Westchester science fair: Teens embrace green ideas

Edward Aryee set himself a goal when choosing his high school science research topic -- have a global impact on the environment.

Aryee achieved that goal by investigating the stinky problem of excessive nitrous oxide emissions in wastewater treatment plants. In the end, he found that a simple change in the way plant operators expose sewage to oxygen could make the process go faster and emit less greenhouse gases.

"It was sort of amazing, I didn't expect it to come out so well," Aryee said.

The 17-year-old Ossining High School senior -- together with many other students fascinated by science -- will present the results of a summer's worth of work this Saturday, at the Westchester Science & Engineering Fair.

Like Aryee, many of the students exhibiting at the fair have focused on Mother Earth's most vexing problems.

"You're really seeing a trend of kids who are conscious of the environment and saying, 'What would I do to change it?'" said Michael Blueglass, science research teacher at Yorktown High School and director of the Westchester fair.

The 2013 fair, to be held at Sleepy Hollow High School, will host 356 students from 33 schools in Putnam and Westchester counties. Winning regional projects will move on to one of two international competitions: the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair or the International Sustainable World Engineering, Energy & Environment Project, or I-SWEEEP.

Founded in 2008, the I-SWEEEP competition recognizes the uptick in environmentally focused projects, Blueglass said. Local high school students explain that their growing interest in green research was sparked by the college instructors mentoring them, from Columbia University to the University of Pittsburgh's Structural Engineering lab.

Once the teens discovered that they could combine their research with projects that had an impact on people's lives, they were hooked.

"If I can help people by protecting their roadways or sheltering them, that makes me happy and feel good," said Lizzie Crumley, 17, a Yorktown High School senior.

Crumley researched how to improve the design and sustainability of an emergency shelter that can be used in the aftermath of natural disasters. Her bamboo prototype can hold five people and is still standing in her backyard, a survivor of Hurricane Sandy and months of snowstorms.

Then there's Brett Bell, 16, a junior at Pelham Memorial High School, who combined an environmental project with medical research, another increasingly popular topic among young scientists. Bell studied treatments to mitigate illness caused by exposure to high-intensity radiation -- the sort that might occur with the meltdown of a nuclear plant.

He knew he wanted to study oncology -- an important aspect of his project -- but said finding a project that had an environmental application was satisfying.

"It's important for first responders who are responding to a nuclear accident. They need to have treatment," Bell said.

Anna Doran, 17, a senior at Pelham Memorial High School, spent her entire summer, about five hours a day, studying the effects of bacteria in runoff into Westchester's waterways. She wanted to know whether the "daylighting" of the Saw Mill River in Yonkers -- the river has been entombed beneath streets and parking lots for years -- would affect bacteria levels in the river.

"Some of my classmates, I can't even believe what they're doing sometimes, it's so advanced," Doran said.

Part of the challenge the student exhibitors encounter on Saturday will be explaining their increasingly complex work to judges.

"The work that they're dealing with is so cutting-edge that a lot of the department teachers or the guests coming in to hear the students presenting have to be taught the basics," Steve Beltecas, director of science research at Pelham Memorial High School, said. "The level has increased tremendously."