Melody Guo won 2nd place at the Tennessee Junior Science and Humanities Symposium held on March 6, 2020. Melody, daughter of Yi Yang and Xiaoqin Guo, worked under the mentorship of retired ORNL mathematician Dr. Len Gray to develop an algorithm to solve the axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations that govern the motion of incompressible fluids. Computational modeling of viscous fluids has applications in numerous areas of industry, such as modeling the flow of crude oil.
Eric Armstrong, son of Beth and Tim Armstrong, tied for first place in a separate poster competition at TJSHS. Eric worked under the mentorship of Dan McDonald, President and Co-founder of Phenotype Screening Corporation to study the effect of Pseudomonas, Piriformispora indica and Laccaria bicolor on the growth of Gossypium hirsutum.
Melody won a $1500 scholarship and both she and Eric will compete at the National JSHS next month.
Math Thesis student Andrew Brady and AP Research student Jina Jiang also presented their research at TJSHS.
Andrew Brady commented “My research experience at Oak Ridge National Laboratory was a wonderful experience that confirmed my interest in a career involving math and computer science..” Dr. Deanna Pickel, co-teacher of Thesis at ORHS said “TJSHS is a unique opportunity for high school students to present their scientific research in a professional setting. We are fortunate to receive support from administration and the community to provide this course to our students.”
TJSHS is an annual scientific research competition that gives high school students the opportunity to present original research in a public forum. There were twelve students who presented oral talks and twelve students who presented posters at the 55th annual TJSHS competition this year. (The facts about TJSHS were taken from their web page https://jshs-tn.utk.edu/about/)
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Press release submitted by instructors, Jessica Williams, Deanna Pickel, and Sharon Thomas
