FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 1, 2023 High school students from the U.S. and around the world to attend Joint Science and Technology Institute West

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 1, 2023

High school students from the U.S. and around the world to attend Joint Science and Technology Institute West

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Akansha Nanda of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was one of 36 high school students attending the Joint Science and Technology Institute (JSTI) West, an educational opportunity to expand her knowledge and experience in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Nanda, daughter of Sujatha Seethapathi, is a student at Albuquerque Institute of Mathematics & Science, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Nanda collaborated with scientists and was mentored by Department of Defense scientists and experts in STEM fields. She took the opportunity to work on one of several research projects with their teammates and mentor, gaining hands-on experience with STEM technology and learning more about STEM fields. Research projects included:

· Climate Warriors: Microbes at Work

· Cycling in Reverse!

· Emergency Response to Chemical, Biologic, Radiation, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) Incidents

· From Classical Microbiology to Next-Generation Sequencing: Physiological and Genomic Characterizations of a Bacterial Isolate

· Harnessing Extreme Heterogeneity for Ocean Modeling with Tensors

· Smart Polymer Materials That Heal Themselves

JSTI West, held June 10-23 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a fully funded research opportunity for high school students from the United States and from U.S. Department of Defense schools around the world. It is sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and managed by Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. The program encourages students to gain confidence in their own abilities and increase STEM literacy while exposing students to the importance of STEM through hands-on research. An additional opportunity, JSTI East, will be held in Maryland in July, and is open to middle school students, high school students, high school teachers and JSTI alumni.

“By giving students hands-on experience with STEM from a young age, we hope to excite them about science and show them the possibilities of STEM career opportunities,” said ORISE Associate Manager Jennifer Tyrell. “Based on the reactions we’ve had from students this year, I think we’ve been successful!”

To learn more about JSTI West, visit, https://orise.orau.gov/jstiwest/default.htm

About ORISE

The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education is a U.S. Department of Energy asset that is dedicated to enabling critical scientific, research, and health initiatives of the department and its laboratory system by providing world-class expertise in STEM workforce development, scientific and technical reviews, and the evaluation of radiation exposure and environmental contamination. ORISE is managed by ORAU, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation and federal contractor, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science

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