the global and national levels, the studied environmental factors except air temperature exhibit no impacts on COVID-19 occurrence. However, air temperature displays an association with COVID-19 occurrence in developing countries and in some of the largest developing countries around the world, temperature has a rather significant impact on COVID-19 occurrence. To conclude, while only air temperature showed an impact on COVID-19 occurrence in developing countries, no impacts were detected for any of the studied environmental factors in developed countries. This implies that in the US and other developed countries, we cannot expect warm temperature to help decrease COVID-19 occurrence. During COVID-19 or possible similar pandemics, air temperature can affect people more in developing countries, and from this perspective, global warming may affect them stronger. These findings can further develop relevant theories and guide policy making to help our pandemic-ridden society.

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Undergraduate

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DNA Barcoding for Freshwater Bioassessment: A Versatile Lab Extension
Sonja Michaluk, Carnegie Mellon University

The World Economic Forum lists water scarcity as a major global risk, leaving us more dependent on surface water for drinking. This requires more filtration infrastructure, and monitoring of surface water sources. Current methods rely on expensive and technically challenging manual biological sample identification by morphology. This research explores DNA barcoding, to measure waterway health, particularly with the most widespread macroinvertebrate families. This concept was advanced to create a genetics lab extension to perform bioassessment. 

 

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Graduate

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Altered Behavior in Sharks & Rays: Do Ecological Engineering Projects have the Potential to Impact these Elasmobranchs?
Cierra Braga, Florida Institute of Technology

Ecological engineering projects are typically considered to be environmentally friendly, but projects of this nature in the marine environment that use electricity have the potential to alter the natural ecosystem’s predator-prey interactions if the electric fields change the movement patterns of fishes like sharks. To ensure that these ecological engineering practices are effective, but do not have unintended ecosystem consequences, this study performs a literature review to investigate whether electric field emissions have the potential to alter electrosensitive fish behavior.

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