NUWC Division Newport Presents Awards to Students in RI Science and Engineering Fair

On March 19, U.S. Navy Reservist Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Quinn, an engineer in the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport’s Sensors and Sonar Systems Department, presented Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Division Newport Innovation Awards to the selected winners of the R.I. State Science and Engineering Fair held on March 15 at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Knight Campus in Warwick.

Members of the Division Newport workforce also participated in the fair in which more than 200 high school and middle school students from across the state presented their respective projects before a panel of judges. Division Newport Sensors and Sonar Systems Department employees Dr. Lynn Antonelli, Dr. Kristina Kamensky, Joseph Muhitch, Carl White, and Dexter Hoag, of the USW Platforms and Payload Integration Department, served as special awards judges for the U.S. Navy, reviewing all the science projects and selecting the winners on behalf of the warfare center and ONR.

Quinn presented the NUWC Innovation Awards in both the Senior Division (four awards) and Junior Division (four awards), and ONR Science Awards in the Senior Division (three awards) and Junior Division (three awards).

The following are the special award winners:

NUWC Innovation Awards

Junior Division

• Michael Orsini, St. Augustine School, a middle school in Providence, “The Eggcellent Experiment”
• Tobey Kim, Barrington Middle School, “Laser-Focused Sweetness: Measuring Sugar Levels with Precision Light”
• Annina Bassig, Immaculate Conception Catholic Regional School, a middle school in Cranston, “Which Water Temperature is Best to Ingest for the Most Accurate Vocals During Performance?”
• Anthony Elkhoury, St. Philomena School of the Sacred Heart, Portsmouth, “Predicting Future Water Quality”

Senior Division

• Jimin Shon, Portsmouth Abbey School, “B-Cyclodextrin reduces the cognitive and survival impacts of Imidacloprid exposure in honeybees (Apis Mellifera)”
• Devin Silversmith, South Kingstown High School, “Evaluating the Influence of Weather Conditions on the Call Behavior of Nocturnally Migrating Birds”
• Genaveve Higham, South Kingstown High School, “Effects of CBD and nepeta cataria on microglia brain defense cells”
• Owen Monaghan, East Greenwich High School, “Displaying Fossils Found Across the United States Through a Website Database”

ONR Naval Science Awards

Junior Division

• Amina Bayo, Islamic School of Rhode Island, West Warwick, “Acid Attack!”
• Rania Akrasi, Islamic School of Rhode Island,” Testing Microplastic in Urban and Suburban Waters in R.I.”
• Tiago Sousa-Mederios, St. Augustine School, “Magnets and Temperature”

Senior Division

• Katherine Yang, Barrington High School, “Inhibition of HDAC11 attenuates renal fibrosis through blocking parietal epithelial-mesenchymal transition”
• Jason Lu, Barrington High School, “Ideal concentration of POP C and EPA in rHDL for Lowering Inflammation”
• Danu Kim, Bishop Hendricken High School, Warwick, “Project Athena”