In the News

Our SPARK scholars present their mentored research projects at regional, state and international science fairs. Read news and information about the honors and awards received by the students.

2022 Northeast Florida Regional Science and Engineering Fair (NEFRSEF)

Devanik Biswas, a 2017 SPARK alumnus who is attending Johns Hopkins University, gave the keynote address at the NEFRSEF awards banquet.

Congratulations to the 2021 SPARK scholars who competed at the 2022 NEFRSEF

• Kristi Biswas, Siddharth Chitta and Tatyana Lewis were awarded 1st, 2nd, 3rd places respectively in the category of medicine and health. All three SPARK alumni were invited to compete at the State Science and Engineering Fair of Florida STEM Competition.

St. Johns County Secondary STEM Fair 2022

Congratulations to the 2021 SPARK scholars who competed at the 2022 St. Johns STEM fair:

• Emma Chirila and Andrew Liu tied for 1st place.
• Jackson Wolfe and Emily Dorairaj were awarded 2nd and 3rd places, respectively.
• All four SPARK Alumni were invited to compete at the State Science and Engineering Fair of Florida STEM Competition

State Science and Engineering Fair (SSEF) of Florida

SPARK students received the following awards at the SSEF competition:

• Jackson Wolfe: Biomedical and Health Sciences, Recognition, Cloning of Human PRSS1 Promotor for Pancreatic Specific Gene Therapy
• Emma Chirila: Biomedical and Health Sciences, 4th Place, Altering Metabolic Pathways to Override Drug Resistance in Cancer
• Kristi Biswas: Biomedical and Health Sciences, 2nd Place, Associations of Genetic SNPs with AD, Neuropathology, and Gene Expression Offers Novel Insight into AD
• Siddharth Chitta: Biomedical and Health Sciences, 2nd Place, Investigating the Role of WNK-1 Kinase in Glioblastoma Malignancy
• Emily Dorairaj: Cellular-Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, 4th Place, Unraveling the Link between the Enzymatic and Intracellular Signaling Properties of CD38 in Malignant B-cells
• Andrew Liu: Cellular-Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, 3rd Place, Developing Anti-CLL-1 and MSLN Immunogens for CAR-T Cell Therapeutic Treatment of AML

2022 International Science and Engineering Fair

Kristi Biswas, Andrew Liu and Emma Chirila were selected to participate and compete at the 2022 International Science and Engineering Fair. Kristi was awarded 2nd Place in Biomedical and Health Sciences.

Discovery's Edge magazine story

June 2022: Mayo Clinic's Discovery's Edge research magazine features three 2021 SPARK students in an article titled, The New Kids on the Block.