How did you get interested in your subject and choose your project?

Coming from a household with two engineers for parents and having an interest in medicine myself, it’s always fascinated me to observe the ways in which engineering can improve current medical treatments. My mother was a materials engineer, so working from a materials and chemical engineering perspective towards medical improvements particularly intrigued me. However, when I applied for a position in the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Johns Hopkins through their Center for Talented Youth, I didn’t get to choose which project I would be working on aside from indicating that I had an interest in biomedical and chemical engineering. Still, the administrators at the MRSEC placed me in a lab in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, and I became absolutely engrossed in my project immediately!

How did you do your project?

My project was to find out how to best create sub-millimeter scale nickel cubes. If you think of a piece of paper, you can make a cube out of it by folding it up from a set 2-D base pattern, called a “net.” It turns out that there are 11 of these nets that one can fold to make a cube, so we were testing micro-cubes folded from these nets to see which net had the highest rate of folding into an “A”, or perfect, cube. My project involved fabricating and folding multiple trials of these cubes to have data on which were the most and least successful nets.

What did you find out (or create?)?

We did find out that there’s a correlation between a 2-D net’s geometry and the 3-D cube’s success in folding. What we call a “Net #5” is the most successful net. It’s great that we know this fact after testing the cubes, because these cubes are a potential new method of drug delivery. To put it simply, we can encapsulate living cells in the cubes to then use in patients where conventional drug delivery isn’t working, and we want to be able to have the highest yield of folding cubes as possible.

Did it take much money or special equipment to do your project or your research? If so, how did you get it?

Fortunately, because I was working in a professor’s lab, all of the resources and equipment that I needed to work on my project were already there. I think that working with a professor at a major research university is a great way to do research, because they have more funding and equipment than a high school student could ever acquire on his or her own.

How long did you work on your project?

I worked on the project for the entire month of July this past summer, although my work had been built upon the work of my coworkers that had been going on for at least a year or two.

Are you still working on this project? What will happen with your results?

My colleagues at the lab at Hopkins are working on publishing the article that was written on our project and its results.

What advice do you have for students now in a science fair?

Make sure that you have lots of good-quality pictures of your work! I learned that without pictures, you neither have proof of your work nor a way of helping others understand it. I’ve never actually been in a “science fair” per se but I did have to present my findings at a symposium, so I guess that’s similar. Also, make sure that you can explain your work in a way so that people who have no previous knowledge on it can understand.

What advice can you give students who want to get involved in research?

Look at nearby universities for programs they might have or openings in labs to students. That’s how I acquired my position. Also, look for government research facilities in your area. They almost always have programs for high school students. I applied to a few before I got my internship at Johns Hopkins.

Where do you plan to attend college?

I’m in the middle of sending off my applications right now, so I don’t know yet. Hopkins is certainly high on my list, though!