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Somers students celebrated as science‑research program grows into a national hub
Summary
The Somers Central School District Board of Education recognized its science research students and highlighted competition successes: Somers hosted major fairs, produced two ISEF finalists and high selection rates at regional and international fairs. Students gave brief presentations of their research.
The Somers Central School District Board on Tuesday recognized the district’s science research program and four students who presented brief summaries of their projects.
Dr. Melia, who leads the program, told the board the program enrolls about 70 students and is supported by the Somers Science Research Parent Foundation. He said Somers hosted multiple competitions this year — including a Westef fair that drew 827 projects — and had about 530 projects registered for the upcoming Somers Science Fair. "The numbers don't lie," he said, noting two students were named national STEM finalists and that Somers students captured two of the 20 slots that advanced from Westef to the International Science and Engineering Fair.
The students delivered 60‑second elevator pitches about their work. Michaela Eggleton, an ISEF finalist, said her project tested the stability of the nucleic acid uracil under simulated impact‑generated hydrothermal conditions and that she found "uracil was actually more stable under a lot of these extreme hydrothermal conditions," a result she said could inform biosignature detection strategies for planetary missions. Evan Aronoff summarized a comparative clinical‑style study of two regenerative treatments for dry eye disease, saying "PRP demonstrated more improvements overall. It also decreased inflammatory markers," while Oxervate showed stronger improvement in corneal nerve sensory measures. Isabella Wissa presented animal‑model work detecting the inflammatory biomarker HMGB1 in induced seizures and framed the presence of that marker as a potential target for non‑steroid therapies. Rachel Lance described sex differences in DAT (dopamine transporter) expression in a mouse Parkinson’s model and warned that those differences "could lead to misdiagnoses, late diagnoses," if clinical imaging does not account for sex‑based variation.
Board members and administrators praised the program’s growth and encouraged attendance at a district symposium where students will present posters and seniors will give longer talks; Dr. Melia invited the community to a May 7 symposium at the high school. The board also acknowledged the role of district communications staff and parent volunteers in supporting and promoting student research.
