Ten Siemens Semifinalists: Blair student research recognized

Press Release (pdf) by Sherrie Emoto, information courtesy of Angelique Bosse
Ten students from the Blair Magnet Program were named as semifinalists in the 2015-16 Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology.  The students (with graduation year), their project titles, and their mentors are:
  • Karina Chang '16 and Noah Del Rio Levine '16, “Extending Coppersmith’s Method to Find Roots of Multivariate Modular Polynomials,” Dr. Jonathan Katz, Professor, University of Maryland College Park (UMD), Department of Computer Scienceback row left-to-right: Raymond Lin, Robert Fleischman, Ariel Goldbloom-Helzner, Eric Chen, Minie Zhang; front row left-to-right: Karina Chang, Ariel Zhang
  • Eric Chen '16, “Tumor Suppressor BRCA1 Prohibits Replication Catastrophe in Response to Replicative Stress during Pregnancy,” Dr. Chuxia Deng, Senior Investigator and Chief, Mammalian Genetics Section, National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health
  • Robert Fleischman '16, “On k-SAT Solvers and Ramsey-type Numbers,” Dr. William Gasarch, Professor, UMD, Department of Computer Science
  • Ariel Goldbloom-Helzner '16, “Evading the Sign Problem Caused by the CP-Violating theta-term in Quantum Chromodynamics,” Dr. Thomas Cohen, Professor and Associate Chair, UMD, Department of Physics
  • Raymond Lin '16, “T-Reflection in Quantum Mechanics,” Dr. Thomas Cohen, Professor and Associate Chair, UMD, Department of Physics
  • Josephine Yu '16, “The Mechanical Properties of Bilayer Graphene Through the Frenkel-Kontorova Model: A Study of Phase Transitions and Domain Walls,” Dr. Harsh Mathur, Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Department of Physics
  • Matthew Yu '16, “New Discoveries in Lucas-Lehmer Inspired Primality Tests,” Dr. Lawrence Washington, Professor and Mathematics Graduate Director, UMD, Department of Mathematics
  • Ariel Zhang '18 with Caroline Leng of Poolesville High School, “Generation of Transparent Nanopaper from Sugarcane Waste,” Dr. Liangbing Hu, Assistant Professor, UMD, Department of Materials Science and Engineering with Dr. Jinsong Tao, Associate Professor, South China University of Technology
  • Minie Zhang '17, “Manipulation of Toxic Gas Adsorption on Graphene-Like Monolayers,” Dr. Xuan Luo, Principal Scientist, National Graphene Research and Development Center, LLC
Blair Magnet science and research teacher Ms. Angelique Bosse, who oversees the senior research projects, comments on the award recipients, “I was proud of the many senior research project students who worked very hard to complete their research in time to apply to the Siemens Competition. It is exciting that in addition to the eight seniors named as Siemens semifinalists, Minnie and Ariel (a junior and a sophomore, respectively) were also honored for their research project submissions. That a variety of students from various grade levels are conducting good research is a credit to the support our students receive from the Blair Magnet program and the opportunities provided by mentors from outside institutions.”

Ariel Goldbloom-Helzner, Siemens Semifinalist and Blair Magnet senior, expresses his gratitude, “Blair’s Magnet Program gave me the research skills and knowledge necessary to conduct my senior research project, and I appreciate the guidance from Blair Magnet teachers as well as from my research mentor.”

Fellow Siemens Semifinalist and Blair Magnet senior Matthew Yu graciously comments, “I’m really thankful for being named a Semifinalist in the Siemens Competition, and I thank the Blair Magnet program for providing me with the teachers and inspiration I needed to succeed.”

In the 2014-2015 Siemens Competition, Yu was named as a Semifinalist and continued on to earn the title of Regional Finalist.