At the Feb. 2 Herricks Board of Education meeting, the board congratulated and recognized Herricks High School seniors Ashley Lam, Jeylin Lee and Dheyala Simrin for being named in the top 300 scholars in the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2023. This program is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competitions for high school seniors.
Each of the three Herricks students committed themselves to their individual research projects for eight weeks and dedicated another eight weeks to complete the submission of their original, independent research projects, essays and recommendations. In preparation, the aspiring scientists were fortunate to align with mentors virtually and in person.
Ashley Lam’s subject was environmental engineering/materials science, specifically focused on water purification. Ashley worked under the direction of Dr. Benjamin S. Hsiao and Jiajun Tian through the Simons Summer Research Program at Stony Brook University. Ashley’s project was titled “Novel Zinc Oxide/Nanocellulose Composite as a Low-Cost Photocatalyst for Water Purification.”
Jeylin Lee’s subject was medical/data science and her mentor was Dr. Tim Duong through The Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center. Jeylin’s project was titled “Diabetic Ketoacidosis Amongst COVID-19 Infected Individuals: A Retrospective Study of Incidence, Characteristics, Outcomes, and Risk Factors.”
Dheyala Simrin’s subject focused on behavioral and social science. Dheyala’s mentor was Alexander Harris and she did her work through New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University. Dheyala’s project was titled “Characterizing Social Behaviors in Female Mice: A Novel Sex-Specific Model Using DeepLabCut and B-SOiD Unsupervised Machine Learning.”
Throughout their four years at Herricks High School, the scholars have been part of the school’s Science Research Program allowing students to explore their individual passion of science at a higher level. Each have expressed a desire to pursue a career in science.
The district is proud of Ashley, Jeylin and Dheyala and wish them continued future success.
