The Scientific Marksman (2018-2019)

the SCIENTIFIC MARKSMAN 2018-2019

volume 07

THE

SCIENTIFIC MARKSMAN

SCIENCE JOURNAL AT ST. MARK’S SCHOOL OF TEXAS SHOWCASES NOTABLE ENDEAVORS AND DISCOVERIES IN THE STEM FIELDS BOTH IN AND OUTSIDE THE COMMUNITY.

SCI MARK VOL. 07 2018-2019

ST. MARK’S SCHOOL OF TEXAS 10600 PRESTON ROAD DALLAS, TX 75230 214.346.8000

THE SCIENTIFIC MARKSMAN

OPENING There’s something about the abstraction of complex topics that allows the human mind to extract the inherent elements of nature and place them together into something new, but more importantly, simple.

From the principal, central dogma of biology, to the most perplexing anthropogenic networks, to the unfathomable limits of the Oort Cloud, the 7th edition of The Scientific Marksman attempts the impossible: exploring humankind’s entire understanding and signature on the universe, or multiverse, as we know it.

With our multi-dimensional fonts and minimalistic pages, we hope that this magazine effectively presents the chaotic facade, yet intrinsically beautiful entities this world has to offer.

That being said, it is our great honor to present to you the 7th edition of The Scientific Marksman.

Ishan Gupta '20, Sahit Dendekuri '19

CONTENTS OPENING 4

S

8

CURIOSITY

MATTHEW DILLON 10 TAFT ARMANDROFF 18 ZACH SMITH 12 PARADISE IN DOWNTOWN 20 DONALD KIEHN 14 GLOBAL MELTDOWN REVIEW 21 CRISTINA MACARAEG 16

24

DISCOVERY

SLEEP OR STUDY? 26 NEW FRONTIER 32 DISCOVER SATURN 28 WHAT’S IN THE WATER? 34 OPIOIDS 30 NATURE 36

38

INNOVATION

ROBOTICS 40 CURING CANCER 46

INNOVATION INSTITUTE 42 AI GIANT 48 VIRTUAL REALITY 44 BUILDING A STARTUP 50

WW

CURIOSITY CURIOSITY CURIOSITY CURIOSITY CURIOSITY CURIOSITY CURIOSITY CURIOSITY

SECTION 1 MATTHEW DILLON 10 ZACH SMITH 12 DONALD KIEHN 14 CRISTINA MACARAEG 16

TAFT ARMANDROFF 18

PARADISE IN DOWNTOWN 20 GLOBAL MELTDOWN REVIEW 21

08 The Scientific Marksman 09

Mr. Matthew Dillion inside his 5th Grade Classroom

Science Specialist Matthew Dillon

Freshmen Jeffrey Chen and Maxwell Chuang sit down with first-year Lower School Science Specialist Matthew Dillon to discuss his jouney and his experiences in the science field.

Jeffrey Chen: What do you teach here?

Matthew Dillon : My official job, is Lower School Science Specialist. This year I am just teaching fourth grade, and one section of fifth grade. I am planning the curriculum next year for 1st through 4th grade.

So we will end up moving towards the new building. Science will be taught by one teacher, as opposed to right now. Each grade has a teacher or multiple teachers in the grade. Now they want to have one teacher teaching science to all of lower school. So that’s what I will be doing next year.

is we took the boys on a field trip to the Perot and they dissected a sheep heart.

(Wows) that was really cool. That may be something we bring back? Who knows?

We want science to tie into the curriculum.

We don’t want them to come in here and let’s say they are reading about dinosaurs in their language arts class and they come in here and now we’re studying something totally different, space let’s say. If they’re studying about dinosaurs then that’s a great time to learn about dinosaurs here.

If they’re studying about the Pilgrims, we might do a unit on sustainability and make a solar oven, something that would tie in to what they are doing in their classroom.

Maxwell Chuang: What do you like to do in your free time?

MC: Did you plan on being a scientist, a teacher, or both?

MD: Free time, my wife and I like to travel, hang out with family, swim, go to shows, all the boring old people stuff. (laughs)

MD: When I started, it was none of that.

I had actually gone to undergraduate to study religion, then decided I wanted to go into education. I planned to get my masters in computing since the Apple 2E had just came out. That tells you how old I am. (Laughs). So I went to graduate school for that but found out you couldn’t be certified as a computer teacher. So you had to get a certification for something else so I became an elementary teacher. I am certified nursery through 6th grade. And have taught mostly self-contained classes.

JC: What do you guys teach in fourth grade? What is the curriculum?

MD: That’s the thing. Part of my job is to develop the curriculum. It’s kind of a go as we go thing right now. So far we’ve done some basic lab techniques, measuring mass length time all that kind of stuff getting the boys back into the science mentality.

And then we moved into more of a science engineering type. We used the design process. I challenged them to build a swing to hold 150g of pennies. They had a certain amount of straws, tape, string, and building plate. We’ve gone through that now they are on their second generation. Some of them are coming along really well. They realizing where the strength is and where the forces are, and how to combat the force going this way, or that way. Where the stress points are, that kind of stuff.

Trying to make it a real hands on practical application.

MC: Do y’all still do the cow heart dissection?

MD: Don’t think they’ve done that for a couple of years. But what was interesting

MC: Because many scientists are not religious.

MD: There’s a good amount of faith that goes into everything, whether you believe faith in the Big Bang Theory, or you believe that there was a creator that created everything, there’s a little bit of faith in everything. I’m open to listening to everything and debating everything, but like Stephen Hawkings just published his last book where he said there is no God. I’d argue with him, but that can’t happen now. (laughs) JC: How are you involved in the St. Mark’s community?

MD: Being new, I am just trying to keep

my head above water with the fourth graders and the fifth graders and planning the curriculum. But I got out to the homecoming gathering with the alumni. Tried to get to as much stuff as I can. I actually live West of Ft. Worth. So I’ve got about an hour an ten minute drive if no traffic.

It’s about 60 miles. So that makes being involved quickly difficult. So there is some planning. Getting to know people is how I’m starting right now.

JC: What will the dedicated lower school science room be like? What kind of technology will it have?

MD: We are really not sure. We have some wish lists out there of what we want. From the type of furniture we have, so we can move things more around to be more flexible, different machines, whether it is a bunch of microscopes or new triple beam balances, a 3D printer. It is really going to depend. Part of developing the curriculum here is going into what materials and equipment next year. So, it is a little bit in flux.

MC: What kind of advice would you give to a kid interested in studying science?

MD: Do it, just go do it. Get a magnifying glass and look at bugs outside. Ask for a science kit for Christmas. Take things apart. Dad’s got a old VCR. Hey, can I have that? Just get some tools and start ripping things apart to see what is inside. Just trying different things, experimenting, tinkering with stuff. Whatever your passion is. If it is more on the computer realm, get online and start playing around with Scratch.

That’s free, it doesn’t cost anything. It’s a great way to start into programming. If it is chemicals you like, ask for a Christmas present of a chemistry set. If it’s bugs, go out in the yard and start looking at bugs.

