Budding Middle- and Upper School Scientists Take Home a Range of Prizes From 2014 Synopsys Championship

Harker enjoyed another successful year at the Synopsys Championship in March, as dozens of middle and upper school students garnered awards.

Five upper school students were named Grand Prize winners, granting them spots at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Two additional students were named Grand Prize alternates.

Sriram Somasundaram, grade 11, won Grand Prize – Best of Championship in Biological Sciences. He was awarded $1,000 and a finalist letter from the Synopsys Outreach Foundation. He also received a First Award in the Biochemistry/Microbiology category.

Junior Andrew Jin also won Grand Prize – Best of Championship in Biological Sciences. He received $1,000 and a finalist letter from the Synopsys Outreach Foundation. He also was awarded a $100 First Prize from Morgan Lewis, a $100 second place prize from the UCSF Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, and $75 from Varian Medical Systems. In addition, he received a First Award in the Bioinformatics category.

Another Grand Prize – Best of Championship winner in Biological Sciences was Steven Wang, grade 11. He received $1,000 and a finalist letter from the Synopsys Outreach Foundation, as well as a $100 First Prize from Morgan Lewis, a $100 second place prize from the UCSF Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, and $75 from Varian Medical Systems. He also received a First Award in Bioinformatics.

Junior Vivek Sriram was named Grand Prize Alternate in Biological Sciences. He also received a First Award in Bioinformatics.

In Physical Sciences, Nitya Mani, grade 11, won a Grand Prize – Best of Championship, as well as a First Award in the Computers/Mathematics category. She also received a Certificate of Achievement from Mu Alpha Theta.

Senior Varun Mohan also won Grand Prize – Best of Championship in Physical Sciences, as well as a First Award in Computers/Mathematics and a Certificate of Achievement and medallion from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.

Senior Vikas Bhetanabhotla was named a Grand Prize Alternate in Physical Sciences. He also won a First Award in Physics.

In all, 30 upper school students were winners in various categories.

In Botany, Joyce Huang and Neymika Jain, both grade 9, won First Awards.

In Environmental Sciences, grade 9 students Anika Jain, Anuva Mittal and Steven Cao won First Awards. Cao also received a Schonert Award, which came with $100 and a Certificate of Achievement. Tiara Bhatacharya, grade 11, also had success in Environmental Sciences, winning a Second Award.

In Biochemistry/Microbiology, First Awards went to Kshithija Mulam and Alayna Richmond, both grade 9. Anika Gupta, grade 12, received an Honorable Mention.

In Chemistry, Rohith Kuditipudi, grade 11, won a First Award and finalist letter, as well as $50 from San Jose State Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society. Efrey Noten, grade 12, won a Second Award.

Harker had a total of five winners in Computers/Mathematics. In addition to Mani and Mohan, junior Ankita Pannu received a Fourth Place Student Award from the San Francisco Bay Area professional chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery, which included a certificate and $120. Rishabh Jain, grade 11, and Vineet Kosaraju, grade 10, each received an Honorable Mention from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

In Medicine/Health/Gerontology, junior Neil Movva received a First Award and $100 from the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering, while freshman Venkat Sankar received a Second Award.

In Earth/Space Sciences, Manan Shah, grade 9, won a First Award and $100 from Trimble Navigation, as well as a certificate of achievement from the American Meteorological Society. In the same category, Zareen Choudhury won a Second Award.

Harker had two winners in the Engineering category. Junior Vamsi Gadiraju received a $100 First Prize from Morgan Lewis, a finalist letter from the Synopsys Outreach Foundation, a $100 First Place Award and certificate from the American Vacuum Society, a $75 Second Place Award from A Society for Materials, a certificate of achievement and medallion from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, and a $100 First Place Award from the Society of Vacuum Coaters. Meanwhile, Kailas Vodrahalli, grade 11, won Outstanding Sustainability Project in the Synopsys Championship’s I-SWEEEP contest, as well as an Honorable Mention in the Engineering Category and a certificate and medallion from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.

In Bioinformatics, junior David Lin earned an Honorable Mention, as well as an iPad Mini and Certificate of Achievement from MedImmune. Vedant Thyagaraj, grade 11, won a Second Award.

Finally, in Physics, junior Leo Yu earned a Second Award.

Harker middle school students also had considerable success. First Awards in Zoology went to Praveen Batra and Michael Kwan, both grade 8, with Sumati Wadhwa, also grade 8, receiving an Honorable Mention. Sohenee Banerjee and Meghana Karinthi, both grade 8, received First Awards in Medicine/Health/Gerontology, with Jerry Chen and Jimmy Lin, both grade 8, receiving Second Awards.

Rajiv Movva, grade 8, was one of two winners in Biochemistry/Microbiology, winning a First Award. The other, eighth grader Anooshree Sengupta, won a Second Award and an Honorable Mention from the Society of Vacuum Coaters.

Harker picked up a pair of wins in Botany, with First Awards going to Anastasiya Grebin and Stephanie Swanson, both grade 8. In Environmental Sciences, eighth graders Aadi Ghildiyal and Sohini Kar received Honorable Mentions.

In Physics, Sushant Thyagaraj, grade 8, took home a Second Award. Fellow eighth grader Shaya Zarkesh won a First Award in Engineering, along with $50 and an Award for Electro-Technology from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

Congratulations to this year’s winners!