Jericho High School students Adam Fields, Sharon Ji and Brienne Kugler were among 89 students named regional finalists in the prestigious Siemens science competition. Thirteen of the Regional finalists hail from Long Island- three more than from the State of California. Finalists are guaranteed at least $1,000 for participating in one of six regional judgings. Those chosen for the national finals in December can win scholarships ranging from $10,000 to $100,000.

As regional finalists, students are required to prepare poster and Power Point displays of their research, and an oral presentation about their research and findings at various universities around the country. Presentations are followed by question and answer sessions between judges and students. Unlike other student research contests, Siemens accepts team entrants along with individuals. The Siemens Foundation believes that because adult scientists frequently work in teams, students should be allowed to collaborate on research projects as well.

Adam Fields and his team members, Alex Ramek from Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway and Sean Pi from Torrence High School in California, are regional finalists in the western region. They competed Nov. 2 - 5 at Stanford University, California. The title of their project is "Detecting Cancer in Living Tissue with Single Cell Precision."

In the Middle States Region, there is a Jericho student on two of the five teams that will be competing. Brienne Kugler and Jacob Lowenstein, her partner from Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway, will present "Controlling Metal/Polymer Adhesion: The Enhancement of Micro-Lithography and Formation of Nanowires." Sharon Ji and her partner Maxinder Soni, from the Wheatley School, will present "Controlled-release Study of Coaxial-Electrospun Biodegradable Nanowires Incorporated With Lidocaine." The Middle States regional finals are Nov. 16 - 19 at Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania.

The three finalists were chosen from among eight Jericho semifinalists. The semifinalists included Vikas Anand, Adam Fields, Brienne Kugler, Ethan Hoch, Sharon Ji, Esther Kwak, Sana Raoof and Qi Yu. Jericho Independent research students Samantha Ellner, Calvin Chen, Kevin Haghigi, Kiwoong Yoo, Adam Hyams, Won Woo Lee, John Oh, Jacob Feinstein, David Cohen, Rishi Chopra, Daniel Rudosky, Kenny Greenblatt, Nikki Ackerman, Kelsey Werber, Anita Garg and Sanaa Himani submitted research projects for the competition as well. "We are very proud of the accomplishments of all our students who submitted research projects to the Siemens science competition," said principal Joseph Prisinzano. "Our science research program continues to attract increasing numbers of students dedicated to pursuing serious and inventive scientific research. We would like to thank the district administration and the board of education for their commitment to providing ongoing support for this outstanding program."

The Siemens Foundation established the Siemens-Westinghouse Competition in 1999. The competition encourages students to undertake authentic scientific research in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology, or any combinations of these disciplines. Siemens is considered one of the leading science and mathematics research-based competitions for high school students in the nation because of high academic standards and a rigorous judging process. The Siemens competition (the name of the competition was shortened this year) is one of the three major national science competitions to which Jericho High School students submit projects.