Feb. 5, 2020

Two advance to state science competition

Two Upper St. Clair High School students recently earned first place finishes at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Region 7 competition on Feb. 1, 2020, at Duquesne University – advancing to the state-level competition.

Freshman Keshav Narasimhan completed independent research and a presentation titled, “A Mathematical Model to Predict Crohn's Flare-Up.” Junior Sophia Shi, who participated in a research internship with the UPMC Aging Institute last summer, focused her research/presentation on, “Regulation of Deubitiquinase Activity in Mitophagy.”

The students are sponsored by Corrine Newman, Upper St. Clair High School science teacher.

PJAS Region 7 includes Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. Within PJAS, students do not compete against each other, but rather their experiments and presentations are judged against a criteria-based rubric. Students earning a first-place award are invited to present their experiment at the state competition May 17-19, 2020, at the Pennsylvania State University in State College.

According to the PJAS website, “Approximately 3,000 of the best and brightest science students from Pennsylvania’s 12 separate PJAS regions descend upon State College each May to present their research.”

PJAS is a statewide organization of junior and senior high school students designed to stimulate and promote interest in science among its members through the development of research projects and investigations. For more information visit www.pjas.net.