Five Lynbrook Students Win Young Naturalist Awards

Lynbrook High School students Casey Frankel, Harrison Ezratty, Joseph Cappadona, Matthew Schneider and Tyler Ambrico were selected as 2012 semifinalists in the Young Naturalist Awards (YNA) competition.

The students completed their projects in the LHS Science Research program, under the guidance of teacher David Shanker.

The Young Naturalist Awards, sponsored by the Museum of Natural History, is a research-based science competition for American and Canadian students in grades 7-12.

The YNA recognizes the accomplishments of students who have investigated the areas of biology, earth science, ecology and astronomy. Thousands of projects are reviewed by a panel of judges made up of environmentalists, science teachers, museum scientists and educators. Only the top ten percent of the projects submitted are selected for awards.

Casey Frankel’s project was entitled “A Novel Method for Investigating Memory,” while Harrison Ezratty studied compost and thermoelectricity. Joseph Cappadona studied the effects of three-dimensional objects on the growth of bacteria.

Matthew Schneider was chosen for recognition with his project “The Effect of a 4 percent Antioxidant Supplement Solution on the 24 Hour Stress Recovery in Drosophila melanogaster,” and Tyler Ambrico submitted his research in a project entitled “The Effect of Different Concentrations of Phosphonate on the Growth of Phytophthora spp.”