Find a summer school class. Find a club.

Start going after your passion. Just build up and start reading. Get on the internet and pull stuff up. Go to the library and get books on bugs in Texas or Native Texan plants. Whatever it is you’re interested in, go after it.

10 The Scientific Marksman 11

Talking with

Zach Smith

Alex Geng '22

Alex Geng: What are your main interests besides school and science?

AG: Has being a geologist influenced the way you live life now?

Science instructor Zach Smith: Everything I do is mostly focused on the outdoors and mostly science. The good thing about living in Maine is that we had seven seasons – you have regular season, you have mud season, you have bug season, you have frost season and so forth. But every season was a different sport. You had to have outdoor equipment for everything. So you could ski part of the year, you could surf part of the year. You could mountain bike when you couldn’t road bike, when you couldn’t run, when you couldn’t cross-country ski, when you couldn’t climb, so you had to have all those things. So that’s typically what I do when I’m not doing school.

ZS: Yeah. Some of it is location, and some of it is actually physical materials. The house I ended up buying has a lot of stonework on the outside, which is very attractive to me, for it is all local rock of the Dallas area. Inside my place, there’s a lot of natural materials, not artificial floor but real wood, or tile.

AG: Has being a scientist impacted your view of the world as a whole? When you look at birds flying over your head, do you wonder where they’re going? Has being part of a science community impacted you in that way – looking at the world differently than other people would?

ZS: Yeah. Absolutely. Well, most of the science community does a pretty lousy job of translating what they know to the general public and how it connects to the economy, and politics, and everything else. But what I think is fascinating is translating the seminating ideas of science to the general public, and how it does fit in into the economy, politics, religion, business, and so forth. People fail to see that sometimes, with things like climate change, or just environmentalism.

AG: When you are in the outdoors, how does that affect your way of teaching science, or vice versa?

ZS: A teacher told me a long time ago that when you teach, you don’t teach geology. You teach you. I found that to be pretty true. I’m very experiential. I need to do things 3 or 4 times and get it wrong 3 or 4 times until it just makes sense to me and I can fit it into my scheme. That experiential type education, I realized, is the way that I teach. I’m fine with giving activities or labs, the way that I do instruction. Though I’m very minimal on the instruction I might give, and I allow people to go through and fit it into their scheme, so that they’ll understand it completely for them, since everyone is slightly individual, as opposed to “This is the prescribed way to do this, and here it is and you have to memorize this. So, almost all of my activities in this school and other universities I’ve taught at have to do with going out and actually doing it, not reading the book or notes.

AG: If you are a fan of movies or TV shows – Back to the Future or Rick and Morty?

ZS: I remember Back to the Future. There were two or three now. That was interesting. I don’t know about the whole physics-time thing. The only connection I have with that is when they are actually stuffing the banana peels in the car as fuel – right now I kind of have a personal dilemma. I drive this big old pickup truck that’s a diesel. And diesel can run on biodiesel, which you can create out of any oil. But I’ve actually converted the truck so that it can run on vegetable oil, so I can pull up to McDonald’s and use their fryer oil, and put it in the tank, and it will run. Most diesels will do that as long as you do some conversions. So the truck I have now – I disconnected because of weather and moving, and I’m trying to find the time to put it back together again. In terms with connecting with that movie, it’s like connecting with scraps and the truck will do that. But now the truck needs a lot of work and a lot of money, so I’m trying to figure out what’s cost-effective. And I’d like to use the fryer oil at St. Mark’s, pour it right into there, but I don’t know if we will ever get to that point.

AG: What advice would you give to a young person aspiring to be a scientist or teacher when he or she grows up?

ZS: There are a lot of different sciences you can specialize in. I think it’s important for all of the scientists to know of all the other sciences, and how it connects, and knowing in terms of working. There are corporations I know where the people are required to have lunch together, so the people can cross-pollinate any ideas and what’s going on in their labs.

I would explore everything, physically and geophysically, explore every different one, because if you end up not doing well on chemistry, maybe you have a physics thing, and they’re all very different. But the thing about science is that it is very fulfilling, the chemistry or the physics, or geology just in itself, but it’s important to understand the connections between them too, and how it connects with everyday life, and everybody else, and keep that in the back of their mind.

In his habitat Science instructor Zach Smith is an avid geologist and enjoys the wilderness.

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Fifth grade teacher Donald Kiehn brandishes his air gun, a favorite tool for demonstrating applied physics.

Ten minutes with

DONALD KIEHN

Austin Zang '20, Abhi Jain '22

A

sports announcer. That’s what fifth grade science teacher Donald Kiehn wanted to be when he set off to college. When that didn’t work out, he wanted to coach basketball. He went to law school. He taught PE. And finally, craving close bonds with the kids he taught, he turned to science.

“In elementary schools a lot of times science gets ignored,” he said. “And I know that kids love it. So I started digging in myself and educating myself on how to teach science better. And it just kind of became a passion of mine” He’s taught science for over forty years. He hasn’t looked back.

Kiehn’s passion for science—life science in particular—began on his grandfather’s farm in a small town in Oklahoma, long before he ever set foot on a college campus.

“My grandfather was a cotton farmer and a wheat farmer,” Kiehn said. “He just had a small amount of acreage that he grew. But he also had a vegetable garden—a huge vegetable garden—and used to sell to the local markets, and I used to go out and help him to dig up the tomatoes and the potatoes.”

Kiehn’s early exposure to plants and animals turned him towards life science. But it wasn’t till after he started working that he decided to pursue his passion.

“Even though I loved teaching PE, I found I preferred having a smaller group of kids to really connect with and bond with,” Kiehn said. When I first started teaching, I was teaching 650 kids a day and I never really got to know them.”

Kiehn values making a connection with his students,

pushing them to be the best they can be. Though he has no formal background in the subject, he found that teaching science gave him that opportunity.

“Something that I found out was a lot of times, kids get science,” he said. “And I know that they love it. They are really, really interested in it. They usually want it a lot, and then so do I.” He’s found that environment here at the school. For Kiehn, the best part of each day is getting to interact with each member of his class, forming productive dialogues and creating a sense of real community.

“I was always fascinated with the school – St. Mark’s seemed like a great place to teach,” he said. “It has such a great reputation. The boys crave knowledge and so it’s fun to interact and to have discussions with them in class.”

While he only arrived on campus this year, Kiehn is already making waves within the school community.

With 40 years of teaching experience, Kiehn is a veteran in the field; prior to being offered a position at the school, he was about to retire.

“St. Mark’s was simply too good of an opportunity to pass up; when I saw the opening, I knew that I had to take my chance” Kiehn said.

“I love how passionate the boys are to hear me...they crave knowledge.”

Coming from a background of public school education, Kiehn mentions that one of his favorite moments each day is hearing his students say thank you as they walk out of class.

“Hearing that,” Kiehn said, “I know that they really do appreciate what I’ve done, and it means the world to me.”

Kiehn hopes to increase his involvement with the school community in the future, becoming further engaged with the student body and all it has to offer.

