Long Beach High School students have continued the Science Research Program’s historic success, again earning awards in competitions. Countless hours of research, experiments, analyses and many other steps resulted in outstanding results at the New York State Science and Engineering Fair, the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair, and the Molloy College Science Fair.

Vinny Pagano won a NYSSEF first place award in the Mathematics category, a LISEF Honorable Mention in Mathematics, and the Mu Alpha Theta math awards (at both fairs!) for his project, Comparison of Multivariate and Lagrangian Interpolation. He compared two methods of interpolation and created a program that would generate functions to determine the most efficient interpolation method given a particular mathematical function.

At LISEF, Lauren Bulik and Emily McDonnell won third place in the Earth and Environmental Science category and the Stockholm Junior Water Prize for their project, Analyzing, Collecting and Studying Microplastics in Reynolds Channel. They found that there is a high concentration of microplastics – especially Styrofoam – in Reynolds Channel. They are currently developing a plan to further analyze the samples collected.

Lauren and Emily also earned recognition for their work at the Molloy event, as did Joshua Kapilian for his project, Creating a More Robust and Efficient Model of United States Airspace Control. He created a simulation to test aerospace in which planes flew from one destination to the next, and concluded that direct routing is more efficient.

The high school’s science research program is open to all students who wish to participate. It provides freshmen through seniors opportunities to engage in authentic scientific learning experiences and engage in the same level of work done by professional scientists.