2023 Winners

The 2023 NHSEE is in the can, and it was a great day!  New Hampshire is largely dug out from the storm earlier this week and we had a gymnasium full of students from around the state. It was really fun to meet the students and see their research projects. The top “Best-in-Fair” winners of the NHSEE are eligible to attend the international science fair ISEF. This year’s ISEF is in-person in Dallas, TX. If you couldn’t be with us, take a look at what you missed. Thanks Elvir for the candids from the floor in that slide show, and thanks Nathan for all the help setting up the tables! Congratulations to all the students who attended the NHSEE at NHTI in Concord, and special congrats to the best-in-fair winners and the winners of the categories! On this page you’ll also find the winners of New Hampshire Academy of Sciences Summer Applied Scientific Research Program Scholarships. Winners are invited to attend a summer research session at the Academy (more about that here).

Best in fair for 2023 (L to R) 3rd place – Aden Geonhee Lee, 1st place – Abhinav Avvaru, 2nd place – Aditya Bakshi

With the generous help of our volunteer judges and the dedication of you, the students, this year’s fair went very smoothly. A special thanks to STEM Wizard for all of their help with their part of the IT infrastructure. Abhinav, Aditya and Aden, in addition to having a chance to compete against some of the finest science students in the world at ISEF, you’ll be representing your schools, the NHSEE, and the state of NH. We wish you the best of luck! Open Competition by category Behavioral Science 1st Place: Jaansi Ritesh Patel, Phillips Exeter Academy for “Examining the Impact of Inducing an Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) on Mental Function” 2nd Place: Jeffery Zou, Bishop Guertin High School for “Using causal machine learning to understand who bears the brunt of racial discrimination in small business loans” Biochemistry 1st Place: Deetya Bhat Nagri, Nashua North High School for “Effect of Bisphenol A and Bisphenol S Exposure on Models for Body Systems” 2nd Place: Adithya Raghavendra Puninchittaya, Bedford High School for “Computational Analysis of NA Inhibitors’ Binding with NA Subtypes” Biology 1st Place: Aditya Bakshi, Nashua South High School for “Differential Gene Expression Between Mucinous and Non-Mucinous Colorectal Adenocarcinomas” 2nd Place: Aden Geonhee Lee, Phillips Exeter Academy for “Computational analysis of GLUT3 regulating microRNA variants in ADHD” Chemistry 1st Place: Ella Renee Gessner and Anya Marie Rendahl, Lebanon High School for “Column Chromatography of Chlorophyll” 2nd Place: Gabriel Roger Lacasse, Holy Family Academy for “Benefits of Biodiesel” Computers 1st Place: Riya Tyagi, Phillips Exeter Academy for “Cracking the Code of Racial Bias: Discovering Hidden Signals That Enable Algorithms to Detect Race in Medical Images Using Deep Learning” 2nd Place: Bohan Liu, Phillips Exeter Academy for “Protein-Protein Interaction Prediction via an Advanced Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithm” Earth and Space Science 1st Place: Shao Qian Du, St. Paul’s School for “Compact Objects Probed by Microlensing in Universe: MACHOs, Stars, Planets” Engineering 1st Place: Harini Venkatesh, Phillips Exeter Academy for “The Comptometrist: A Novel Method of Calculating Optical Prescriptions” 2nd Place: Louella Seo, Kimball Union Academy for “Bamboo-based Superabsorbent Hydrogels for Potential Replacement of Superabsorbent Polymer in Sanitary Napkins” Environmental Science 1st Place: Abhinav Avvaru, Nashua South High School for “An Economical and High Precision Approach for Nitrate Detection and Filtration to Ensure Quality Drinking Water” 2nd Place: Trisha Vishal Prakash, Nashua North High School for “The Effect of Antibiotic Usage in Agriculture in Crop Growth” Mathematics 1st Place: Teawoo Kim, St. Paul’s School for “On Numbers Whose Integer Parts of Powers Are Never Prime” Physics and Electronics 1st Place: Jack Parker Sutton, Holy Family Academy for “Thermoelectricity”
NH Science & Engineering Exposition Best in Fair Winners
1st place   1st place for the fair went to Abhinav Avvaru, from Nashua South High School, for “An Economical and High Precision Approach for Nitrate Detection and Filtration to Ensure Quality Drinking Water”
 
2nd place   2nd place for the fair went to Aditya Bakshi, from Nashua South High School, for “Differential Gene Expression Between Mucinous and Non-Mucinous Colorectal Adenocarcinomas”
 
3rd place   3rd place for the fair went to Aden Geonhee Lee, from Phillips Exeter Academy, for “Computational analysis of GLUT3 regulating microRNA variants in ADHD”
Special Awards Special Awards are offered by companies who wish to recognize students for research in specific areas that might be related to that company’s business, or are otherwise deemed worthy of special recognition. They are usually certificates with one or more additional prizes – sometimes a stipend, company swag, etc.