“I want to learn more about the culture and community here,” Kiehn said. “I’m taking baby steps trying to get familiar with and immerse myself in the customs, the traditions and the history.”

Kiehn has no regrets coming to 10600 Preston Road.

He appreciates the way the faculty and students on campus have welcomed him into the community.

“Any time I’ve had a question about anything or needed help with something,” he said, “there was always someone to help out.”

And his new job has put any thoughts of retiring well out of reach.

“Students energize me,” Kiehn said. “I’m not somebody who could quit working and do nothing. I’d still have to be around and to work with kids. I always have.”

14 The Scientific Marksman 15

“

“There is so much potential in those rooms. They’re brand new. They’re blank walls.

They’re just so organized and they’re so clean that you can really make your mark in those rooms.” sors really well, you know, you’re able to work in their labs, you can shadow doctors at the attached hospital,” Macaraeg said. “It was a really good experience.”

In fact, one of her most memorable experiences in college was a lab.

“My senior year I worked in a biomedical engineering lab at the hospital, and I was working with all the grad students, and so they were looking at fluorescent dyes for tumors, but my job was to take care of the mice and prepare the solutions and their brains for scans.

It was different.”

After graduating Dartmouth, Macaraeg left the cold New England weather behind in favor of the more sunny California, where she began to teach high school chemistry.

“I taught at a co-ed school private school in Los Angeles, and I taught all levels of chemistry there,” Macaraeg said. “ I also taught a senior elective which was forensic science, and also food and nutritional science.”

Soon after, she decided to teach at St. Mark’s School of Texas, which she had heard about as a young girl at the Casady School in Oklahoma.

“I went to Casady, and so we had played them in sports my whole time I was there,” Macaraeg said. “ So I knew about it that way, and then when I was teaching out in California, I had checked to see what was open and there was a spot available.”

Macaraeg is especially enthused to move into the rooms of the new Winn Science Center.

“There is so much potential in those rooms, they’re brand new, they’re blank walls, they’re just so organized and they’re so clean that you can really make your mark in those rooms,” Macaraeg said.

In addition to being the new chemistry teacher, she is also the new assistant cross-country coach, as one of her main hobbies is running, which she

“

f you asked Cristina Macaraeg growing up what field she wanted to work in, she would have easily responded healthcare.

Throughout high school and college, Macaraeg was on the pre-med track. Even her favorite class was biology. It wasn’t until her last year of college at Dartmouth that she decided to make the switch from medicine to teaching.

“I was pre-med in college and went through that whole trajectory, and then my last year, I decided that’s actually not what I wanted to do,” Macaraeg said.

“So I started looking at other things. I had been a TA in college for the general chemistry classes and that’s what I had really enjoyed. So that’s when I turned to teaching.”

Macaraeg first became interested in science because of the labs.

“In high school I liked bio[biology] because of the labs that we did, and then in college, I liked the labs we did in chemistry more, so it just flip-flopped that way,” Macaraeg said.

It was the inorganic chemistry labs in college, however, that got her fascinated by chemistry.

“One of them[ labs], we extracted caffeine from a tea bag, and that was a good six hour lab, and then one of our final labs was when we made nylon, which was pretty cool,” Macaraeg said.

While inorganic labs are Macaraeg’s favorite thing to do in chemistry, her favorite topic is kinetics.

“I love kinetics, which doesn’t get taught in a lot of high school courses, unless you’re at the AP level,” Macaraeg said. “But I think it just makes so much sense and it ties in with things that you’ve learned in bio, that’s why I like it.”

Macaraeg’s experience at Dartmouth definitely promoted her passion in the sciences.

“I like that it was small, and you got to know your classmates and the profes-

has pursued since high school.

“I started running in seventh grade with middle school cross country, did it through high school, in college I just did it for fun, but I started training for marathons when I was in college,” Macaraeg said.

Macaraeg finds running enjoyable because of the time it provides for reflection or even the occasional chemistry problem.

“What I like about it[ running] is that it’s my time, it’s quiet, and I can just zone out, think through things on my own,” Macaraeg said.

Whether it be running coach, or chemistry teacher, Macaraeg is happy to be quickly settling in to the lion community.

“The first day was very hectic,” Macaraeg said. “The 45 minute classes is a lot different than what I had before.

But it went well.”

Cristina Macaraeg Sahitya Senapathy '20

16 The Scientific Marksman 17

A BRIEF CONVERSATION with Astronomy Profressor Taft Armandroff

Freshman Alex Geng sat down with Professor Taft Armandroff after his presentations during the 2019 STEM Conference to dive deep into his work as UT Austin’s Endowed Director of the McDonald Observatory.

Q & A

Alex Geng: How did you become interested in astronomy? As a kid, were you really passionate about it, or did your interest develop sometime else?

Taft Armandroff: For as long as I can remember, I was very invested in the sky and the stars, but I had an opportunity when I was going to high school – I grew up in Connecticut, and we had a regional science center that some kids from the school got to attend on Saturday, and I built my own radio telescope under the mentorship of the instructors there. That allowed me to set it up in my backyard. It was extremely primitive of course, but just the process of doing that was so inspiring to me.

AG: So how are you integrating newer technologies, like this Giant Magellan Telescope, to help you with your research?

TA: One of the ways we’ll do it is first – we’ll offer it to everyone at the University of Texas, and we’ll have a competitive process, whereby people submit ideas and we’ll have a set of peer review to see which field it would make the biggest difference in. So for example, if we can already do the science with the existing observatories, like the McDonald observatory in West Texas or other facilities, we’ll probably keep doing it there, so we’ll try to use the Giant Magellan Telescope in areas where only it can yield that result, so it’ll have the greatest impact, because there’s only so much time on it, and then we’re doing a series of presentations and publications to try to let the users who are in the field know about what capabilities the telescopes could have and how they can integrate that into their research – because if they’re not really familiar with it, they can’t use it.

AG: As your research of outer space continues and this big mystery continues of what’s out there, how does that affect your view of life on earth right now?

TA: We’re hoping that all this will give us a lot of perspective as human beings. I think when we talk about these factors that influence life can occur or not, it has some relation on letting us know how special our planet is – our atmosphere is a very thin layer – that the conditions were right to evolve and despite meteor bombardments and things like that – it could have an impact on how people think of our planet as an ecosystem, and that we would take care of our planet better, and address some of the challenges like nuclear weapons and things like that. But I’m not sure how much progress we’ve made about that, how much awareness has risen – it’s sort of hard for me to tell because I’m an astronomer. I’m very immersed in it, but I have noticed there’s a lot of popular interest when we come out with a result that says this planetary system has six planets, and that gets a lot of hits and is featured in a lot of newspapers. So I think there is interest out there, and where that interest will take us in terms of perspective I’m less certain.

Picture courtesy of Universe Today website

Giant Magellan

Slated to be complete in 2025, the Giant Magellan Telescope in Vallenar, Chile will open revolutionary new doors into deep-sky observation. Once complete, it will hold a resolving power ten times greater than the Hubble telescope.

sq. m. of reflecting area

segmented reflectors

m. of altitude

stories tall

Who is Taft Armandroff?

