This article was written by Amber Bhutta, class of 2019.
Science research students presented their science fair projects to medical professionals and competed for cash awards at the 20th Annual Podiatry Surgical and the 10th Annual Colon and Rectal Conference this weekend.
Hosted at the Westside Medical Center, the conference invited high school research students with competitive projects to compete by submitting an abstract explaining their projects. In addition to competing, students had the opportunity to interact with medical graduate and undergraduate students as well as practicing physicians who specialize in podiatry and/or colorectal studies.
During the actual competition portion of the conference, students displayed posters explaining their research projects. Three judges reviewed each project and asked for three-minute summaries about the student’s findings. Judges then assigned points based on the depth of the research as well as the quality of the presentation.
Four students won awards. Junior Eniya Krishnaraj won first place and $500 for her project which aimed to remedy heavy metal water contamination using various iron-cleaning compounds. Senior Hemangi Rajpal and junior Rajat Ramesh both won second place awards and won $250 each for their projects on emergency stroke treatments and biofuel generation respectively. Senior Ephraim Oyetunji won third place and $150 for his project on Parkinsonian neurodegeneration.
“After winning, I was so happy and excited,” Krishnaraj said. “I felt like all of the work I did for my project paid off, and I couldn’t stop smiling.”
