Lexington Park (March 21, 2025) – The Patuxent Partnership (TPP) and our partners the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), and St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) are pleased to announce the results of the MD Regional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium competition held on February 22nd, 2025, at SMCM.
We would like to congratulate all 18 student finalists on their excellent oral and poster presentations. The depth of their research, knowledgeable demonstrations, excellent modeling, collaboration with teachers, mentors, and research labs, and the diversity of the topics chosen, were outstanding.
Dr. Michael Simpson, STEM Grants Program Officer for the Office of Naval Research, was the keynote speaker and took the students on an informative journey about important scientists who have paved the way with life-changing Scientific advances.
Ms. Bonnie M. Green, Executive Director, The Patuxent Partnership, welcomed the students, speakers, and distinguished judges, and encouraged the students on their STEM paths. She encouraged the students to consider STEM careers in the DOD community, where they will be essential to the growth, development, and security of our nation and wished them well.
Dr. Troy Townsend, Associate Professor of Chemistry & Materials Science, SMCM, and TPP Board member, was the Symposium moderator.
Ms. Bobby Dietrich, Non-destructive Inspection Engineer for the NAWCAD, a graduate of the College of Southern Maryland and the A. James Clark School of Engineering, UMD, and Ms. Jennica Bart, Chemist, Materials Engineering Division at NAWCAD and SMCM graduate, spoke to students about their paths to Navy Careers.
Our distinguished judges were:
TPP congratulates these 5 students who will compete in the National JSHS Symposium in Chantilly, Virginia, from April 22nd through April 26th, 2025.
Thank you to our 2025 MD JSHS Partner Organizations: Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division. Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division, Joint Base Andrews, the College of Southern Maryland, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and TPP members.
The Junior Science and Humanities Symposia (JSHS) is a U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force sponsored STEM competition that promotes original STEM research and experimentation at the high school level; and publicly recognizes students for outstanding achievement. Connecting talented students, their teachers, and research professionals and rewarding research excellence, JSHS serves to broaden the pool of trained talent prepared to conduct research and development vital to our nation. The Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force jointly sponsor undergraduate tuition scholarships and cash awards for student finalists in the Regional and National Symposia.
The Patuxent Partnership (TPP): The Patuxent Partnership is a non-profit member organization that fosters collaboration between government, industry, and academia to advance STEM workforce development; to advance technology through programs, forums, and networking; to advance science and technology transfer through the exchange of ideas, information, and data related to technologies; and supports economic development in Southern Maryland. TPP works with the Strategic Education Office, NAWCAD to advance STEM education and outreach. One of many collaborations along with SMCM is the Maryland Junior Science & Humanities Symposium.
For more information, please visit www.paxpartnership.org.
We would like to congratulate all 18 student finalists on their excellent oral and poster presentations. The depth of their research, knowledgeable demonstrations, excellent modeling, collaboration with teachers, mentors, and research labs, and the diversity of the topics chosen, were outstanding.
Dr. Michael Simpson, STEM Grants Program Officer for the Office of Naval Research, was the keynote speaker and took the students on an informative journey about important scientists who have paved the way with life-changing Scientific advances.
Ms. Bonnie M. Green, Executive Director, The Patuxent Partnership, welcomed the students, speakers, and distinguished judges, and encouraged the students on their STEM paths. She encouraged the students to consider STEM careers in the DOD community, where they will be essential to the growth, development, and security of our nation and wished them well.
Dr. Troy Townsend, Associate Professor of Chemistry & Materials Science, SMCM, and TPP Board member, was the Symposium moderator.
Ms. Bobby Dietrich, Non-destructive Inspection Engineer for the NAWCAD, a graduate of the College of Southern Maryland and the A. James Clark School of Engineering, UMD, and Ms. Jennica Bart, Chemist, Materials Engineering Division at NAWCAD and SMCM graduate, spoke to students about their paths to Navy Careers.
Our distinguished judges were:
- Dr. Michael Simpson, Department of Navy (DON) STEM Grants Program Officer
- George I. Allen, former Engineer with Schenk Corp founder Vibration Solutions
- Mr. Josh Considine, Assistant Program Manager for Systems Engineering (APMSE) for Aircrew Combat Effectiveness (ACE) at PMA-202 (Aircrew Systems)
- Dr. Leah R. Eller, Senior Chemist NAWCAD Human Systems Department,
- Ms. Dorothy Cobb Hammond, Former President and CEO for Holmes-Tucker International, Inc. (Htii)
- Mr. Richard Hammond, former advanced developments Engineer for the Navy’s future airborne technologies while working at the Naval Air Systems Command,
- Dr. Andrew Koch, Ph.D., Engineering Psychologist (NAWCAD)
- Dr. Ryan J. Lane, Ph.D., Air Vehicle Engineering SBIR Coordinator, NAWCAD Patuxent River, Materials Engineering Division Nondestructive Inspection Branch
- 1st Place: Kelly Ji, (oral presentation) – “Decoding Circadian Gene Regulation Using Novel Machine Learning”- Framework $2000 undergraduate tuition scholarship
- 2nd Place: Druv Veda, (oral presentation) - “Reducing Mortality Risk in Veterans: Employing Oxidative Stress Genomic Data and Patient Records to Develop a Machine Learning Model to Supplement Current Diagnostic Tools” - $1500 undergraduate tuition scholarship
- 3rd Place: Nadiat Adedoyin, (poster presentation) “Observing Social Intelligence Across Rhesus Macaque Social Groups “- $1000 undergraduate tuition scholarship
- 4th Place: Mia Sproge, (poster presentation) - “Designing a Light Inducible Protein Crystal”
- 5th Place: Diya Kamalabharathy, (poster presentation) - “AI-Mediated Computational Analysis of Bispecific RNA Based Aptamers Targeting the Transferrin Receptor of Blood Brain Barrier and EpCAM in Glioblastoma”
TPP congratulates these 5 students who will compete in the National JSHS Symposium in Chantilly, Virginia, from April 22nd through April 26th, 2025.
Thank you to our 2025 MD JSHS Partner Organizations: Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division. Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division, Joint Base Andrews, the College of Southern Maryland, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and TPP members.
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The Junior Science and Humanities Symposia (JSHS) is a U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force sponsored STEM competition that promotes original STEM research and experimentation at the high school level; and publicly recognizes students for outstanding achievement. Connecting talented students, their teachers, and research professionals and rewarding research excellence, JSHS serves to broaden the pool of trained talent prepared to conduct research and development vital to our nation. The Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force jointly sponsor undergraduate tuition scholarships and cash awards for student finalists in the Regional and National Symposia.
###
The Patuxent Partnership (TPP): The Patuxent Partnership is a non-profit member organization that fosters collaboration between government, industry, and academia to advance STEM workforce development; to advance technology through programs, forums, and networking; to advance science and technology transfer through the exchange of ideas, information, and data related to technologies; and supports economic development in Southern Maryland. TPP works with the Strategic Education Office, NAWCAD to advance STEM education and outreach. One of many collaborations along with SMCM is the Maryland Junior Science & Humanities Symposium.
For more information, please visit www.paxpartnership.org.