Cardiovascular disease prevention, early-warning flood programs, novel drug delivery techniques and more. These projects all have one thing in common: they were done by students here at West.
Student research has been popularized in recent years, as what was once considered an exclusive activity has become available to the vast majority of high school students. A major driver of this increase is West’s proximity to the University of Iowa, where students can connect with some of the top research programs in the state.
Senior Adam Salem has been conducting research with the University of Iowa’s scientists for the past five years, inspired to pursue it by his father’s career.
“My dad’s profession involves a lot of research. He has Ph.D. students. He mentors a lot of the time through their Ph.D. process,” Salem said. “So he got me into research from a really young age. I was around in the lab even when I was five or six years old. And then when I got old enough, post-COVID-19 pandemic, I got really into the sciences and vaccine research in low-income countries and how to spread vaccine access there, and then I started doing research in his lab.”
Research is generally an experience-heavy field, and Salem spent most of his earlier years simply training and working up to a larger role within the lab.
“My first year and a half doing research was a lot of training and just getting used to the environment,” Salem said. “And then after that, I switched over to a full-time job in a different person’s lab, Dr. [Lewis] Stevens. And then I was working my summer before junior year, 40 hours a week in his lab all summer. And that was the first time I got paid and to be a full-time employee at the university.”
As students working with the university often participate in professional research projects, the work can be intense. Biomedical, engineering and computer science research are just a few of the categories West students have participated in, and the projects demand serious attention to detail and proper methodology.
Junior Erin Chen works on cardiovascular research at the University of Iowa, experimenting mostly on rats. Her research focused on the application of an enzyme known as Ifi30, which could drastically reduce cardiovascular disease. At the state science fair, she won third place in the biomedical category, receiving a $1000 scholarship.
“[Research] is very, very fast paced,” Chen said. “So you have to learn really quickly and remember things very quickly, because they don’t want to spend money to try to get you to redo and redo your experiments, you have to try to nail them as fast as possible. So you have to watch other people do them first and figure out how to do the procedure right so you don’t mess it up too many times.”
The majority of these projects focus on expanding knowledge in a specific area or filling a gap in existing knowledge. Salem’s project was oriented toward thermally reversible gels, a recently developed drug delivery system.
“It’s filling a really niche gap,” Salem said. “There is research out there proving that you can turn these liquids to gel formulations that can be used in other applications, and there are also research papers that will say that the drug I was using, Ubiquinol, is an appropriate cure for reactive oxygen species, but there’s never been a paper published that merges the two together, at least not for this specific application. So then my research is really focusing on finding a good delivery mechanism and a good drug and seeing if I can merge the two together.”
While research seldom leads to massive breakthroughs in its respective field as a result of the work of an individual, the culmination of knowledge eventually leads to massive advances.
“What you hope is that this is a stepping point for another researcher to go and optimize this formulation and turn it into something that could be mass produced, and then see if somewhere further down the line, some other researcher can turn this into an application.”
On top of adding to scientific knowledge, student research is also helpful for college applications and hiring viability. To students who may worry about competition in math, music or sports, research represents a way for effort to directly translate to tangible results.
West research alumni often do incredibly well with college admissions. Compared to sports academies that pump out Divison I athletes or math, which is dominated by larger states, research is a relatively even playing field for Iowans.
However, personal connections also have undeniable influence over students’ acceptance into highly competitive research programs. After unsuccessfully cold emailing several labs, Chen landed her spot through a friend’s mother, who worked as a principal investigator for a project.
“It’s all about connections for research, especially because people are so apprehensive about taking in high schoolers,” Chen said. “It’s a lot easier if you know someone that works in a lab. If you’re able to reach out to someone who knows you personally and see if they know anyone who’s interested in taking you or if they’re willing to take you themselves, it’s a lot easier to get in.”
But even projects completed without the support or supervision of labs show the same merits as those completed with, providing students without connections with an opportunity to enter the field of research.
“Even if it’s not a lab-done project, I think maybe even freshman year or sophomore year, people can get into research with simple projects,” Chen said. “I saw a lot of those at the last research conference I went to. You can definitely start with projects you do at home.”
The State Science and Technology Fair of Iowa
Hundreds of students participate in the State Science and Technology Fair of Iowa every year. The competition is tight, with SSTFI competitors from across Iowa vying for a handful of spots qualifying them for the International Science and Engineering Fair.
For the majority of West’s researchers, the competition represented the culmination of almost a year’s worth of effort.
High schoolers from all across the state presented posters with research topics ranging from economics to microbiology. With recent advancements in AI, more students are implementing computer science and machine learning into their projects.
West’s competitors garnered several podium finishes and nominations across the eight projects, and will look to refine and extend upon their research for next year’s competitions.
In addition to SSTFI, some of West’s researchers competed in the Eastern Iowa Science & Engineering Fair a week earlier, giving them an opportunity to practice and fine-tune their projects before the statewide competition.
Results
Eastern Iowa Science & Engineering Fair
Held March 21 in Cedar Rapids
Ethan Ding ’28 – EISEF Class II Senior Physical (Red Medallion)
Gracie Liu ’27: Stockholm Junior Water Prize: Regional Water Prize Award, EISEF Class I Senior Physical (Preliminary Finalist)
Taha Salem ’28: EISEF Honorable Mention Senior Physical (White Medallion)
Kento Sugiyama ’27: NASA Earth System Science Award, NextEra Energy Duane Arnold Award, EISEF Class II Senior Physical (Red Medallion)
State Science & Technology Fair of Iowa
Held March 26-27 at Hilton Coliseum in Ames
Erin Chen: Third Place – Biomedical & Health Science Category, Future BioTech Leaders Scholarship from IowaBio.org ($2500 in-state or $1000 out-state scholarship)
Shannon Chen ’27: Honorable Mention – Behavioral & Social Science Category, Iowa State University College of Liberal Arts & Sciences – Future Discovery Award ($500 ISU Scholarship)
Ethan Ding: Honorable Mention – Engineering Category, Tri-County Ag: Best Project Related to Agriculture, Genius Olympiad Nomination
Gracie Liu: Honorable Mention – Earth & Environmental Category, ISU Engineers for a Sustainable Future Award, Genius Olympiad Nomination
Taha Salem: Honorable Mention – Cellular & Molecular Biology Category
Shanza Sami ’26: Third Place – Earth & Environmental Category, Genius Olympiad Nomination
Kento Sugiyama: Honorable Mention – Earth & Environmental Category, Stockholm Junior Water Prize: Regional Water Prize Award