Holding multiple graduate degrees in Astronomy from Yale University, Dr. Taft Armandroff is Frank and Susan Bash Endowed Chair for the Director of McDonald Observatory at UT Austin.

BUILDING

368 7 2550 22

THE

Taft Armanddroff “Are there supermassive black holes at the center of globular clusters? This is something the Giant Magellan Telescope will work on. So far, most globular clusters don’t have black holes, and some have standard stellar mass black holes – but I think people are really looking for a true supermassive black hole in a core of globular clusters, and so far it’s been hard to find.”

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Paradise in Downtown Dallas Photo Courtesy of Paul Hermans

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s I tiredly stumbled out of the Nature Club van and peered at the building in front of me, I couldn’t help but question whether I had made the right choice in spending my Saturday morning coming here. The Dallas World Aquarium doesn’t seem like much from the outside; its boxy architecture and drab colors hardly draw the eye of any potential visitors. But as we made our way through the entrance and into the first exhibit, I realized that my concerns were completely unwarranted.

As we entered, our group was immediately greeted by a towering indoor jungle. This amazing exhibit ­– a reproduction of the South American Orinoco rainforest – serves a double purpose: in addition to housing the main aquarium pool, it is also an aviary, a home to hundreds of free-flying tropical birds. Vibrantly colored birds-of-paradise soared overhead as we made our way down the meandering path, listening to

Austin Zang '20 the symphony of chirps, cries and tweets that constantly pierced the air.

Below us, I could only watch in awe as an enormous Antillean Manatee surfaced from the depths, causing a commotion among the smaller animals near the water. The artificial river at the ground level of the rainforest, while seemingly shallow, is actually the aforementioned main aquarium of the building, holding hundreds of Indo-Pacific fish in its 20,000 gallon tank.

The rest of my time in the aquarium was no less exciting than those first few minutes. Everywhere I looked, there were exotic and unique animals abound: the ecosystems of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, British Columbia, the Bahamas, Fiji, Palau, Southern Australia, Lord Howe Island and the Solomon Islands all on display.

From snakes to sharks, there was truly an incredible variety of animal life living at the DWA. And by living, I really do mean living: the Dallas World Aquarium is

not only a center for entertainment, but also for conservation. A multitude of endangered species, including the Harpy Eagle, Radiated Tortoise and Panamanian Golden Frog can be found seeking shelter in the exhibits. The DWA goes to incredible lengths to ensure the well-being and continued protection of these rare animals; their captive breeding programs, among other efforts, have played a major role in the recent comeback of many of these at-risk species.

Overall, the Dallas World Aquarium is well worth a visit. Not only does it feature stunning displays of unique animals unable to be seen elsewhere, but the noble work it performs regarding wildlife conservation is worthy of our recognition.

If we as a community hope to gain a reputation as supporters of global environmental health, assisting reputable, high-caliber “green” organizations such as the DWA is an excellent start.

UNDER PROTECTION The Panamanian Golden Frog is one of the many endangered species housed by the Dallas Aquarium. Currently, the amphibian is on the critically endangered section of the IUCN Red List due to a fungal infection known as chytridiomycosis.

Photo Courtesy of Dallas Aquarium

Due to collection and habitat loss, the Radiated Tortoise, originating from Southwest Madagascar, is another endangered species under the protection of the Dallas Aquarium.

The tortoises can measure up to 16 inches and weigh up to 35 pounds.

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The Critique

ational Geographic has been one of the leaders in documentary production recently.

In the past few years, they have released documentaries covering not only the science behind current day controversies, but also different perspectives and the importance of the topic.

Case in point: Bill Nye’s Global Meltdown. This documentary is, at its core, about the consequences of global warming and what humanity is doing to combat the problem.

The purpose of the 2015 movie is more than that, however. The documentary serves as a political statement for science advocate Bill Nye’s campaign on climate change.

Starting in 2010, with his exhibition at the Chabot Space and Science Center, Nye became an activist on the war against global warming.

“Everything in the exhibit is geared to showing you that the size of the problem of climate change is big,” Nye said in an online video. “It’s a huge opportunity.”

Nye appeared on several national news broadcasts and TV shows including PBS and Fox News, as well as a documentary with National Geographic.

In the documentary, Nye and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger discuss the dire effects of climate change in five parts based on the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

The format is easy to follow, taking the audience on an emotional journey in order to convince them that the people have to do something about the growing problem.

However, the documentary is trying to argue something more than explain something. At times, Nye seems to be insulting the audience for being ignorant. Although I can

James Shiao '20

relate to the anger, it isn’t justified in the context of the movie.

Towards the end of Bill Nye’s Global Meltdown, Nye presents the audience with evidence that there are solutions in the works to decrease the carbon emission rates. I felt hopeful for the future when I watched this part, and the movie ended on a good note.

Overall, the movie is interesting and well-researched for a documentary. It was well-paced, but the humor seemed a bit out of place. I understand that director Christopher Cassel needs to keep the audience engaged, but for a movie so serious, the humor should be toned down.

As National Geographic continue to create documentaries for all subjects, I am excited for the new ones to come.

Photo Courtesy of National Geographic

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Illustration by James Shiao '20

Legend 1 2 3 4 5 6

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McDermott-Green Courtyard Robotics Lab Planeterium Greenhouse Periodic Table

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The Winn Science Center started construction in June 2017 and will be finished in the summer of 2019.

The planned final layout of the building will look like above.

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O C S I D

Y R E V O SECTION 2

SLEEP OR STUDY?

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DISCOVER SATURN 28

OPIOIDS 30

NEW FRONTIER 32

WHAT’S IN THE WATER?

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NATURE 36 24 The Scientific Marksman 25

Sleep or Study?

Story by Ben Meyer

7.25 8.5 Average hours of a sleep for an adolescent every night

Hours recommended to adolescents for sleep nightly

Source: A Clinical Guide to Pediatric Sleep

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ne of the main complaints from social situations and loneliness. students is the workload and the Another important component of sleep effect of sleep deprivation on overall other than length and consistency is sleep morale and energy. For students, the amount cycles. A study published by the NeuroImage of homework and studying don’t allow for journal links the sudden awakening during healthy sleep hygiene. deep sleep with reduced cognitive function.

As many studies have shown, sleep They call this concept “sleep inertia.” deprivation is very serious and could have Awakening during N3 sleep – or deep dangerous effects on both mental and sleep – has the most pronounced effects of physical health. sleep inertia. The first minutes after being A 2017 study published by The Journal awoken from sleep are characterized by of Behavioral Therapy and Experimental drowsiness and lowered performance and Psychology shows a relation between sleep efficiency. After that, awakening from N3 duration and RNT, or repetitive negative sleep is characterized by “global loss of brain thinking, which is linked to the development functional segregation between task-positive of symptoms associated with anxiety and and task-negative networks.” depression.

