Newtown Students Nominated For Prize

By Connecticut Technology Council

By Martha Coville

On January 30, two Newtown students recently nominated as finalists for the Women of Innovation Awards will find out if they have what it takes to come home with a medal. The winners will be announced on the awards dinner at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington. The Women of Innovation Awards Program is sponsored by the Connecticut Technology Council to recognize women working as leaders in a variety of scientific fields.

Newtown High School senior Rebecca Reed was nominated in the Youth Innovation and Leadership category. Last year, Rebecca won first prize in the physical science category at a regional science fair for the foreign language translation software she developed. She then went on to participate in the statewide Connecticut Science Fair, where she won second honors, a scholarship, and several cash prizes. If she wins the Youth Innovation and Leadership award, she will receive a scholarship from the Connecticut Technology Council (CTC).

Elizabeth Cole, a Newtown resident and a junior at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Penn., was also nominated for the award in the Collegian Innovation and Leadership category. Last summer Liz worked as in intern in the Environmental Health Safety Department at the Ridgefield pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, where she spearheaded several environmental programs.

Scientific Achievement And Economic Growth

The CTC leverages Connecticut’s economic assets to attract “innovators” in science and technology. The council believes that the state’s educated work force and world class academic institutions, together with the availability of risk capital and its history of innovation in technology and manufacturing dating back to the industrial revolution, all add up to create a major contender in today’s global marketplace. Like other programs the CTC sponsors, the Women of Innovation awards are designed create a sense of community among Connecticut scientists, and to encourage the kinds scientific work that eventually lead to job creation and economic growth.

The collegian and youth categories to which Rebecca and Liz were nominated are two of eight categories in the awards program. The students are among 54 finalists. However, because there are only three other finalists in each Newtown student’s category, Rebecca and Liz are going into the contest with favorable odds.

Not they need to rely on luck. Rebecca and Liz were both nominated to the awards program by former teachers and mentors. Although the students specialize in completely different fields, the practical implications of their work are equally exciting.

A Science Fair Success

The regional Science Horizons fair divides projects into “life” and “physical” sciences. They award an overall prize in both groups, and also give prizes for the best life and physical science projects in every grade. Rebecca tied for first place for the first prize for high school seniors. She also won second prize overall in physical sciences. She beat out 700 other students to win the prize, which qualified her to attend the statewide Connecticut Science Fair at Quinnipiac University in Hamden.

Rebecca was one of seven Newtown High School students from Frank LaBanca’s applied science research class to attend the statewide science fair. About 300 other students from Connecticut also qualified.

 At Quinnipiac, Rebecca won many honors and awards. She received “second honors,” which placed within the 40th and 80th percentiles.

She was also awarded a four-year scholarship to Quinnipiac University, worth $20,000. Quinnipiac only awards two four-year scholarships to fair participants. They give one to a high school senior, and another to a middle school student.

Rebecca also received a total of six other prizes from corporate and nonprofit sponsors, adding up to $1,000 in cash and checks and another $500 in stocks.

She received a Computer Science Award from the Xerox Corporation; The Howard Lessoff Award for Excellence in Physical Science Education, in the form a $100 check, and another $100 prize from the Connecticut section of the Institute of Electronic and Electronical Engineers.

She also earned the Meyerand Young Woman Scientist Award, for $300; the Connecticut Academy for Education in Math, Science and Technology, Inc’s Andrew DeRocco Award for Excellence in Physics for $500; and $500 in common stock from United Technologies Corporation.

Technology Meets Language

Rebecca said that she entered in the regional fair as part of the applied science research class she took as a junior. Her teacher, Frank LaBanca, required students to present a project at the fair, which is open to all students in western Connecticut and Westchester, N.Y. “We had to take a project and turn it in as a college level report,” she said. “Mr LaBlanca told us to ‘find a scientific problem and solve it.’”

Rebecca’s project began with her interest in foreign languages. She takes French and Latin at NHS, and also studies Mandarin at Yale University. Like many high school students, she is familiar with online translators. The translators are supposed to be able to translate English sentences or paragraphs into foreign languages, and foreign languages into English. They are, however, notoriously inaccurate. Often, the translations they provide are laughable. Rebecca wanted to learn “why online translators don’t work. My question,” she said, “was can I make a more efficient translator?”

To do this, Rebecca needed to compare online translators to the original translator, the human brain. She was familiar with basic brain function because she had done a similar project the year before. Mr LaBanca provided her with the information she needed to get started. “I did lots of research on the brain. I was exploring different seminars and websites,” she said. “I had contacts with experts, all through the class.”

Finally, she found exactly what she needed. “I had a computer program made to mimic the structure of the human brain,” she said. “I found the program with my dad, who has a technology and chemistry background.”

Rebecca broke her project down into laymen’s terms. She said that the brain is made up of cells called neurons. They communicate with each other by emitting electron pulses. Together, groups of neurons form a “neural network.” A neural network might control speech, for example, or movement. Rebecca wanted to know why neural networks translate languages more accurately then online translators.

Her computer program let her build a model neural network. She said the program was very easy to use, because it let her see the “virtual” neural network visually, as a grid. Rebecca programmed the virtual neurons to mimic human neural networks using binary code. However, virtual neurons cannot not communicate with each other like human neurons do. Rebecca used algorithms to program the virtual neurons to closely mimic brain function.