Award

Award Winner Information

Winning Student(s)

Winning School

Project Title

Project Category

MITRE Corporation Award –

$400 Cash Award

Abhinav Avvaru

Nashua South High School

An Economical and High Precision Approach for Nitrate Detection and Filtration to Ensure Quality Drinking Water

Environmental Science

NH Society of Professional Engineers –

$100 Cash Award

Aditya Bakshi

Nashua South High School

Differential Gene Expression Between Mucinous and Non-Mucinous Colorectal Adenocarcinomas

Biology

Aden Geonhee Lee

Phillips Exeter Academy

Computational analysis of GLUT3 regulating microRNA variants in ADHD

Biology

Regeneron Biomedical Award – $375 Award

Deetya Nagri

Nashua North High School

Effect of Bisphenol A and Bisphenol S Exposure on Models for Body Systems

Biochemistry

National Geographic Society – $100 Award

Louella Seo

Kimball Union Academy

Bamboo-based Superabsorbent Hydrogels for Potential Replacement of Superabsorbent Polymer in Sanitary Napkins

Engineering

Office of Naval Research Award (Support of STEM research) – $75 Award

Riya Tyagi

Phillips Exeter Academy

Cracking the Code of Racial Bias: Using Deep Learning to Discover Unknown Hidden Signals That Enable Algorithms to Detect Self-Reported Race in Medical Images

Computers

Bohan Liu

Phillips Exeter Academy

Protein-Protein Interaction Prediction via an Advanced Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithm

Computers

American Psychological Association

Ellen Wolstenholme

Lebanon High School

The Effects of Urban Infrasound on Working Memory in Teenagers

Behavioral Science

Association for Women Geoscientists

Aastha Patel

Nashua South High School

Soil Image Classification to Determine Retainability and the Presence of Organic Matter

Computers

NASA Earth System Science Award

Aastha Patel

Nashua South High School

Soil Image Classification to Determine Retainability and the Presence of Organic Matter

Computers

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Award

Deetya Nagri

Nashua North High School

Effect of Bisphenol A and Bisphenol S Exposure on Models for Body Systems

Biochemistry

RICOH Sustainable Development

Louella Seo

Kimball Union Academy

Bamboo-based Superabsorbent Hydrogels for Potential Replacement of Superabsorbent Polymer in Sanitary Napkins

Engineering

Society for In Vitro Biology

Trisha Prakash

Nashua North High School

The Effect of Antibiotic Usage in Agriculture in Crop Growth

Environmental Science

Stockholm Junior Water Prize

Emily Richardson

Holy Family Academy

The affects of caffeine on aquatic animals

Environmental Science

Lorrea Sabinian

Holy Family Academy

Which affects the regeneration ability of Planaria more caffeine or sugar?

Biology

Abhinav Avvaru

Nashua South High School

An Economical and High Precision Approach for Nitrate Detection and Filtration to Ensure Quality Drinking Water

Environmental Science

United States Air Force Award

Jahnavi Palarapu

Nashua North High School

Natural Sources of Antimicrobial Agents

Biology

Adithya Puninchittaya

Bedford High School

Computational Analysis of NA Inhibitors’ Binding with NA Subtypes

Biochemistry

Leonardo Chung

Phillips Exeter Academy

Diagnosing Benign and Malignant Kidney Tumors Using Machine Learning

Computers

Shao Qian Du

St. Paul’s School

Compact Objects Probed by Microlensing in Universe: MACHOs, Stars, Planets?

Earth and Space Science

US Agency for International Development

Jaansi Patel

Phillips Exeter Academy

Examining the Impact of Inducing an Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) on Mental Function

Behavioral Science

U.S. Metric Association Award

Jenna Wang

Phillips Exeter Academy

Synthesis of a Cyclic Peptide for Cancer Immunotherapy Research

Biochemistry

Yale Science and Engineering Association

 

Valentina Zhang

Phillips Exeter Academy

Cross-disease Transcriptomic Analysis Elucidating the Roles of Astrocytic Signaling Pathways Regulating Neuroinflammation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Biology
  NHAS Awards The New Hampshire Academy of Science, Inc. (NHAS) has a mission to support the scientific research of high school and middle school students and present that research to the broader scientific and local community. They are located in Warren, New Hampshire and you can find out more about them at their website.

New Hampshire Academy of Sciences – Summer Applied Scientific Research Program Scholarship

Lorrea Sabinian

Holy Family Academy

Which affects the regeneration ability of Planaria more caffeine or sugar?

Biology

Louella Seo

Kimball Union Academy

Bamboo-based Superabsorbent Hydrogels for Potential Replacement of Superabsorbent Polymer in Sanitary Napkins

Engineering

Anqi Hu

St. Paul’s School

Multimodal Sound Source Localization via Contrastive Learning: A New Approach

Computers

Harini Venkatesh

Phillips Exeter Academy

The Comptometrist: A Novel Method of Calculating Optical Prescriptions

Engineering

Mihir Garimella

Nashua South High School

Stratospheric Aerosols: Establishing a Novel Optical Thickness Benchmark for Effective Climate Change Mitigation

Computers

Xiyu (Jerry) Chen

New Hampton School

A CNN-Based Model for Fall Detection Using Inexpensive Security Cameras

Computers