Eleven Darien High School students took home awards for their work at the Southern Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair at Newtown High School on Feb. 8. Thirty-eight Darien students competed in four categories at the event: life sciences, physical sciences, environmental sciences and behavioral sciences.

Each student was required to create a poster exhibit, make a presentation and participate in a question-and-answer session with two sets of judges.

Katie Tsui and Kate Halabi tied for first place in the health science category for their research proposals. Tsui, a sophomore and Darien Times columnist, proposed work on the role of cardiovascular disease on incidences of Alzheimers disease.

For the past semester, I have been studying Alzheimers disease, primarily focusing on epidemiological longitudinal studies along with specific genes and risk factors for the disease, Tsui said. As a sophomore just starting out in the authentic science research course, it was really surprising and unexpected to win. But I was very pleased with the results all the hard work paid off.

Tsui said she hopes to continue studying Alzheimers, as it is something she is very interested in and passionate about.

Kate Halabis proposed project focused on regenerating neural tissue following a stroke using induced pluripotent stem cells. This type of stem cell can be used to regenerate a variety of damaged tissue types and can propagate indefinitely.

Paige Dripp garnered a second place finish in environmental science for her proposal that examined the effect of chlorothanolil on the domesticated honeybee population.

Sonia Gandhi took home second place in behavioral science for her proposal, Breaking the barriers of self-consciousness: The effects of short-term jazz training on non-musicians.

Christian Kanlian won third place in environmental science for a look at how repeated exposure to 1-MCP effects physiochemical, color and soluble solids of tomatoes during ripening in controlled storage.

Lauren Rutledge also took home a third place in the behavioral science category for her work that studied the formation of herds by Tursiops truncatus in the absence of competition. Tursiops truncatus is the scientific name for the bottlenose dolphin.

Original post:
Darien high schoolers take top science honors