The Port Jefferson School District is proud to announce that Earl L. Vandermeulen High School student Noah Davis has been named a semifinalist in the 2013 Siemens Foundation Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Prior to his entry into the competition, Noah participated in an intensive, seven-week Garcia Materials Research Science and Engineering Center precollege program at Stony Brook University. He joined other gifted high school students from all over the country for an experience that combined formal learning instruction with independent research. Participants were also given the opportunity to design original research projects with guidance from the Garcia Center’s faculty, students and staff.
After hearing about the Garcia program from a family member, Noah took it upon himself to apply for a summer of science. “I couldn’t pass up such a wonderful opportunity and am grateful that I didn’t,” he said. “It opened up my eyes and has really encouraged me to pursue a career in engineering.”
During this time, Noah met and teamed up with two Long Island high school seniors and began a deeper exploration into the realm of energy. More specifically, the students began experimenting with various ways to maximize the potential of solar cells used to create clean energy.
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“Presently, organic solar cells are comprised of expensive polymers and are inefficient,” said Noah. “The reason for this is because much of the energy is lost in the production process. Our research sought to optimize the process by organizing the structure of the solar device in order to improve its efficiency. We hypothesized that by organizing the structure and increasing the area where electrons can be generated, efficiency can be improved.”
A few hundred hours of dedicated, hard work by the driven trio resulted in the production of a 20-page research paper that detailed their initiative, hypothesis and procedure and included an abstract appropriate for the nonscientific community. The group entered their submission for the 2013 Siemens Foundation Competition in early September.
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Noah was named one of 331 semifinalists who were selected from a record 2,440 students registered for this year’s competition. His group project was one of 1,599 submitted for consideration. Projects were judged based upon criteria including field knowledge, comprehensiveness, interpretation, literature review, scientific importance, future work, clarity of expression, presentation and teamwork.
“What Noah and his colleagues have accomplished is tremendous and I look forward to seeing what great things he will do next,” said Earl L. Vandermeulen High School Principal Dr. Matthew Murphy. “I will definitely be participating in the Siemens competition again,” added Noah, who also plans to continue research and development on the solar energy project. “I think my group has created the foundation for something great.”
