Steven Castellano
High Technology HS, NJ

Acupressure Induced Attention in the Teenage Brain

Since viable methods for modifying attention are somewhat lacking, acupressure induced attention was analyzed. Thirty-six teenage subjects applied acupressure to stimulation areas, relaxation areas, or no areas each day, and their visual attention skills were measured via enumeration tasks every two weeks after an initial test. There were significant differences among the mean scores of all three groups after each period of fourteen days (&alpha=0.05). The results suggest that acupressure can modify attentiveness.

Despite my enthusiasm to measure acupressure induced attention via enumeration tasks, the concept was not initially well received. My friends were skeptical that alertness could be modified by acupressure, my teachers warned me that research with human subjects was frustrating, and my parents dissuaded me from using expensive software. Nevertheless, I persisted and ultimately obtained significant results. I realized that I was much more motivated when I was researching a topic that interested me.

Chun-Kai Kao
George School, PA

Nanoparticle Enhancement of PEM Fuel Cell Power Output

PEM fuel cell, a clean energy source, is one of the best future alternative energy sources. Its relatively low power output compared to its high price has hindered it from practical applications. My project concerned synthesizing gold and palladium nanoparticles and depositing them onto the fuel cell to enhance the power output. The power output eventually increased 5.5 times. I then created a model on identifying the maximum output using nanoparticles.

I have been interested in helping pollution problems due to my own allergy. The biggest lesson I learned from this experience is patience. Many times I had to wait several days for a reaction to occur, or wait for technicians to fix the machine when it's unavailable for use. In the future I hope to further increase power output and decrease costs to popularize fuel cells and reduce pollution.

Matthew Alpert
Lawrence HS, NY

Electron Transport Through Gold Alkanethiol Self-Assembled Monolayers: The Observation of Coulomb Blockade at Room Temperature

Currently, the smallest transistors are 100 nanometers in size. However, further decreasing their size inhibits their function. My project dealt with an alternate form of the transistor called the single-electron transistor (SET) which has the potential to decrease the size of transistors to approximately 40 nanometers. However, the typical SET can only function at extremely cold temperatures (10 K.) Through the use of gold nanoparticles I was able to find a way to enable the function of the SET at room temperature.

Working on this project was an incredible experience. It was exciting to work on such current research which holds applications to the technology industry. I really enjoyed doing research and collaborating with scientists in a professional laboratory. I felt it gave me a first hand taste of what it is like to be a research scientist. Also, I initially suffered a long period of setbacks before achieving significant results, making the experience all the more gratifying.