Toluwani Roberts ’17
Dean Ross ’17
Leah Ross ’17
Albert has been researching sports injuries over the past two years in order to answer his experimental question: “How does an increase in playing time affect the probability of sustaining an injury in soccer?” As a junior, he conducted a preliminary study on the Barclays Premier League in which he analyzed the injury statistics of professional soccer players and was able to make several conclusions. This inspired him to conduct his own study at Berkeley Carroll, so in 2016 he used the same methodology to analyze subjects on the Boys and Girls Varsity Soccer teams. Although his results weren’t significant, Albert believes if the study were redone with a larger sample size it could show a correlation between injury and playing time.
Ananda Sahihi ’17 During her sophomore and junior years, Ananda developed an interest in psychological and nutritional science. These two topics linked together when she discovered some of the latest work in nutritional psychiatry, which studies the relationship between diet quality and mental health. At the end of her junior year, she conducted a study which followed a group of high school students as they transitioned to a vegetarian diet. Her observations from that study led her to expand the sample of subjects in a new study this year. She collected dietary information and self-reported mood test scores from two New York high schools to observe the correlation between mood and food.
C O N F E R E N C E
In her first year of SRD, Leah researched how gender, anxiety and sports interact with each other. As a junior, she decided to focus on age, gender and physical activity and was struck by the apparent lack of female students in the school gym. After looking into the positive effects of physical activity and strength training, Leah wanted to see if Berkeley Carroll female students participated in physical activity less than their male peers. She undertook a pilot study which ultimately proved too difficult to conduct due to a small sample size, but inspired her to shift topics for her senior project. Drawing from personal experiences with basketball, she wondered if players of color in the NBA received more fouls than white players. Her article discusses whether there is a significant difference between a player’s fouls per minute and race.
Albert Rubin ’17
R E S E A R C H
Dean began his time in the Science Research and Design program exploring genetic engineering and modification. After realizing the complexity of this topic, he began focusing on the science of sports. His extensive research in this area led him to explore athletes’ ability to perform under pressure. In his article, Dean discusses how both athletes and non-athletes are able to deal with, and perform in, high-stress situations.
I N D E P E N D E N T
Toluwani has been studying stem cells since she first started the SRD program in 10th grade. Her interest in the topic took root after she read an article about their potential to repair spinal cord injuries, which currently have no cure. After reading many papers on stem cell therapy, Tolu noticed a common denominator – embryonic stem cells – and began to study their pluripotency and use on injuries. Her final research project focuses on the different methods of guiding the differentiation of embryonic stem cells, and other types of stem cells, in subjects. Tolu plans to continue to read papers and follow scientific news to see what new methods scientists have discovered and developed.
T H
As a sophomore and junior, Sneha’s research focused on psychiatry and brain function/structure. This included doing research and presenting on mood disorders, substance abuse and brain imaging. For her final project, Sneha participated in a sixweek internship at New York University’s biochemical lab with Professor Tamar Schlick. There, she began her journey studying and analyzing the physical structure of pre-existing ribonucleic acid in attempt to improve future structure prediction. In her article, Sneha elaborates on her experiences and findings from her time at NYU.
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Sneha Punukollu ’17
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