Two Students Advance to Finals in the 2024 Virtual Junior Science and Humanities Symposium | Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy

Two Students Advance to Finals in the 2024 Virtual Junior Science and Humanities Symposium

JSHS is sponsored by the Department of Defense (DoD) and administered by the National Science Teaching Association. This year’s National JSHS event was hosted by the Department of the U.S. Army and took place May 1 – 4, at the Embassy Suites in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  

Rachel Coutinho ’25, was a finalist at the 2024 Virtual Junior Science and Humanities Symposium held on February 29, 2024. Rachel delivered a presentation on “The Effects of Different Prosthetic Foot and Ankle Stiffness Combinations on Transfemoral Prosthesis Users.” The presentation encompassed two key components of her research: mechanical testing and roll-over shape testing.

Ryan Cho ’25 also competed in the finals and received a first place award for a poster in the math and computer sicence category. Ryan’s project, “Optimizing Memory via Real-Time Monitoring of Neural Data with Adaptive Brain Stimulation Machine Learning Algorithms”, hypothesized that deep brain stimulation improves memory when targeted towards deficient memory encoding states due to state-dependent effects by influencing brain networks related to semantic organization.