Sophomores earn top honors at science research competition

Seven Ursuline students earned awards at the 2026 Somers Science Fair, one of the region's largest and most competitive events for first-year high school science research students. The award-winning projects explored topics ranging from cancer research and epigenetics to environmental sustainability, ecosystem health, and computational biology.

Three Ursuline students received first-place honors in their respective categories. Ellie Takaki '28 earned first place in Animal Science for "Investigation of Reversibility of Paternal Stress-Induced Epigenetic Inheritance in Mammals." Lauren Tuffy '28 received first place in Animal Science for "Modeling and Genetic Analysis of Oyster Restoration in the Hudson River Estuary," while Anusha Vaish '28 earned first place in Biochemistry for her project, "Rewiring the Cytoskeleton: Investigating Peptide-Mediated Disruptions of Myosin-1e SH3 Protein-Protein Interactions to Reduce Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation." 

Stella Caplan '28 earned second place in Animal Science for her research on the diet of the invasive spotted lanternfly. Susanna Connelly '28 received second place in Environmental Science for her study of limpet population health in North Atlantic intertidal habitats. Sophia Romano '27 received third place in Bioinformatics for her phylogenetic analysis of bacterial rhodopsins using AlphaFold. Brooke Szygiel '28 earned second place in Physical Science/Chemistry for her assessment of water quality in the Hutchinson River. 

Held annually at Somers High School, the competition brings together student researchers from across the Hudson Valley and surrounding communities to present original scientific investigations before a panel of judges.

The Somers Science Fair serves as a formal introduction to the science research process for first-year participants. Students develop research proposals based on a review of the scientific literature and design experiments to investigate them. The competition also provides an opportunity for students to engage with peers conducting research across a broad range of scientific disciplines.

Read more about Science Research and other distinctive programs at Ursuline HERE.