Student Researchers Share Work

By Leo Im '28
Photos by Charlie Li '28
 

Prestigious science fairs and competitions often take place in stony, sterile university halls. Northfield Mount Hermon, however, brought innovative research of its own students to the Gilder Hall lobby in April. The annual STEM Symposium, organized by the NMH Science Club, functioned as a celebration for the school’s Massachusetts Science and Engineering Fair competitors and a platform for other innovators to showcase their projects, ranging from ethics of Artificial Intelligence to the physics of satellite orbits.

For Sophie Cao ’27, the symposium was the final chapter of a journey that consisted of three phases: the regional fair in Springfield, the state fair in Worcester, and finally the Gilder lobby. Cao’s project, which involved a sensor system with a portable battery functioning as a capacitor as well as an assignment to work on for wider application of the product, went through constant refining as she moved through these three levels. 

“I conducted more trials, and I also tweaked my graphs and figures in order to make it more understandable for the judges and the audience,” Cao explained. After receiving feedback at MSEF to shrink her sensor system, she used the symposium to discuss her future goals of “investigating how I could use other types of batteries and potentially capacitors in order to make my system more applicable for the real world.” While she admitted feeling a “different kind of pressure” presenting to people she knew, she found the overall atmosphere being more relaxed and enjoyed the chance to “pass on my knowledge and my experiences” to underclassmen.

Frank Nguyen ’28, who achieved the third place award in the chemistry category at the MSEF, emphasized the importance of passion in research. His project involved an innovation in sunscreen using a new material, specifically, a form of hydrogel with antibacterial functions. When asked what made his research stand out among 400 skilled competitors, Nguyen noted that the complexity of the research was only one small part of what actually mattered. 

“You don’t have to cure cancer to try to find a way to cure this kind of disease. That’s not the point of this,” he said. Instead, he noted that judges “want to see that you genuinely have a passion in what you’re doing.” He described a successful presentation as one in which a judge is able to “engage in asking a question,” explaining that “them being able to understand your project and ask you a question back means that you’ve done it well.” 

Despite the incredibly high standards of the state fair, Nguyen chose not to significantly alter his presentation for the NMH community. “I didn’t really change it much, because the kind of standard I set out is that for every kind of science presentation, I need to make it very simple and basic,” he said. He referred to such an approach as a way to “dumb it down a little bit,” not to underestimate the audience, but since “you only want the person to understand the core of it.”

The symposium also featured a project regarding the growing focus on Artificial Intelligence, led by NMH AI Club co-founder Kian Lee ’28. Lee’s project, which used AI models to analyze how a runner’s form can affect their chances of injury using biometric data, provided a new insight towards how advanced algorithms can have practical and physical applications. 

Lee considered the symposium as “a really great opportunity for us to show up” He noted that a major part of his work was addressing the disparity in AI knowledge within the community. “Some people have prestigious knowledge in AI, like our fellow AI club members, while some might not be at all,” Lee observed. His design philosophy for the STEM symposium was centered around accessibility. “We designed it in a way that was easy to understand,” he said. He adjusted his focus specifically for the NMH audience, “focusing around what the students actually want to learn” regarding AI culture. This focus on the public part of the project allowed him to lead by becoming an example himself, showing that NMH students collaborate and stick together when it comes to exploring new technologies.

Projects like research by Arden Lu ’27 into Hong Kong’s transit-oriented development challenged the common misconception that STEM is limited to, as Lu phrased it, “lab work and test tubes.” Arden explained that Hong Kong’s metro system uses a rail and property model in which the train company earns profit through building the train line, creating a sustainable and cost-effective model. He is now applying these lessons locally, partnering with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments to research “how we can more effectively develop bus lines and microtransit programs to better serve the rural community.”

Andrew Nguyen ’28 demonstrated the physics of satellite movement utilizing conservation of angular momentum. “In space, you don’t have any air to push back against,” he explained. His project featured an electric motor connected with a flywheel to show how a satellite can spin in one direction by moving mass in the other. 

A highlight of the NMH symposium was the presence of Rishab Jain, a Harvard researcher and International Science and Engineering Fair winner. Jain delivered a speech on the process of research, teaching students how to read scientific papers and identify flaws in existing data as a jump into new research. Andrew Nguyen noted that Jain’s advice was particularly helpful for the discussion sections of student papers. “He talked a lot about that research process, finding a good research topic, discovering what’s still out there in the field,” Andrew said, noting that students learned how to reach out to professors and find where research needs to be done.

As the symposium concluded, the participants offered several pieces of advice for the next generation of participants among NMH students. 

Andrew Nguyen’s biggest regret was timing. “I wish I started sooner. … I didn’t start building until late March, early April, and I guess that’s my biggest regret.”

Frank Nguyen emphasized that the essence of doing research is presenting to both experts and non-experts. “Getting feedback from both of them is what is needed really significantly for you to continue working on that project even in the future,” he said.

Cao reflected on the “beautiful system of scientists talking to one another and learning from one another,” noting that the most rewarding part was making valuable connections with young scientists and professionals.