Sept. 16, 2020:

Today, eighth grader Anika Pallapothu was named one of the top 30 finalists in the 2020 Broadcom MASTERS program. Her project, titled “Predict Using AI: Diagnosing of Diabetic Eye Diseases Using Convolutional Neural Networks for Computer Vision,” details how artificial intelligence can be used to detect diabetic retinopathy, the disease that is the leading cause of blindness. As a finalist, Pallapothu is eligible to participate in the Virtual Broadcom MASTERS event, which takes place Oct. 16-21.

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Sept. 3, 2020:

Yesterday, the Society for Science & the Public announced that 15 Harker students – a school record – are among the top 300 contestants in the 2020 Broadcom MASTERS program, one of the top middle school science competitions in the country. The Top 300 MASTERS entered the competition during the 2019-20 school year by being nominated at a science fair affiliated with the Society for Science & the Public. 

Ninth graders Gautam Bhooma, Zachary Blue, Ramit Goyal, Jordan Labio, Ella Lan, Heidi Lu, Anika Maji, Anika Mantripragada and Ananya Sriram; eighth grader Anika Pallapothu; seventh graders Hubert Lau, Serena Lau, Brenna Ren, Kallie Wang and Carissa Wu each received a prize package that includes $125 from DoD STEM and a subscription to Science News magazine. The 30 finalists in this year’s competition will be announced Sept. 16. The final stage of the competition is being held virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.