Ossining Takes Top Prize in NYS Junior Science Humanities Symposium

For the second year in a row, an Ossining High School student placed first in the New York State Junior Science Humanities Symposium. Ossining High School also is the only high school in New York that will send two finalists to the national competition in Washington, D.C., next month.

Ossining Senior Adam Illowsky placed first in the competition, while senior Ben Ross placed fifth. Ossining had two other students receive honors at the symposium: Daniel Scanteianu  in the Physical Sciences category, and Claudia Guinansaca-Aguilar in the Behavioral Sciences category. And Maria Walsh-Regotti received high honors in the Poster competition.

Illowsky, who was also an Intel Semifinalist, was the first researcher to look at whether there was a genetic component to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the degenerative brain disease affecting people who have suffered multiple concussions. Working with a researcher, Illowsky was able to study postmortem brain slices from diseased football players.

Illowsky found that people with the H1 form of the MAPT gene had increased severity of CTE, while those with the H2 form of the gene had less severity. A runner and baseball player, Illowsky said he was drawn to the topic because of the concussion epidemic in sports today.

“I just want to do all I can to help increase our understanding of head trauma not just in professional sports but in high school and kids’ sports as well,” he said, adding that he hoped to someday work in the legal or business arena to improve safeguards against head injuries in sports.

Ross took first place in the Environmental Science category of the competition for designing a novel method of analyzing wind patterns in an urban setting. Ross used sophisticated modelling of wind patterns in the city of Hoboken, N.J.,  in order to determine the optimum locations for wind turbines to be used as an alternative energy source. 

Ross said he was drawn to the topic by his interest in the environment. “I plan to major in architecture in college and one of my interests is to integrate sustainable technology,” he said. “So this project fit in pretty well with my future plans.”

Both finalists persevered when conducting their science research.  Illowsky said he was rejected by about 50 other researchers before Dr. John Crary of Columbia Medical Center agreed to serve as his mentor, while Ross said it took him about two years to begin collecting useful data for his project.

Despite the demands of science research, Illowsky and Ross both find time for many other extracurricular activities. Illowsky is president of the Interact Club and treasurer of the Junior State of America club, runs cross country and has played baseball. A lover of the arts, Ross recently had artwork exhibited at the Katonah Art Museum and has a role in the spring play. He also plays hockey, has played lacrosse and plans to play golf this spring.

Angelo Piccirillo and Valerie Holmes, who co-teach The Ossining High School Science Research program, credit the consistent success of the Ossining research students to the collaboration among all of the teachers, staff and students in Ossining High School combined with parental support.

“You take that and add superior students and professional researchers, you have a winning formula,” said Holmes. “Our philosophy is simply to create an environment that puts all of our students in the best position possible to succeed. Then it is up to them to take advantage of the opportunity.”