That essentially means the The study was conducted by separating compartmentalization of the networks the fifty-two individuals participating in required for tasks that demand attention and the study into two groups, one of which had the network devoted to involuntary tasks is normal nights of sleep, and disrupted. the other half were sleep The ideal way to reduce “Sleep deprivation can also be deprived. The two groups the effects of sleep inertia connected to social withdrawal were each showed a mixture and loneliness, which can cause is to schedule the minutes of emotionally negative and between the time people mental and physical illnesses.” emotionally neutral images. sleep and the time people The people who were sleep awaken to be a multiple of deprived spent more time looking at the ninety minutes. That amount of time is the negative images when they were allowed to length of a full sleep cycle, and awakening freely view the images, and had more difficult near the end or beginning of a cycle can diverting attention away from the negative prevent the effects of awakening during deep images when they were viewed for a set time sleep. each.

The loss of sleep can be combated in But the study has its limitations. The many ways. A study published by the Sleep authors expressed that causation cannot be Health journal proposes that a later start time established between sleep deprivation and for schools has a link to reduced depressive RNT, but a correlative one can be proven. symptoms. The study specifically studies the Despite its limitations, we can presume the effects of school start times before and after overwhelming importance of preserving 8:30 AM. This delaying of the start times of sleep. school is directly associated with a reduced An article published by the Nature number of depressive thoughts.

Communications Journal measures the link The subjects participating in the test between sleep loss and an increase in social were asked to document their overall sleep distancing and feelings of loneliness. The hygiene in the morning and document their study describes three tests or interviews depressive thoughts in the evening. They spread over two days. The study separates the wrote these diaries for a week before ending people being studied into two groups; these the study. The study shows a definite link groups are characterized by having a regular between school start time and adolescent night of sleep as opposed to a night of sleep sleep quality and overall health. deprivation.

In conclusion, the effects of healthy sleep After the first day, they run two social hygiene are immense. It is widely known distance tests, the first of which was an inthroughout the school students here are just person approach test, followed by a virtual not meeting the recommended amount of one, which used an MRI machine, which sleep for adolescents. The recommended measured the comfortable distance that a amount of sleep for a high schooler is eight person could stand away from the subject. to ten hours, which, as many students have These tests measured the effect of sleep stated, is almost impossible at this school. deprivation on social withdrawal. After This lack of sleep could have devastating the second night, both parties are given a effects on the students’ health and emotional questionnaire that measured behavior in state.

26 The Scientific Marksman 27

Floating through space, the CassiniHuygens probe took 453,048 pictures of Saturn. Picture courtesy of NASA.

Discover Saturn

by Nicholas Tsao '20 and James Shiao '20

T

he ringed gas giant has been largely unknown territory to space explorers. Since Pioneer 11, there have only been three other probes that analyzed Saturn. Only one of those probes has orbited Saturn, and that probe has finally completed its mission. On September 15, 2017, the Cassini-Huygens artificial satellite was deorbited from Saturn and burned in the upper atmosphere, ending a nineteen-year journey of observation and discovery.

The Cassini-Huygens probe was a joint project first conceived in 1982 when the European Science Foundation and the American National Academy of Sciences suggested pairing a Saturn Orbiter and Titan Probe as a possible joint mission.

NASA and the European Space Agency decided to look into making the plan a reality, and in 1988, the two organizations finally decided to commence the Cassini-Huygens project.

During the years of construction, the relations between NASA and the ESA strengthened, despite The United States Congress attempting to truncate the project. In addition, according to astrobiologist and writer David Grinspoon, protesters of the plutonium fuel source tried to halt the probe’s launch.

“Plutonium is one of the most dangerous substances on Earth, and Cassini carried 72 pounds of plutonium oxide,” Grinspoon said. “You could theoretically kill everyone on Earth”.

However, NASA never stopped the project. In 1997, the Cassini-Huygens was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida and started its trek to Saturn.

During its 635-gigabyte data collection, the probe discovered six moons, took 453,048 pictures, and travelled 4.9 billion miles, according to NASA. The Huygens detachable probe landed on Saturn’s biggest moon, discovering lakes filled with hydrocarbons like methane in the moon’s northern latitudes.

In 2012, the Cassini satellite observed the aftermath of the Great White Spot Storm, occurring once every thirty years.

Andrew Ingersoll of California Technologies believes the storm is caused by the heavier weight of water than the atmosphere of hydrogen and helium.

“The upper atmosphere is so cold and so massive that it takes 20 to 30 years for this cooling to trigger another storm,” Ingersoll said.

After two extensions and completion of all of the spacecraft’s objectives, the Cassini-Huygens probe began its grand finale phase in April of 2017. The big finish was planned to be a dangerously close orbit of Saturn and Titan, to get a few more pictures of the atmosphere. The trailblazing act would be the perfect ending, according to Linda Spilker, the Cassini project scientist.

“Getting this close to the rings and the planet, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a scientist like me,” she said.

“We’ve wanted to do this for a long time.”

The epic journey of the spacecraft is perfect to Spilker. She feels fortunate that all the scientists’ calculations and predictions have been spot on.

“We’ve been so lucky that so little has gone wrong,” she said. “Like Earl Maize has said, the toast falls butter-side up with Cassini.”

28 The Scientific Marksman 29

H E A LTHC AR E AN D D R UGS

Every day, more than 115 people overdose on opioids. However, doctors have not stopped prescribing them, as more than 1/3 of adults were instructed to take them in 2015. Opioids are one of the world’s oldest drugs, predating the common era in usage. The drug was popularized in the 19th century with morphine and still shows up today in forms such as fentanyl, heroin, and oxycodone.

THE FACTS Data from the CDC shows that prescription opioids continue to be involved in more overdose deaths than any other drug, and all the numbers are likely to underestimate the true burden given the large proportion of overdose deaths where the type of drug is not listed on the death certificate.

States Overdosing

The states in the U.S.A. with the highest percent increase in overdose deaths are:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Maryland- 58.9% Florida- 56.3% Pennsylvania- 44.1% New Jersey- 42.3% Delaware- 40.0%

Texas has a 7.4% increase.

IN U.S.A., 2016:

15,469

deaths

from heroin overdose

17,087

deaths

from prescription overdose

19,413

deaths

from synthetic drug overdose

Source: CDC

HOW TO FIX IT Recent solutions include medication-assisted treatment, harm reduction through supervised injection and provision of clean needles and syringes, and regulation of major suppliers of the drug such as Purdue Pharma. But in the long term, it may be more important to focus on preventing addiction at the start.

Jack McCutchan '20, Christopher Wang '20

O

ver 15,000 American deaths every year. Almost particular, people take it from their grandparents two million people involved. A higher mortality because they have leftovers from when they had rate than cocaine and heroin. No, it’s not a war or surgery or things like that, and so people steal it disease; it’s a tiny white pill, and it’s sweeping the from other people.” nation in a lethal fashion. The opioid epidemic is on Van Drie believes there are even worse a rampage throughout The United States, snatching consequences after someone who becomes everyone from teenage athletes to retired tax dependent on opioids cannot access it any longer. attorneys into its inescapable grasp.

