By Neil Sehgal ’17, News Editor

On April 20, University School hosted the 4^th annual Science Research Symposium. The program was divided into three sections: individual student presentations, a keynote address, and individual poster presentations.The program began at 6:30 with snacks and beverages followed by individual student presentations. Students from Laurel School, Lake Ridge Academy, and US presented. Presenters from US included the US Robotics Team, Alex Cha, Ben Wesorick, Graham Lane, Mark Megarian, John Piazza, Nick Orlando, and Sean Thelian. For many of the presenters, the presentations served as a practice for next month’s Strnad Symposium as well as a way to eliminate one of the Science Anderson Scholars presentation requirements. The US Science Department also brought in 7 external evaluators to help provide feedback to the presenters including Marge and Dan Moore ’59. After the presentations, these evaluators asked tough questions, even stumping Alex Cha on a question about inbred rabbits.

At 7:30, the keynote address began in the dining hall. Dr. Evalyn Gates, the Executive Director and CEO of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, was this year’s keynote speaker. Gates’ talk was entitled Beyond Star Wars: The Dark Side of the Universe. Gates spoke about Einstein’s theory of relativity and how the theory is being applied to black holes and dark matter. Much of the audience was made up of parents and Science Anderson Scholars students as well as AP Bio students in search of extra credit. Uzo Ahn ’18 came at the suggestion of Dr. Laux and ended up enjoying it a lot more than he thought he would. He said, “Dr. Evalyn Gates’ theoretical research on the science and behavior of dark matter is like none other. Her novel approach in her excavation for ancient space fossils from the remains of stellar white dwarves shows that the nature of science and human capabilities grow without limit.” A Science Anderson Scholar who wished to remain unnamed, said of the keynote, “I really liked the presentation because it opened my eyes to the complex nature of the universe. Even complex theories like the quantum theory are being questioned by theoretical physicists working on the forefront of their fields.”

After the keynote, students presented 17 different posters in the science wing. Some of the posters included George Nageeb’s award winning research on Cytotoxicity of Undaria Pinnatifida Extract Fucoidan on 266-4 Melanoma Cell Line in Vitro, the ecology students’ Fishery Management Plan for Lake Kilroy, and the US Model Rocketry Team’s poster on The Building of Two Model Rockets; with the Goal of a Desired Altitude, Specific Payload and Safe Landing. Special thanks to the US Science Department for holding the symposium this year and for the years to come.