The Academies @ Englewood  Biomedicine freshman class visited the American Museum of Natural History on Tuesday, March 29, 2015, to see the New York City Science and Engineering Fair (NYCSEF) sponsored by the NYC Department of Education and City University of New York.  The purpose of the trip was for students to see top projects presented there as a way of promoting ideas for their own science fair projects sophomore year.

“This trip exposed students to applying the scientific method to a research project. It also demonstrated the quality of work of students their age along with what can be produced,” Biomedicine Program Manager Crystal Ponticello said.

The New York City Science and Engineering Fair was held in the Hall of Ocean Life at the museum where altogether there were 169 presentations that made it to the finals round and more than 500 students there to compete. DMAE students join the hundreds of people from New York City and other schools rushing around to each of the different stands to learn about the cool research their peers had dreamed up.

   “It was helpful because it showed us how to be more inquisitive and what it takes to become more successful,” freshman Olivia Dul said. “I liked the whole experience because of the exposure it gave me. It also emphasized the need for education in the world and what it can do for others,” she said.

 The presentations were organized by category. These categories included molecular biology, earth science, data and analysis, zoology, health sciences, social sciences, and more. Project titles were just as varied as the categories: Photoreceptor Layer Thickness in Parkinson’s Disease during Circadian Rhythm, The Effect of Social Media on Students’ Academic Grades, The Fault in Our Plates, and The Effect of Mustard Oil on E-Coli. The presentations gave the students ideas of what category they might want to branch into for their projects which is the first step of the process.

   Although some of these projects seemed complex they were eye openers to the Biomedicine freshman. The level of work and time was evident to get this far in the competition

      After the students walked around the exhibit hall and gained information about the many projects, they also had a chance to visit different science-based exhibits of the museum. This included the Space, Human Origins, and Dinosaur exhibits.

   “I loved how we were able to walk around and have the freedom to look at all the different things of the museum, and interact with other people,” freshman Sarem Irfan said.