Junior STEM Cohort Presents and Defends Thesis Project Proposals

This year's junior class STEM cohort presented high-quality thesis proposals to the STEM faculty and their peers in ninth, tenth, and twelfth grades this week. The 16 students presented proposals for thesis projects spanning a wide variety of topics, ranging from artificial intelligence to monitoring plant growth in the presence of microplastics.  

Creating and defending an inspirational, rigorous, and realistic project proposal is the first major step in the two-year STEM thesis projects. STEM projects typically encapsulate one or several of the categories of research investigation, experimental design, engineering design, or computer simulation/modeling. 
Under the guidance of junior STEM Advisor Mr. Doug McNally, six juniors presented and defended their proposals live, while the other eight students submitted video proposals for review.

This year’s project proposals included:

• Amareah Bead’s “The Impact of Microplastics in Terrestrial Ecosystems”
• Austin Harrison’s “Design and Composition of Artificial Anterior Cruciate Ligament Scaffold through Research, Mechanical Testing, and Computer Modeling”
• Addy Mock’s “Building and Testing Bat Houses”
• Cal Morris-Berlin’s “Fritz Zwicky and Galactic/Solar Strafe Jumping”
• Anthony Thonnard’s “Artificial Intelligence and Deriving Strategy in Board Games”
• Jamie Woodward’s “Simulating Management of Self-Driving Cars in a Virtual Environment”

“It's wonderful to see students selecting and designing projects that align with their individual interests,” shared Mr. McNally, who was proud of his cohort and their work. “We are excited to see them develop their knowledge and skills over the course of the next year.”