ASFA Math-Science Students Among Best Researchers in the State

Huge congratulations to our ASFA Math-Science students as they proved to be among the best researchers in the state, winning big at the Alabama Junior Academy of Science (AJAS) and Gorgas scholarship research competitions held at Troy University.

ASFA competitors, spanning 9th – 12th grade representation, swept all categories in the AJAS competition, earning first place in all five categories! This is a first for ASFA!

Engineering, Math, and Computer Science:

1st place – Ashu Anand - "Developing Emulsion Additives to Optimize Rheological Behavior in Non-Aqueous Magnetorheological Smart Fluids"

2nd place - Michael Mazur - "Linear Kinematic Force Dissipation Mechanism for Controlled Collision Impact"

Environmental Science:

1st place – Prisha Sharma– “Impact of Environmental Cadmium Exposure on Efferocytosis in Alveolar Macrophages”

2nd place - Srihansi Sagi - "Laser Excited Fluorescence Spectroscopy for the Detection of Airborne Heavy Metals Cd, Mn, As Using Mid-IR Rare-Earth Solid State Lasers and Frequency Conversion"

Life Sciences:

1st place – Rania Masri and Denise Otali – “Investigating the Antibacterial Properties of Moringa Oleifera Against Escherichia Coli and Bacillus Cereus”

2nd place - Harsha Bheemanathini - "The Effects of Nutrient Types on Planarian Survival and Regeneration"

Physical Science, Earth and Space Science:

1st place – Monisha Bommu – “Using PeeMD to Model Atomic Interactions in an MoTe2 Bilayer”

2nd place - Greeshma Vinoy - "Process Optimization of Plasma Enabled Nanotechnology - Integrated Thermoregulative Textiles"

Medicine and Health, Behavioral and Social Sciences: 1st place – Aanchal Behara – “Overexpression of TFE3 in Susceptible Neuronal Populations: Implications for Lysosomal Biogenesis and Cellular Resistance in Neurodegenerative Diseases”

The five AJAS category winners went on to compete against one another for ranking for the upcoming National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium which will take place in Chantilly, Virginia, April 21-26.

Prisha Sharma placed 1st, earning a $2000 scholarship and the opportunity to present her research in the oral session at the National NJHS with the potential to earn even more scholarship awards.

Aanchal Behara placed 2nd, earning a $1500 scholarship as well as the opportunity to present her research in the oral session at the National NJHS with the potential to earn even more scholarship awards.

Ashu Anand placed 3rd, earning a $1000 scholarship.

Monisha Bommu placed 4th, earning a $500 scholarship.

Rania Masri and Denise Otali placed 5th, earning an all-expenses paid trip to Nationals along with the 1st - 4th overall winners.

Ashu, Monisha, Rania and Denise will present their research at the poster session of the National NJHS with the potential to earn cash awards.

Our senior competitors vied for scholarship awards in the Gorgas Scholarship Program portion of competition, a program of the Alabama Academy of Science to promote interest in science and to aid in the education of promising students.

Srihansi Sagi placed second in Gorgas, earning a $3000 scholarship.

Ashu Anand placed third, earning a $2000 scholarship.

Aanchal Behara placed fourth, earning a $1500 scholarship.

Prisha Sharma, finalist

Ashu Anand won a special award, the STEMO Officer Award, for her ongoing mentorship of our younger competitors.