8 LI high schoolers named Siemens regional finalists

For Anna Sato, science began with history. Looking for a project for her world history class, Sato, 16, found headlines such as: "Water shortage could cause war."

"It kind of took me aback and I was really concerned about all of these political and social problems that could be caused by something as pure as water," said Sato, a junior at Ward Melville High School in East Setauket. "I wanted to help in developing a new type of system that could allow us to produce clean water cheaply and effectively, since science is supposed to help people."

Sato's research with Emmanuel Kim, 17, a senior at Ward Melville, yielded a water filtration system using tree fibers that earned the pair a spot as regional finalists in the prestigious national Siemens Competition of science, math and technology. Prizes include college scholarships of $1,000 to $100,000 in individual and team categories.

Eight of the 94 regional finalists are from Long Island, including two others from Ward Melville, Kevin Chen and Nevin Daniel. The others are: Sanjay Palat, Smithtown High East in St. James; Ashley Chapin, Lawrence High in Cedarhurst; Sonya Prasad, The Wheatley School in Old Westbury; and Nikhil Mehandru, Roslyn High in Roslyn Heights.

Regional finalists will compete head-to-head with their peers across the nation next month. The finals will be in Washington, D.C., in December.

The qualifying projects cover a host of subjects. Chen, 17, worked in genetics and found a common way in which two classes of genes in the fruit fly embryo communicate. He hopes his work will lead to the discovery of more bridges. Daniel, 17, developed a new type of cancer drug delivery system so that doctors can administer a targeted, more intense and controlled release of the drug.

Two projects focused on hydrogels, an extremely hydrated polymer gel: Prasad and Mehandru, both 17, teamed up with Santhosh Narayan of Munster High School in Indiana on a dual system that would allow doctors to detect cancer and treat the cancer using a biosensor and a tumor-targeted hydrogel. Palat, 16, worked with Daryl Chang from Saratoga High School in California on a project that used hydrogels to figure out how to control how stem cells differentiate. Palat said he used dental stem cells and said he hopes his research will allow scientists to control the cells so they could differentiate into bone-like cells used to treat bone injuries.

In her research, Chapin, 17, found that certain types of drugs block the effect of certain receptors in breast cancer cells, slowing down the cancer's progress so it can be fully removed by a surgeon.

Chapin said that when she got word of being a finalist, she jumped up and down. "This means so much to me," she said. "I feel like I have new opportunities."

Sato, also thrilled to be a finalist, said her research led to a whole new view of laboratory work.

"I used to think it was very dark and cramped and kind of anti-social - I had a negative outlook on it," she said. "This really opened my eyes. Every day I felt like I accomplished something."

Last year, Ward Melville senior Ruoyi Jiang became the first Long Islander to win the solo category of the nationwide Siemens competition. Four Long Island students have won as team members since the competition began in 1998. 16, junior, Ward Melville High School, and Emmanuel Kim, 17, senior, Ward Melville High School: teamed up to work on an environmentally friendly and energy-efficient water-filtration system that uses tree fibers to eliminate viruses and bacteria from water.