Junior Science and Humanities Symposium
New England North Region

Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, University of Maine, Orono

The New England Northern (NEN) Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) was held on Thursday, Feb. 27, at the University of Maine. High School students in grades 9-12 from Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine were invited to report on the results of their original research investigations in STEM and compete for scholarships and recognition.

A photo of a student presenting their presentation
A photo of students gathered around a sign
A photo of students with their awards
A photo of students with their posters
A photo of a student with his poster
A photo of all JSHS award winners

Oral Presentation Awards

Oral presentation awards* are:
1st Place: $2,000 Scholarship; 2nd Place: $1,500 Scholarship; 3rd Place: $1,000 Scholarship; Additional Awards+ for 4th to 7th Place Oral Presenters: $100 each.

  • 1st Prize
    Eric Buehler
    Buehler Home School, New Hampshire
    Title: LLMs on Edge: Novel Post-Training Quantization for Education Applications
  • 2nd Prize
    Dan Stoicov
    Falmouth High School, Maine
    Title: Low levels of bioaccumulated mercury in lobster (Homarus americanus) from the Gulf of Maine are elevated during the early fishing season
  • 3rd Prize
    Ethan Liu
    Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire
    Title: Modulation of TLR2-Mediated Innate Immunity Mitigates Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease
  • 4th Prize
    Sofie Rueter
    Bangor High School, Maine
    Title: Improving the Effectivity of Nitrate Removal in Biosand Filters Using N. oculata
  • 5th Prize
    Saladin Wise
    Orono High School, Maine
    Title: Historical Trauma in Displaced Palestinians Outside of Israel: A Generational Comparative Investigation
  • 6th Prize
    Viktor Osadsky
    Exeter High School, New Hampshire
    Title: Scoring Radiography Collimation: Quantifying Background Impact Using Neural Networks
  • 7th Prize
    Rosalyn (Roz) O’Reilly
    Orono High School, Maine
    Title: The Effect of Storytelling on Substance-Use Disorder Recovery Housing Support

*Sponsors: Office of the Secretary of Defense  and the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and Marine  Corps, and the U.S. Air Force and Space  Force
+Sponsor: Maine College of Engineering and Computing, University of Maine

Poster Presentations

Six Outstanding Poster Awardees

An award of $100 each was presented to all outstanding poster award winners, sponsored by the Maine College of Engineering and Computing

  • Elijah Renner
    Thetford Academy, Vermont
    Title: Enhancing the BraTS 2024 Adult Glioma Dataset using Conditional Diffusion Models
  • Hannah Thomas
    Nashua High School South, New Hampshire
    Title: Gene Length Correlates with Age-related Gene Regulation in Human Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells that Predispose to Myeloid Leukemia
  • Joshua Placides
    Oceanside High School, Maine
    Title: PropagatriXII: A predictive tool for identifying peptides with higher and lower propagation rates in Ph.D.-12 phage libraries using PseAAC and tripeptide composition
  • Brayon Nguyen
    Bangor High School, Maine
    Title: Development of a Brain Computer Interface using EEG Signals from the Frontal Lobe for Functional Motor Control
  • Brandon Nguyen
    Bangor High School, Maine
    Title: Implementing Silicone-based Soft Actuators in Soft Robotic Gloves
  • Zafir Bashir
    Bangor High School, Maine
    Title: Desalination and Contaminant Removal Through 3D Printing Enhanced by Capillary Rise and Nanomaterials Adsorption

2024 Symposium

Check out the highlights from the 2024 Symposium

2024 Highlights

Questions?

Email jshs-nne@maine.edu.