From Water Research to Biomedical Engineering, Lawrentians Recognized for Scientific Excellence

Lawrentians earned recognition from multiple organizations recently for their scientific research, with students honored across a range of disciplines from environmental science to biomedical investigation and genetics.

Six Lawrentians earned top honors at this year’s Mercer Science and Engineering Fair (MSEF), held in partnership with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE):

• Aadya Agarwal ’29: second place, Earth and Environmental Science, for "Comparative Analysis of Softwood and Agricultural Waste Biochars for Heavy Metal and Nutrient Remediation in Water"
• Anvi Anand ’27, third place, Computational Biology and Bioformatics, “AI-Driven pIC₅₀ Prediction for Cataract Therapeutics Targeting MMP-9”
• Esha Desai ’28: second place, Translational Medical Sciences, for “In Silico Characterization of Molecular Tweezer-Mediated Disruption of Tau Fibrillogenesis and Neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s Disease”

• Ayona Kahlon ’29: first place, Math, Physics, and Astronomy, for "A Computational Proof of the Minkowski-Woods Conjecture for Dimension 11"
• Colin Ryu ’28: first place, Biomedical Engineering, for “Development of a Muscle Cell Engineering Platform Based on 3D Hydrogel Scaffolds for Functional Miniature Muscle Patch Production”

• Brian Suk ’29: third place, Biomedical and Health Sciences, “Rotational Biomechanics and ACL Injury Risk: A Comparative Study of Artificial Turf and Natural Grass”

Agarwal was also selected by the New Jersey Water Environment Association (NJWEA) as this year’s MSEF winner and invited to attend and present at their Annual Conference and Exposition in May. Separately, she received the U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize regional award and NOAA "Taking the Pulse of the Planet" award (Special Awards Category).

Hutchins Scholars in Science and Math Anika Amin ’27, Henry Cohen ’27, Alice Kim ’27, Isha Poluru ’27, and Selena Yu ’27 presented their research, titled “Cloning and Sequencing the GAPC Gene in Olmsted Original Trees” at the IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference held at Princeton University in March. The project was done in collaboration with fellow Scholars Blair Bartlett ’27, Eric Chen ’28, Jamie Ho ’27, Sarah Jang ’27, Rory Laubach ’27, Ethan Lee ’27, Sophie Liu ’25, and Kimberley Sun ’27. Poluru also presented her own poster, “Predicting Alzheimer’s Disease Using Artificial Intelligence on Clinical and Cognitive Baseline Data from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative,” at the conference. 

The results reflect the breadth of student research at Lawrenceville — from environmental science and computational modeling to biomedical investigation and genetics — and underscore the School’s emphasis on inquiry-driven learning.

For more information, contact Lisa M. Gillard H'17, director of public relations, at lgillard@lawrenceville.org.