After years of hard work in the math research program, senior Sam Goldman recently won a silver medal at the International Sustainable World Energy, Engineering, and Environment Project- Olympiad(I-SWEEEP), one of the world’s most prestigious environmental high school science fairs. This achievement, along with numerous others, successfully concluded his final year of research.
Goldman was invited to Houston, Texas to compete at I-SWEEEP after winning second place at Long Island Science and Engineering Fair.
I-SWEEEP invites hundreds of extraordinary high school students from around the world to share research projects in the field of environmental protection. The competition values the importance of spreading awareness about world sustainability problems. It promotes engineering inventions and energy efficiency management discoveries that will help nurture our environment and create a more sustainable future.
This year, there were nearly 70 different countries represented and about 400 projects. Nevertheless, Goldman thought that it was a pretty relaxed event with a “touchy-feely, save the world through science” vibe, rather than the cut-throat competitive atmosphere.
“It was really exciting to meet so many different people with so many different projects all coming together for this common goal of creating new knowledge,” said Goldman.
For his research, which is classified as an environmental science project, Goldman identified significant subnetworks of genes responding to a plant virus in cassava, a crop that serves as a major food source in Sub-Saharan Africa. In preparation for his project, Goldman spent last summer researching at the Center of Genomics and Systems Biology at New York University.
“I met some really cool people who were helpful with advice about things that extend past that particular project, which made it really worthwhile,” said Goldman.
Out of the hundreds of projects, Goldman received a silver medal in the I-SWEEEP environmental category, a significant accomplishment.
Despite the long hours of hard work, Goldman expressed his passion for environmental research.
“It’s really cool to be contributing to something that may eventually help real people in the real world,” said Goldman.
Throughout his senior year, Goldman received numerous other awards, including being named Siemens Semifinalist and a National Merit Scholarship Finalist.
“Sam is an amazing student, definitely all around. He excels academically as well as through sports and other non- academic events. He’s really one of a kind!” said math research teacher Ms. Tina Marie Gallagher.
Goldman will be continuing his education this fall at Harvard University.