By Khalida Sarwari
Twelve local students and aspiring scientists received commendations from the city of Saratoga for competing in a science, technology, engineering and math competition earlier this year.
Mayor Howard Miller presented proclamations in person on Nov. 4 to some of the students who participated in the 2015 Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship.
“You guys aren’t junior scientists; you guys are the real scientists,” Miller told the students as they lined up to receive their commendations. “Some of these projects are absolutely, totally stunning, and some of them are college or even beyond college-level work, so as a city we’re extraordinarily proud.”
Synopsys is a regional competition that challenges middle and high school students to do independent or team project-based research that addresses questions in the fields of computer science, environmental science, medicine and health, chemistry and biology, among other categories.
The Saratoga representation includes Rupsa Acharya, Isha Mehrotra, Rohan Mehrotra and Ruchi Pandya from Lynbrook High School; Michelle Xu, Amy Zhang and Kristine Zhang from Saratoga High; Harker School students Sadhika Malladi and Nitya Mani; Mackenzie Lee from Redwood Middle School; Kami Richardson from Sacred Heart School; and home-school student Andrew Chiang.
Rupsa Acharya earned first-place honors for her project, which tried to determine whether papaya leaf extract can be effective in treating ovarian cancer.
Andrew Chiang came in first for his project investigating various blade configurations to optimize wind turbine efficiency.
Mackenzie Lee won first place for her project, which studied how the vane tilt angles of a revolving lantern affect its rotational speeds. She also received honorable mention at the California State Science Fair.
Sadhika Malladi won first place for her work on predicting gender-targeted treatments for cancer patients. She also won the grand prize at the local science fair and second place in the International Sustainable World Energy Engineering Environment Environment, or I-SWEEEP, fair.
Nitya Mani won first place for her project titled “Characterizing the Constructible n-Division Points of the Rational Hypocycloids Through Straightedge and Compass Constructions.” She came in third in the Intel competition.
Siblings Isha and Rohan Mehrotra won first place for their project, “The Effect of Natural Compounds Curcumin and Nicotinamide on alpha-Synuclein Accumulation in a Caenorhabditis Elegans Model of Parkinson’s Disease.” They won first place at the California State Fair.
Ruchi Pandya won first place for her project on the “Design and Synthesis of a Novel Paper Based Biosensor Platform for Health Diagnostics.” She won second place in the Intel contest.
Kami Richardson won first place for her work, which attempted to optimize the amount of fuel that can be made from algae. She received an honorable mention at the California State Fair.
The Santa Clara County Biotech Education Partnership awarded Michelle Xu first place for her project, “Breaking Antibiotic Resistant Biofilms with Natural Herbs.” She was a finalist in the Amgen Bay Area BioGENEius Challenge.
Amy Zhang received an award for her project, which looked at using bacteria to treat heavy metal pollution.
Kristine Zhang earned second place for her project investigating the mechanisms behind the formation of neurological plaques for drug development for Alzheimer’s disease. She also won a Silver award at the I-SWEEEP Olympiad.