“One of the phenomenons that happens Prescribed by doctors to help relieve pain after after people become dependent on opioids and a surgery or an operation, opioids are usually taken they can no longer access it is that they’ve built away from the user after a short time to prevent a dependency,” Van Drie said. “ They become them from having to depend on the drugs to soothe addicted and find it through illegal means, then they the pain. Opioids are short-term drugs, both natural commonly switch over to heroin, which is used the and synthetic, that act on opioid receptors to same for a similar result and is cheaper. So that leads produce morphine-like effects. to the secondary addition issue. This is basically the Many people, however, have discovered that thing we’re seeing within our society right now, and a heavy dose of these drugs can then lead to then we don’t have any treatment for that.” dependence on opioids.

The healthcare system in — Dependence and place is not able to handle the 'I think it’s important for people to recognize addiction to opioids overwhelming opioid problem, this is a medication people will go through can be attributed to leaving little help for those already a lot of lengths to get and that they need to two large factors: addicted. discard of old medication appropriately.' opioid withdrawal “The healthcare isn’t and opioid tolerance. necessarily setup to treat it – Director of Counseling Barbara Van Drie Opioid withdrawal because coverage of behavioral occurs when repeated health and drug treatment isn’t exposure to rising doses of opioids changes the necessarily there,” Van Drie said. “You can see what’s brain so that it only works normally when under happening within our system right now with the the influence of said opioids. This, in turn, leads to dart to coverage for drug trade, which is currently opioid tolerance which is when opioid receptors being debated.” gradually become less responsive to stimulation.

However, Van Drie thinks there is a way for the Therefore, a greater quantity of opioids is needed to average American to help solve the crisis. produce similar pleasures as past experiences have “I think we, as individuals, especially the elderly, yielded and for the brain to function normally due need to throw out old medication,” Van Drie said. to withdrawal. This creates a negative cycle which “So I think it’s important for people to recognize might end in an overdose, as the user takes greater this is a medication people will go through a lot of quantities of opioids with each session. An overdose lengths to get and that they need to discard of old is a respiratory depression, when ventilation is medication appropriately and get it out of the house inadequate to perform needed gas exchange, and recognize that adolescents are seeking it.” occurring due to an extreme opioid effect on the Ultimately, Van Drie concludes the best way to part of the brain which regulates breathing. cure to this deadly epidemic is education for users When the question of how so many Americans and doctors. are able to get their hands on opioids is presented, “I think [the solution is] education,” Van Drie Director of Counseling Barbara Van Drie ascribes said. “People need to understand it’s a highly the answer to people stealing it from relatives or addictive drug when they go to use it. I think friends. physicians need to carefully monitor when they “So lots of times, people abuse it even if it hasn’t prescribe it, making sure they don’t give people been prescribed for them,” Van Drie said. “In more than they need.”

30 The Scientific Marksman 31

WOR K IN G FO R SPAC E X

A NEW FRONTIER Sahit Dendekuri '19

A

erospace manufacturers and space transport services have recently seen a transition from enjoying the benefits of privatization to becoming increasingly more public. At the forefront of these private aerospace manufacturers, SpaceX – Space Exploration Technologies Corporation – is leading many of these private aerospace technology innovations.

The company was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the purpose of making commercial space travel a reality – ultimately allowing the colonization of Mars. The company has developed spacecraft like the Falcon launch, which was successfully launched on February 6, 2018. This is only one of 18 successful SpaceX launches.

St. Mark’s has several alumni working for aerospace manufacturing companies. Will Ferenc ’09, is just one of these alumni immersed in the budding world of aerospace technology. After graduating from St. Mark’s in 2009, Ferenc went on to attend Harvey Mudd College, where he was deeply involved in many engineering endeavors and focused heavily on mechanical engineering and robotics.

While earning his B.S. in engineering, Ferenc worked as part of a team to develop a testbed and control system for underwater swarm robots.

In May of 2012, Ferenc went on to become a Dynamics Intern at SpaceX. Engineering dynamics is a branch of mechanical engineering that has to do with the kinematics of mechanical systems, which is especially important when attempting to understand the motion of a rocket.

After his 4 month internship at SpaceX, Ferenc became a student researcher at the Lab for Autonomous and Intelligent Robotics (LAIR) at Harvey Mudd for a year. Directed by Dr. Christopher Clark, research at the LAIR focuses on multi-robot systems and their relevant applications – from motion planning and localization to the mapping and integration of social systems.

In June of 2013, Ferenc returned to SpaceX and joined a team of instrumentation engineers, colloquially referred to as C&I engineers. These instrumentation engineers are responsible for developing, installing, and managing equipment that is used to monitor and control engineering systems, machinery, and processes. These engineers also configure instrumentations to set up systems that perform certain functions.

After more than two years, Ferenc went on to become a Sensors Development Engineer at SpaceX in October of 2015.

A year later, Ferenc became the Lead Sensors Development Engineer – a position he currently holds.

According to SpaceX, the Sensors Development Team manufactures high performance electronic and optical sensors for the world’s most advanced launch vehicles and spacecraft.

From designing devices such as digital transducers that convert energy or signals to different forms, to laser range finders that use “The simple act of being prepared and being ready is so important. It may seem like second nature to you all here, but in the world it really does matter.”

–Will Ferenc ’09

concentrated beams of radiation to calculate interstellar positioning, these projects can transition from being single unit prototypes to becoming commercially manufactured objects that are produced at a rate of thousands of units annually.

Ferenc is part of the vanguard that is currently innovating the field of space travel. Whether it’s NASA’s Orion Rocket or SpaceX’s most recent Falcon launch, these rockets are pioneering space travel – and alumni like Will Ferenc, bolstered by their science-steeped St. Mark’s educations, are leading the charge.

SpaceX’s Dragon was built to be the world’s first commercial spacecraft that could deliver cargo and people to the International Space Station and to bring them back safely. The Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond.

(Left) SpaceX’s current version of the Falcon 9 is designed to transport cargo weighing up to 50,000 lbs to and from low-earth orbit, while allowing several of its components to be reused after launches and landings.

Merlin engines have a remarkable ability to burn liquid oxygen and kerosene, generating the highest recorded thrust-to-weight ratio of all time, making the engines the most efficient ever built, and vital components of the Falcon Heavy rocket.

Photos courtesy of Pexels Images

32 The Scientific Marksman 33

COUR T YAR D P OND

WHAT’S IN THE WATER?

by Ishan Gupta '20

F

ive sixth graders are playing line ball right outside the Grandparent’s Courtyard.

One of them spikes the ball, winning the round. But as he starts cheering, the middle schoolers all watch the tennis ball as it splashes into the pond.

The group of boys are forced to fish out the ball, hopefully before somebody catches them. But luckily, after a couple minutes, they’re able to pick the ball up and dry it off.

The sixth graders move a bit further away from the pond, just to be safe, and they keep on playing. But a question looms: What’s in the pond?

