Students Receive Regional Recognition for Science Projects

Indira T. ’27 and Carmen W. ’27 were both selected as regional qualifiers for the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) this year. This national competition, administered by the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), is one of the nation’s longest-running STEM competitions emulating a professional science and engineering symposium.

Carmen’s research project focused on measuring greenhouse gases. It is officially titled SHAP value-based Random Forest Regressor: Predicting Greenhouse Gas Flux with Explainable AI Method. Indira’s project explored the potential of using raindrops to create energy, and is called Powering the Pacific Northwest with Raindrop Energy Harvesting.

The students gave 12-minute online presentations and then answered questions from the judges. They both received certificates in honor of being selected as regional qualifiers.

“My project is environmental science related, and it's basically about modeling greenhouse gas emission based on different soil properties,” said Carmen. She collected soil samples on the OES campus, measuring their bulk density, moisture percentage, and temperature. She then used the gas chromatograph in the Upper School science lab to quantify greenhouse gas emissions from the same locations as where she took the soil samples. “The gas chromatograph is a really interesting machine,” said Carmen. “I learned about it in our biogeochemistry class taught by Peter Jewett. I used computer science with a mathematical model I built myself to find a correlation between the soil properties and the concentration of gases.”  

“It was exciting to see Carmen utilize one of the many pathways for independent science research at OES,” said Upper School Science Teacher Peter Jewett. “She was introduced to a variety of soil and gas sampling methodologies in her biogeochemistry elective and then she used the varsity science activity to expand on those teachings and develop her own research on greenhouse gas emissions from soil.”

Carmen’s findings could help refine soil mitigation strategies, such as adjusting moisture levels or organic content to reduce emissions. “It’s exciting to think that a handful of soil can tell us something about the planet’s future,” she said.

Indira’s project also focused on environmental science, but hers was related to renewable energy. “I wanted to see if we could harvest raindrops as a renewable energy source because we need more energy sources, especially considering the climate,” she said. “I used piezoelectric films, which take the impact of falling raindrops and turn it into electricity. The film has a special crystal structure that [when compressed], turns that mechanical stress into electricity.” 

“The electricity generated was in millivolts, so it was very small, but in a real-world setting, you would have lots of raindrops,” Indira added.
 
Piezoelectricity (PE), the ability of certain materials to convert mechanical pressure into electrical energy, or vice versa, gets its name from the Greek word piezein, meaning  “to squeeze” or “to press.” It’s being used in various ways today. “There are PE films in Japan, on sidewalks, so when people step on them it generates electricity,” said Indira. “And they have PE film in things like microphones [to convert audio waves into an electrical signal]. It’s a really interesting technology.”

Both of these young women envision themselves staying involved in science.

“I’m more like a math nerd,” Carmen laughed. “I want to do applied mathematics for my major. For my career, I might be a professor like my favorite teacher, Dr. Drugan. Or I might focus on finance and AI since they’re part of the future.”

Indira said, “I would probably go into STEM because it’s so fascinating, but honestly, everything is fascinating. I want to study science, but I also want to study people. I want to learn about money and the way the world works. But whatever I do, I want to make a difference; that’s my goal. And I want to keep learning.”