The Synopsys Science and Technology Championship science fair, with 74 Harker students participating, will take place on March 17.

Both upper school and middle school students will participate and submit research in poster format.

Students researched a variety of scientific fields, including physical engineering, biological sciences, biomedical engineering and physical sciences.

“They have to come up with a research project and do some background research in order to make a proposal that they submit to the Synopsys organization that runs the science fair,” Upper School Biology teacher Dr. Gary Blickenstaff said.

The research mentor, the teacher supervising the project, reviews the research proposal with the students and offers advice.

Dr. Blickenstaff recommends that students should search out mentors for their projects themselves based upon the project’s field, as methods of research varies for each field.

“For example, if they’re doing a chemistry project, then one of the chemistry teachers is going to get involved, if it’s a biology project, then the biology teachers, and so on,” Dr. Blickenstaff said. “It’s not like they’re assigned, this is something the student should generally try and do on their own to approach a specific teacher on mentoring them for their project.”

Many projects for this year’s fair offer unique solutions to a variety of problems.

“For this year’s Synopsys, I’m working on a project that’s aimed to help with concussion with football players and other sports players,” Rajiv Movva (10) said. “I’d heard about some other concussion detection sensors, and my project puts a new twist on that by measuring accelerations and using machine learning as well.”

However, other students are motivated by personal experiences as well.

“The way I came up with the idea is more personal,” Emily Chen (10) said. “It’s pretty much been established that obsessive compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety have some connection with each other. Based on fact that I know people who have symptoms of both these disorders that manifest together, as well as my personal experience, I decided to see if there would be a way to identify treatment that targets the root of the cause, the gene, rather than just alleviate symptoms.”

Emily’s project is on analyzing genetic relationships and linked treatment targets of obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety.

Dr. Blickenstaff recommended students pursue projects based on their own interests and questions. He stated that anyone can participate regardless of prior experience

“We try to encourage them to research something that they’re actually interested in, a question they have,” Dr. Blickenstaff said. “Some of them have had research experience in the middle school, so they understand a little bit about how you approach a research project. Some of them are pretty new to it, and whoever is helping them, in terms of the adult, can give them some guidance about sources to look at, for ideas.”

Nishant Ravi (9) has participated in Synopsys in the past and is currently researching the antibiotic resistance of E. Coli.

“I read a lot of scientific articles; that’s how you come up with a project for Synopsys,” Nishant said. “You read science magazines and look around for something that’s interesting and feasible first, so this seemed like a good idea as I had some experience with the field before.”

Students who are participating in the competition often utilize the Open Lab Program, a program that allows students to work hours after school, and outside of class time.

Student participants will begin setting up their poster presentations on March. 16, and the fair will be held on March. 17.