Life science teacher Daniel Northcut ’81 has been keeping track of the Grandparent’s Pond for years.

He’s looked around and seen what’s inside, but the school’s made sure the pond stays the same over the decades.

“The Grandparent’s Pond, they kept it pretty simple because they wanted it to keep the same look,

pretty much always,” Northcut said.

“So really it’s just lily pads pretty much. And past that it’ll just be any other natural algae that got in. There’s been a turtle, a couple of turtles, over the years. There’s been a couple of goldfish over the years. So nothing too extraordinary.”

But on the other side of campus, in the McDermott-Green Science & Mathematics Quadrangle, there’s the Science Courtyard Pond. The administration has given the science department full control over what goes in and out of that pond, and Northcut uses it to its highest potential.

“I’ve put in native plants, native aquatic plants, from North Texas over the years,” Northcut said. “So it’s got great biodiversity in there.”

Along with the microscopic natural algae, Northcut has found bigger and more interesting species in the pond. Designed by retired science teacher Arthur Douglas, the Science Courtyard pond has a plethora of bio-

diversity, ranging from different types of weeds to different types of fish and turtles.

“Single species-wise,” Northcut said, “I think the most interesting things in there right now would be the carotids, the crayfish. But in the past, I think the most interesting thing animal-wise would be that gar I put in there because that gar, he was in there for maybe three years.”

If somebody happened to drop a ball into the Grandparent’s Pond, there wouldn’t be much on it besides some water and maybe a few algae. In the Science Courtyard, however, it’s a completely different story.

“For the most part, whatever’s going to be coating [the ball] once they get it out, there’s going to be more variety over here between different algae and mosses,” Northcut said.

“You could get a little floating plant, some duckweed. I mean, all types of stuff could end up when you pull the ball out over here.”

The Grandparent’s Pond sits right outside the Great Hall. Covered in lilypads, the pond is considerably less scientifically diverse than the Science Courtyard Pond across campus.

34 The Scientific Marksman 35

The Nature Club, founded last year by junior Nick Kowalske, is joining the lineup of on-campus clubs concerning the environment. So far, they have done multiple outings and generated a dedicated base of members.

S

tudents live in a time of a growing eco-friendly conscience, where electric-fueled cars and renewable energy dominates the headlines.This is no coincidence with the presence of the millennial generation, which is called the “Green Generation” by Nielsen, an information company that reported that millennials are willing to pay more for sustainable products.

These findings of eco-conscious consumerism are further backed by the Clinton Global Initiative’s study of how 76% of millenials are concerned about the environment, compared to 24% of their parents’ generation. This global trend is not limited to professionals or on college campuses however, as the Nature Club and Green Club have shown on St. Mark’s campus.

The Nature Club, founded by junior Nick Kowalske last year and sponsored by Dr. Flint, is a relatively new club that focuses on out-of-school outings to further their member’s knowledge and awareness of nature. Kowalske says that he has had an interest in nature since he went on a series of relaxing trips.

“I realized that spending time in wilderness is a great way to relieve stress and have fun,” Kowalske said.

Thus, when a conversation about birding with Dr. Flint turned into the possibility of the advent of a birding club, Kowalske and Flint agreed it would be better if it was a club focused around all of nature. Dr. Flint, an ecologist before a teacher of biology, thought that this could be a great chance to be active outdoors and help interested students.

“I was an ecologist before I was a teacher here, so I used to spend a lot of time outside. That wasn’t happening when I started teaching here, and I thought it would be both a good way for me to get back outside, and to get some interested students out into nature,” he said.

Dr. Flint also described a lack of ecology in the classroom as a reason for sponsoring this club. She commented how, “We actually don’t get to talk much about ecology or natural history in biology class, so this was a good way to get to teach some of that.”

In the past two years, the club has went to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge near Lake Texoma twice, exploring the shoreline and hiking. So far, the club has met on two other outings, one other outdoors outing and one to the Dallas World Aquarium. Kowalske says has seen the club’s members grow more interested and involved in nature.

He says the club has a small number of people, but it’s seen its members become more dedicated and interested in learning

about the outdoors. The Nature Club will surely continue to foster students’ interest in nature and help ensure that St.Mark’s students live up to the title of the “Green Generation”.

Beginning in 1987, the Green Club, sponsored by Mr. Northcut, is also heavily involved in helping students foster a sense of responsibility for their environment. The club does this with their coordination with For the Love of the Lake, a nonprofit organization that has held cleanups of White Rock Lake every second Saturday of the month since 1996. The cleanups involve volunteers, armed with trash bags and latex gloves, sweeping the roads, trails, and shoreline for recyclable material and other waste.

This program has made a huge impact on White Rock Lake Park, which has been transformed from a trash-filled dangerous park as the organization says, “Together, the East Dallas community transformed what was once a neglected and sometimes dangerous park into an urban oasis. This transformation is possible because volunteers collect litter in the park!” However, not all the club’s activities are off-campus as they also do the annual food waste audit in which volunteers will separate food waste from trash to present how much preventable waste we have in our community, usually lowering the food waste the lunchroom sees over the following weeks.

Environmental issues seem to be making a resurgence in the headlines with President Trump’s policies going from slashing clean energy research, in a move clearly designed to help the fossil-fuel industry, to loosening regulations on toxic air pollution.

Both of these clubs serve a vital purpose to concerned students who want to learn more about nature and become more eco-conscious in our community, thus preparing them to live within our “Green Generation”.

2

Jack McCutchan '20

Why should I go outside?

Exposure to nature can reduce stress levels by as much as

1

28%

in children

20

Even a minute walk can help children with ADHD concentrate better

Children who spend more time outdoors are less likely to be overweight by 3

4

Photos from the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge 1 A cold winter morning sunrise over the lake. 2 Unamused cattle egret perched atop a branch. 3 A checkered white butterfly feeding from a purple eryngo flower. 4 A phaon crescent butterfly on the stems of a daisy plant.

Photo Courtesy of Jon Fischer

27-41% Source: National Environmental Education Foundation, Graphics courtesy of Adrien Coquet and Nithinan Tatah from the Noun Project

36 The Scientific Marksman 37

INNOVA

SECTION 3

ROBOTICS 40

INNOVATION INSTITUTE 42

VIRTUAL REALITY

44

CANCER RESEARCH

AI GIANT 48

46

BUILDING A STARTUP 50

VATION.

38 The Scientific Marksman 39

Meyer Zinn Antonio Quinones

Faraz Asim

Photo Courtesy of Rohit Vemuri Story by Faraz Asim and Antonio Quinones

Robotics E

Rise of the Industrial Robots

Estimated and forecast supply of industrial robots worldwide 2013-2020 (in thousands of units) Source: International Federation of Robotics 521*

178

2013

221

2014

254

2015

294

2016

346

2017

378

2018

433*

2019

2020

*forecasted

arlier than any year before it, the BEST (Boosting Engineering Science and Technology) Robotics Competition reveals the theme of game: “Current Events,” focusing on cleaning up garbage floating in ocean gyres—areas where currents create enormous patches of plastic waste (the largest gyre, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is twice the area of Texas). The game itself recreates a cleanup attempt with the robot traveling up and down a large, suspended wooden beam (known as the current) and reaching almost three feet to pick up plastic bottles, hollow golf balls and aluminum cans located on elevated, rotating hula hoop structures representing the gyres. (continued...)

