Faith D. and Adi S. listen to Charlie S.’s CAApS presentation. (Abigail Z./Staff)
Columbus Academy’s Applied Science Program (CAApS), headed by Jen Conti, celebrated months of analytical research with students’ poster presentations in the Dining Hall’s Fireside on Thursday, November 16.
Academy began a partnership with The Ohio State University’s College of Engineering in 2015 to give upper school students the opportunity to investigate topics of their interest for up to 40 hours a week on the college’s campus.
Equipped with easels and 36 X 24 poster boards, eight seniors and two juniors participated in the forum, as they detailed their lab objectives, background information, methods, results, and conclusions.
Topics ranged from Carolina M.’s exploration of liquid crystals to Arnav N.’s design of an affordable electric robot arm. Other topics included Grace P.’s study of the protein Alpha protocadherin in zebrafish, Charlie S.’s research of Donor-Acceptor Columnar Liquid Crystals (DACLC) in 3D polymers, and Caroline C.’s establishment of a baseline for protein absorption in agarose gel. Via an anthropological lens, Peter T. investigated initiatives in supporting community health workers. Sydney F. focused on the morphology of the QRS Complex affecting heart function while Sean J. studied language processing in computers using the program Word2Vec. Respectively, Tanner S. and Akshaj J. researched bipedal robot navigation in complex environments and exosomes in delivering cancer-defeating drugs. Not all presenters participated in CAApS. I was invited to participate but chose to research on my own.
Charlie S., who presented but was not involved with CAApS, volunteered at a Material Science lab at Denison, said, “This poster presentation helped me gather the big picture of why I did research. While crafting this poster, I discovered how much I grew as a science student and how much novel knowledge I gained. My research has definitely helped me determine what to explore once in college.”
If interested in CAApS, rising juniors and seniors who will be sixteen by June 1 can learn more about the program here. The application process begins in November. Ms. Conti posts decisions in January.
