The Roslyn School District | Roslyn High School

Roslyn High School’s Research Program provides the rare opportunity for students to design and conduct their own high-level projects in one of the following three areas:

• Behavioral and Social Science – Students develop and carry out empirical research in areas such as psychology, epidemiology, political science, and economics. The work can be done at school or in a lab (e.g., university, medical practice). Recent project titles include:

— The Relationship between School Starting Time, Student Sleep, Academic Performance and Mood

• Math – Students work primarily in theoretical math to develop and prove own theorems. Recent project titles include:

— A Computer-Based Solution Generator for Integral Solutions to Pell's/Fermat's Second-Degree Diophantine Equation

• Natural Science – Students begin work in school and typically devote at least one summer to working in a lab (e.g., university, hospital) to carry out empirical research in fields including environmental science, physics, and genetics. Recent project titles include:

— Isolation and Expression of an Epinephrine-synthesizing Enzyme (PNMT) from Entamoeba Parasites

• Can be taken in any grade but most commonly in grade 9 so students can start on independent work as early as possible

Year II: Students enroll in one of three year-long, alternate-day seminar classes: Behavioral and Social Science Research Seminar, Math Research Seminar, or Natural Science Research Seminar.

Years III and IV: Students enroll in Independent Study Behavioral and Social Science Research, Independent Study Math Research, or Independent Study Natural Science Research.

• Students work one-on-one work with a teacher-advisor during free periods or lunch, much as a college student works with a professor on a thesis

• All three areas involve independent study above and beyond a student’s regular academic program

Sample Student Abstracts

Roslyn High School Research Program

Behavioral and Social Science Research

Factors Affecting Quality of Care in Breast Cancer Patients
Kevin Xu ’10

Your Children May Pay More Attention than You Think:
The Link Between Teens' Perceptions of Parents Alcohol Use and Monitoring,
and Teen Alcohol Use and Acceptance
Chelsea Jurman ’09

How Harry Potter Can Help You Get a Higher SAT Score:
The Effects of Context and Familiarity on Vocabulary Retention in Adolescents
Trisha Nussbaum ’09

To Vote or Not to Vote?
Factors Contributing to the Political Efficacy and Intent to Vote of High School Students
Andrew Forrest ’06

Is Math Just for Boys?
Gender Differences in Dropout Rates and Attitudes of Advanced Mathematics Students
Christina Tu ’06

Math Research

Commutativity of Polynomials
Sharona Khaneyan ’10

Incompatibilities of Algebra and Geometry
Jennifer Batel ’08

Magic Squares
Alexander Czik ’07

Origami and Math
Chloe Cheng ’06

Centroids
Amy Lee ’06

Natural Science Research

Super Oligodendrocytes:
Remyelinating Multiple Sclerosis Lesions using Laminin and Immunomodulators
Jourdan Urbach ’09

The Novel Property of the Circulating Hormone AM and its Binding Protein:
Neuroprotection in Hypoxia
Stephanie Wang ’09

The Effect of L-Dopa on Endongenous Morphine Production and the Mu3 Opiate Receptor
Dhruv Vasishtha ’07
(with Kamalakar Atluri, Herricks High School ’06)

The Effects of Coenzyme Q10, Beta-Carotene and Garlic on "Plant Cancer" Bacterium
Malorie Simons ’06

Crystallization of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) and Polyethylene (PE) /deuterated Polystyrene (dPS) Blends in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (scCO2): An Environmentally Friendly Approach for Polymer Blending
Zimra Payvand Ahdout ’06
(with Christopher Pynn ’06, Half Hollow Hills High School West)

Research Program

Research Program Overview

Sample Student Abstracts

Roslyn High School Research Program

Behavioral and Social Science Research

Math Research

Natural Science Research