Hewlett Students Named Finalists in Intel Science Fair

Three Hewlett High Schoolstudents were named Long Island finalists in Intel’s International Science and Engineering Fair and are invited to compete at the international competition in Phoenix, the Hewlett-Woodmere School District announced.

Amy Vitha, Ryan Kenny and Samantha DiSalvo were named first place winners in the category of plant science with their work titled “The Characterization of Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Hypersensitive Response in the Gametophytes of Ceratopteris richardii.” The group is invited to compete from May 11 to 17 in Arizona against more than 1,200 students from 50 states and 40 nations.

This is the second consecutive year Hewlett High School has had finalists in ISEF in the category of plant science.

Meanwhile, Priyanka Wadgaonkar, Zainab Mahmood and JaiWen Pei won second place in the environmental science category and received the U.S. Army Award for their project, “The Isolation and Characterization of an Ozone Responsive Stress Related Protein in Ceratopteris richardii.”

The students conducted their research in class under the mentorship of science teacher Dr. Terrence Bissoondial and research coordinator John Kranz. For their research, the students developed the fern Ceratopteris richardii as a model system to study the effect of bacterial pathogens or environmental pollutants such as ozone. Their research can lead to crops becoming more resistant to ozone or infection.