Many seniors breathed a sigh of relief when they finished presenting their senior research, culminating not only in their yearlong research lab experience, but also representing four years of science and research exposure at Jefferson.

During tjSTAR on May 29, Jefferson’s annual research symposium, seniors from the 14 different research laboratories presented their projects to groups of students, parents and other visitors.

“It was stressful in the sense that we were representing our school, lab and faculty, so that pushed us to do well today,” senior Divya Bhaskara said. “I felt pretty accomplished, too, because I remember watching seniors as an underclassman.”

The senior technology research labs provide students with the opportunity to pursue research or experimentation. Students presented the results of their yearlong research during tjSTAR.

Students who participated in mentorship or were part of the first semester Neuroscience class stopped working on their projects earlier in the year. These students revisited the projects they had stopped working on months before.
“I definitely knew what I was doing first semester. I became quite an expert on my project and when the juniors came to explore the lab, I explained my project so many times,” senior Ashley Hwang said. “I still had that in me for this presentation.”
Seniors presented projects ranging from the treatment of cancer cells with essential oils to phone applications that interact with speakers via Bluetooth. Though some students continued work on preexisting projects, others had personal motivations to pursue their research.

“I was interested by the prevalence of the topic,” said senior Kevin Jeong, whose Chemical Analysis research project involved improving cells’ ability to combat melanoma by blocking a specific protein. “Skin cancer affects everyone in one way or another.”