A Better Translator

She said that her project revealed several ways to improve online translators. First, she found that neural networks translate sentences much faster than online translators do. They are also more accurate. Rebecca said that her model network showed that neural networks “translate using ‘first language’ concepts, which means matching images and concepts to words.”

In contrast, the less accurate online translators “use ‘secondary’ language concepts,” which amounts to a word-to-word translation. Subtle differences in word meanings tend to make online translators less accurate

Rebecca’s project concluded that if online translators were made from synthetic neural networks, they would be faster and more accurate. She said, “One basis [in learning a foreign language] is learning to think in a different language, which you don’t do until you’re fluent.” Because they associate words with images and ideas, neural networks mimic fluency better than online translators.

Rebecca said that she thinks she was nominated for the Women of Innovation prize because “I’m interested in a lot of different things in science, and I’m not just focused on one thing.” For example, she said, as a sophomore she presented a project on artificial intelligence at the Science Horizons fair. This spring, she said she plans on taking another neural network project to fair. This one will focus on robotics. Rebecca said she wants to see if she can build a neural network to control a robotic hand. She hopes the project will show how the human brain controls muscles.

Elizabeth Cole Nominated For Collegian Innovation And Leadership

Elizabeth Cole is a graduate of Nonnewaug High School in Woodbury, and a Newtown resident. She is a junior at Franklin & Marshall College, where she majors in environmentalism, with a minor in geology. She has several exciting geological projects in the works. Elizabeth was nominated for the Women of Innovation Award for the environmental initiatives she implemented at Boehringer Ingelheim last summer.

She said that she worked as an intern at the Ridgefield company’s Department of Environmental Affairs & Safety. Boehringer Ingelheim is interested in becoming more environmentally friendly. “They’re very amenable to change,” Liz said. She said that “my boss asked me to perform tasks based on my resume.”

Her biggest project was “helping to jump start a recycling program on a campus employing 3,000 employees.” Liz said that allowing several thousand employees to recycle significantly reduces Boehringer Ingelheim’s waste production. “Just with dealing with that company, I really learned a lot about waste management,” Liz said.

Her project meant that she had to research recycling programs and find out how to implement one. It also meant she needed to work with employees and administrators in many different departments. “My boss likes to joke that people like to help me because they’re so friendly to me,” Liz said. She said she played up her status as an intern to bring out the friendliness in Boehringer employees. “I’m like, I’m just an intern,” she said, “and then they’re more willing to help.”

Liz also said that she organized “a series of educational days” to show Boehringer employees how to reduce their own carbon footprints. She called the project “CO2 & You.” “I brought in vendors, and set it up in the cafeteria,” she said, so that people could browse the exhibits during their lunches. Her vendors included the light bulb company Techniart, which makes a range of energy efficient lighting.

Other displays were meant to be informative. Representatives for MetroPool offered to arrange carpools and other commuting solutions for Boehringer employees. Liz also invited Sterling Planet, a nationwide clean energy solutions provider, to the fair. Sterling Planet helps businesses and residents calculate and reduce their carbon footprints. The company works with clients to help them purchase energy from renewable sources, such as electrical plants powered by water, not fossil fuels. Once it has helped its clients lower their carbon footprints, Sterling Planet looks for ways to offset the remaining carbon emissions. For example, the firm might arrange for a client to protect part of a forest. The precise number of trees in the forest would be calculated, so that together, they would absorb the same amount of carbon dioxide produced by the client.

Liz continued her work at Boehringer Ingelheim during her Thanksgiving and Christmas vacations. During her Christmas break, she said she was “helping them switch from Styrofoam lunch trays to a bioplastic product, made from corn, or else from products left over from processing corn.”

Liz also said that during the course of her internship, she shadowed workers in different departments. “I even learned a little bit about hazmat response,” she said.

‘The Basis Of Environmentalism’

Liz has several exciting courses of study planned through Franklin & Marshall. This coming summer, she plans to put her geology minor to good use in the Rocky Mountains. She will be going to Colorado with a professor to help collect rock samples. Liz said that her professor has already secured a grant to fund the trip, but that she is not yet sure what her particular assignment will be.

But Liz has an even more exciting trip planned for February. She is preparing for a semester abroad at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. “Australia is a known for being a good place to study geology,” she said. Townsville, in northeastern Australia, is adjacent to the famous Great Barrier Reef.

Liz explained that Franklin & Marshall provides excellent opportunities for environmental science and geology majors. “It’s a good atmosphere and there’s a lot of resources,” she said. The two sciences are grouped together in the same department. Ten professors run the department, and teach a grand total of “24 or 25” students.” “It’s one of the highest rated programs in the country, in terms of graduate school acceptances,” Liz said.

Liz explained that environmentalists with geology backgrounds are highly employable. “Geology is the basis of environmentalism,” she said. “It’s the basis of everything.” She said that studying the subject requires “some chemistry, definitely physics. It sort of brings together all the sciences.” Geology is unique among sciences, Liz said, because it can tell researchers about the past and the present.

“There’s structural geology,” she said, “which is what rocks can tell you about the past. There’s also planetary geology,” a large part of astronomy and space research. Geologists can also determine the interaction between a landscape and a proposed development, she said. “Geologists can tell builders about the structural integrity of what they want to build on; if there’s hazardous waste, which way it’s going to flow.”

Liz admitted that geology “is sort of my passion.” She said that she has thought about studying the subject in graduate school, or else working as an environmentalist. “Or who knows,” she said. “Maybe I’ll end up being a professor somewhere. But I’m enjoying my time now,” studying geology in school.