Siemens Names Two Semi-Finalists From GCHS

Michael Abatemarco (center, left) and Thomas Elustondo (center, right), pictured here with (left to right): Garden City High School Principal Nanine Cuttitta, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen, Science Research teacher Dr. Steven Gordon, and 6-12 Science Curriculum Coordinator Dr. Elena Cascio. On October 23rd, the Siemens Foundation and the College Board announced the winners of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, & Technology. This award is recognized as one of America’s premiere high school science competitions, showcasing the best and brightest minds from the class of 2010. Out of 1,348 projects received this year, 318 students were named as semi-finalists; including two Garden City seniors, Michael Abatemarco and Thomas Elustondo.

This past summer, both students were accepted into the highly selective Hofstra Summer Science Program, where they conducted seven weeks of summer research. Their team project was conducted in the chemistry department of Hofstra University under the mentorship of Dr. Sabrina Sobel. The work focused on the Belousov-Zhabotinski reaction, a well known auto-oscillatory system catalyzed by the chemical ferroin. Abatemarco and Elustondo investigated whether target center nucleation and clocking wave propagations would change as a result of the late addition of ferroin. Similarly, heart muscle cells go through a cycle in which ion concentrations build up in preparation for action, depolarization and contraction when triggered by a signal from neighboring cells. This study provides a novel means to correlate propagations in the BZ reaction with chemical patterns in the heart to understand cardiac arrhythmias such as tachycardia. Both students have participated in the Science Research program at Garden City High School since sophomore year under the guidance of Dr. Steven Gordon. According to the Science Research Coordinator, Dr. Gordon, “These students artfully combined multidisciplinary skills in math, science, and writing to produce a project of the highest order.

“Michael and Thomas’ selection as Siemens Semi-Finalists represents the highest number of Garden City High School students to achieve the distinction to date,” continued Dr. Gordon. “We now have had Siemens winners every year from 2007-2009. I did some data analysis/action research and found that only 19 schools in New York State have also had winners every year from 2007-2009. The other 18 schools are a very competitive group including Bronx Science, Stuyvesant, Ward Melville, and Jericho. Additionally, for Garden City High School, there was a 12 percent increase in Siemens project submissions.”

“We would like to recognize the six other students who submitted their projects to the competition,” Dr. Elena Cascio. “They worked very hard and the quality of their projects was very high. These students are: Amanda Bressingham (12), Jan Gong (11), Gloria DiMino(11), Allison Shen (12), John Cassano (12), Anthony Ienna (12).”

Congratulations to Michael and Thomas, and to all of the science students who took part in this year’s competition!