ASFA Math-Science students proved to be among the best researchers in the state, winning big at the Alabama Junior Academy of Science (AJAS) and Gorgas scholarship research competitions held at Jacksonville State University, February 22 and 23.

ASFA had a record number of senior finalists in Gorgas, each vying for scholarship awards – Nicholas Godwin, Eli Mrug, Dmitriy Sazonov, Deepakkumar Sathishkumar, Varsha Vinoy, and Rishi Yellamraju.

Rishi Yellamraju placed third among the state Gorgas finalists, earning a $1500 scholarship for his research project entitled “Identification of doxorubicin-treatable cancer gene mutations through quantitative high-throughput cell proliferation of yeast.”

ASFA continued to dominate in the AJAS scholarship competition, spanning 9^th – 12^th grade representation. ASFA students won first place in three of the five categories!

Life Science: 1^st place – Ashu Anand – “The Effects of Electrical Stimulation on Planaria Tissue Regeneration”

Environmental Science: 1^st place – Bellamy Williams – “The Effects of Pectins on the Copper Ion Concentrations in Water”

Engineering, Math, and Computer Science: 2^nd place – Noah Lowry – “Transformer Networks Using mpMRI and Radical Prostatectomy Samples: Beyond Dominant Lesion Segmentation”

Physical Sciences: 2^nd place – Varsha Vinoy – “Applications of Plasma Treatment on the Polydopamine Coated 3D Printed Polymer Scaffold”

3^rd place – Nicholas Godwin – “Dietary Ketone Esters Slow Renca Renal and 4T-1 Mammary Cell Lines”

Medicine, Health, and Social Science: 1^st place – Aanchal Behara – “Localization of Frontotemporal Dementia Risk Gene RAB38 to Glutamatergic Neurons: Implications for Selective Neuronal Vulnerability”

2^nd place – Rishi Yellamraju – “Identification of doxorubicin-treatable cancer gene mutations through quantitative high-throughput cell proliferation of yeast”

The five AJAS category winners went on to compete against one another for ranking for the upcoming National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium which will take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 1-4, 2024.

Ashu Anand placed 1^st, earning a $2000 scholarship, and the opportunity to present her research in the oral session at the National NJHS with the potential to earn even more scholarship awards.

Aanchal Behara placed 3^rd, earning a $1000 scholarship.

Bellamy Williams placed 4^th, earning a $500 scholarship.

Both Aanchal and Bellamy will present their research at the poster session of the National NJHS with the potential to earn cash awards.

Congratulations to these and all our ASFA students who brilliantly presented and defended their research!