Science Fair Highlights Student Innovation

Upper School science students at University School of Milwaukee participated in the annual science fair on Thursday, Feb. 5. The science fair is required for students who are enrolled in the Independent Science Research (ISR) 1 and 2, but is open to all Upper School students. 

The projects cover a wide range of natural and social sciences, from behavioral to medicine, biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental science. The students' abilities and knowledge of their subject areas also range widely, depending on their age and level of research. In ISR 1, the emphasis is on both laboratory and bibliographic research. As students continue work on their project throughout Upper School, their research becomes more evolved and students may work with an outside mentor and develop a professional relationship with an "expert" in their area of interest.

Projects at the science fair are critiqued by a minimum of three visiting scientists.  All students who participate in the science fair gain valuable skills in scientific research methodology, writing, public speaking, and resilience, while pursuing a project they are passionate about. 

Congratulations to all students who presented projects at the fair, and to the below students, who won awards for their projects and were honored during an Upper School assembly on Wednesday, Feb. 18. The assembly included a presentation from Dr. Jeremy Kedziora, the PieperPower Endowed Chair for Artificial Intelligence at Milwaukee School of Engineering and keynote speaker at the inaugural Daniel J. Smyczek ’10 Symposium on Innovation and Technology event held for the community that same evening.

All students listed below are eligible to compete in the Badger State Science and Engineering Fair on Monday, March 14, with the grand award winners advancing to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix in May.

Grand Award Winners, Regeneron ISEF Participants

1st Place
Grace Chen ’27
Inhalable Exosome-Based Dual Therapy: A Novel Strategy to Overcome Drug Resistance in  Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer

2nd Place
Eashan Anne ’26
Leveraging the Electrochemical Characteristics of α-Hemolysin Nanopores: Machine Learning and Low-cost RNA Sequencing

3rd Place
Angela Wang ’26
Enhancing Prediction Models for Alzheimer's Disease with Generative AI

ISEF Finalist Runner-Up
Emily Pan ’27  
Predictive Analysis of Electrical Biosignals to Diagnose F. Oxysporum  

Special Awards

American Psychological Society
Olivia Gourlay ’27 and Divya Rao ’27

Society for In Vitro Biology
Grace Chen ’27

Ricoh Americas Corporation
Kaitlyn Paullin ’26

Regeneron Biomedical Science
Eashan Anne ’26

Citadel Securities Prize
Eshaan Vasudev ’26

NASA Earth Award
Connor Konkol ’28

NOAA Award
Mike Torinus ’27

US Metric Association
Jayin Lazzaro ’28

Yale Science and Engineering Award
Simrin Patel ’27

United States Air Force
Jasleen Chahal ’26
Jayin Lazzaro ’28
Manushri Samantaray ’28
Jason Wu ’27

United States Navy
Kristina Godonou ’28
Yusra Khan ’26
Gosha Roginsky ’28

Category Awards

Animal Science/Biology/Plant Science

1st Place
Emily Pan ’27

2nd Place
Eashan Anne ’26
Grace Chen ’27

3rd place
Chloe Chen ’27
Malyna Heipp ’29
Caroline Kohli ’28

Behavioral

1st Place
Yusra Khan ’26

2nd Place
Lauren Abele ’26
Jasleen Chahal ’26

3rd Place
Benjamin Dobre-Chastain ’27
Carson Markgraf ’28 and Nora Werner ’28
Will Merluzzi-Hitler ’26 and Andy Werner ’26

Chemistry/Environmental/Environmental Science

1st Place
Kaitlyn Paullin ’26

2nd Place
Anaya Amin ’26 and Lucy Grady ’26
Kate Leske

3rd Place
Elliott Boyd ’29
Chino Igwike ’28
Jake Raymond ’27

Engineering/Computer Science/Math/Physics

1st Place
Angela Wang ’26

2nd Place
Calder Ely ’27 and Raymond Yang ’27
Nikhil Lazzaro ’26
Simrin Patel ’27
Eshaan Vasudev ’26

3rd Place
Elina Cheng ’27
Aida El-Hajjar ’27
Sophie Kouklin ’29
Max Miller ’27/Deven Sharma ’27

Medicine

1st Place
Anand George ’26

2nd Place
Eliana Igwike ’26

3rd Place
Jind Kaur ’28