Siemens Competition Finalist at HSW

Every year, hundreds of brights minds put their wits to test in the Siemens Competition, celebrating their accomplishments in math, science, and technology. The competition, which was organized and funded by the Siemens Foundation in 1999, honors some of the smartest young scholars in the country.

The competition promotes students to intensively cultivate their research, with the potential of having a serious impact on the world. With a prize and exposure and incentive, many students delve into science as their area of study and embrace their personal work.

Per annum, there are around 1,800 research projects submitted. With a blind read, judges determine which projects will advance to the next round. Students each have a mentor who works along with them. They compete as a team or as an individual to work on a research project that will eventually be submitted to the Siemens competition.
With this research, students may get published and get a headstart in the STEM field. Ultimately, it helps build a resume for college and is an advantageous start to getting exposure in the science field. Dr. Lake, who coordinates the research program at HHH, states in his interview: “Getting your foot in the door, getting this exposure, is definitely helpful.”

At our very own school, Jillian Parker was one of the 60 top finalists selected from all over the country, along with her counterparts, Arooba Ahmed and Jiachen Lee. In the Half Hollow Hills district alone, there were 7 semifinalists. However, Jillian Parker is one of three girls who made it to the finalists in Long Island.
The research for their project initially began two years back, with two juniors at East.
Parker and her friends followed up on their initial observations, and are now doing a continuation of the work. Stemming from the initial focus of their research, they realized cells had a hard time completing cell division. If this research is continued, it may apply to a therapy or target to cancerous cells. With this in-depth research, they could potentially have impacts on a biological breakthrough.

On November 18th, over a WebEx call, Parker and her teammates will present to the judges at Carnegie Mellon their research so far. This will determine whether or not they will advance to the next round.
Parker states that she’s always wanted to work with a mentor and further her research, which could possibly end up changing the lives of many. With the opportunity of competing in the competition, Jillian says that it is amazing that she is getting the chance to work on this research report at such a young age.
Parker also emphasizes how important it is to her that woman and minorities are taking part in STEM fields. Her accomplishments really put a foot forward for younger girls who may not be encouraged to pursue a STEM career.
The Siemens Competition brings together some of the youngest, intuitive, and ingenious minds of our time and helps them develop real-life skills through their research. We are excited to see more of the groundbreaking research that Hills has to offer!