T

his year’s game contrasts heavily with last year’s theme of fire rescue because of the sheer complexity of the field itself. Now, actions as simple as movement have many dangers to consider such as the possibility of the robot falling off the current or being too heavy. Therefore, the engineering process included creating many cardboard prototypes and CAD (Computer Assisted Design) models to visualize mechanisms before carefully constructing the final robot.

The beginning of the school year saw many new, excited freshmen eager to join the team, but after a few days, the number of active members of the Robotics Team quickly fades away, leaving behind a small team of committed members to tackle the daunting task ahead of them. However, the small number of members do not discourage the team, and everyone gets to work.

Brainstorming, sketching and prototyping, the team dedicates itself to the cause, meeting every school day and having weekly late nights, staying and working till about ten at night. As the date of the competition drew nearer, the hours spent working grew exponentially, culminating in the final week of work: a week full of straight late nights made possible by the team’s sponsors, Mr. Rummel and Mr. Carron, sacrificing their time off to supervise and assist the team.

At long last, the robot was completed—3 hours before checking in at the competition venue. The robot design uses a wide drive wheel on one side, wooden rollers to stay upright, a large turntable responsible for rotating the

entire base, a small gear driving a large gear attached to a cardboard, triangular prism arm section, a second arm section powered by a string drive and a 3-D printed gear enclosure at the end of the arm that provides grabbing force for the claw. Every one of these components was designed by itself and then tightly integrated with each other, forming the final robot. Although the robot is designed carefully, the amount of time each of the four drivers had to practice is pitiful for the competition is the very next day.

Finally, the day comes. On October 20th, the team marches into the Newman Smith High School gymnasium, eyeing the competitors’ designs, and in about an hour, the preliminary rounds begin.

The first round is a shaky start, only scoring around 100 points, but the second round is our best that day with over 500. The third round goes smoothly as the team scores about 400 points, locking St. Mark’s into third place.

However, disaster strikes on the fourth round: as a result of our driver’s relative lack of experience, the cardboard arm bends, and the driver stops moving the robot altogether for fear of further damage.

The team tries not to panic while assessing the situation. The team’s lowest score during the prelims is dropped, but its next round is in ten minutes.

All hands are on deck as the members perform emergency surgery on the arm, cutting a metal rod to be used as a splint and zip tying it down to keep the arm straight.

After the team applies copious

amounts of zip ties and duct tape, the driver for the next round barely makes it to the field and puts the arm to the test. Miraculously, the fifth round goes smoothly, scoring an adequate 350 points, keeping St. Mark’s in the top four. The sixth round also proves to be no problem for the fixed arm, and the preliminary rounds end.

The top eight teams of the prelims then begin the semifinal matches, but there is a twist: the current will now be raised higher, creating a much steeper slope for the robot to traverse, but the team doesn’t worry. The first driver of the semifinals steps onto the field and manages to score about 300 points, putting the team in a solid fourth place, but after that, disaster strikes once again.

The second driver of the semifinals encounters a problem: as the robot drives down the steep current, it becomes extremely hard to move back up.

However, he realizes this too late, and the robot gets to the end of the current, unable to provide enough power to drive back up, and the team scores almost no points.

The third driver, now aware of the problem, makes sure not to travel down too far the current, scoring another 300 points.

The second round of the semifinals really hurts the team’s placement, ending up fifth overall. As the winners are announced, only the top four teams are informed that they will be advancing on to the Texas State BEST competition, and the St. Mark’s team returns to their table, filled with determination to perform better next year.

Benefits of Robotic Process Automation (Source: Reuters)

Accuracy

Extreme accuracy and uniformity – much less prone to errors or typos

Consistency

Routine tasks are performed the same way each and every time

Productivity

Process cycles times are much faster compared to manual process approaches

40 The Scientific Marksman 41

INSPIRING THE FUTURE GEOF F E RY O RSA K PROF I L E

Sahit Dendekuri '19

Geoffrey Orsak, father of 9th grader Peter Orsak, has made huge contributions to Highland Park ISD's STEAM programs, and he hopes to help more districts in the near future.

S

omeone knocked on the door and dropped a letter in

the mailbox. Soon opening the letter up, Geoffrey Orsak had no clue of what this message would later do for him.

“It was the first letter I ever received.”

The letter was from Rice University, providing Orsak with the opportunity to attend the college based on a test he had previously taken.

“When I was growing up I thought I was going to be an EMT,” says Orsak, “but one letter changed my entire career path.”

Geoffrey Orsak grew up just outside of Houston, Texas. Living on the poverty line with divorced parents, Orsak didn’t originally envision going to college in his future, but after his experiences at Rice he knew what he wanted to do in life.

“After being blessed with the opportunity to explore science and math at Rice, I knew I wanted to give back as a way of showing my gratitude.”

As a result of his desire to give back, Orsak began working in the education sector.

Orsak’s work in education continued to lead him from to opportunity to opportunity, and soon enough he was appointed as the Dean of Engineering at Southern Methodist University in 2004.

However, Orsak soon changed his role in science and math education, transitioning from working with college-aged students to serving students from kindergarten all the way through high school.

“I enjoyed my time at SMU, and I learned a lot of things about how students work,” states Orsak, “but I realized that getting involved in K-12 would let me build the foundations for these students earlier in their academic careers.”

The desire to assist younger students through science, math, and engineering led Orsak serving as the head of the new, cutting-edge Moody Innovation Institute.

Serving across all of the Highland Park School District schools, the Moody Institute strives to incorporate STEAM (standing for science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) elements in selected classes for all grade levels with the hope of soon having an influence on all classes across the district.

The Innovation Institute is currently “in the second year of a five-year, $5.8 million grant from the Moody Foundation”, and the institute sponsors over 30 Highland Park ISD teachers across all disciplines, giving materials and ideas to

implement in their classrooms to incorporate multiple-discipline thinking.

With the inclusion of STEAM and cross- discipline learning methods being implemented for students of all ages, Orsak notes that a once-massive void in critical thinking in science is being filled.

“Not many engineers go into the education sector. The broadening of a bunch of ideas into the general concept of STEAM created the opportunity for many different educators to involve themselves without necessarily having the same background as engineers.”

Once known simply as STEM, the Moody Institute has transitioned to utilizing STEAM learning, including the arts with the previous subjects.

While some education leaders across the United States have viewed this change as controversial, Orsak saw this as an integral next step while working at SMU, and he wants the Moody Institute to serve as one of the revolutionary organizations to first implement this concept.

“At bigger public schools, it can be hard to give all students the opportunity to take art classes due to sheer size,” states Orsak. “STEAM gives students the opportunity to utilize their creativity in a context that makes sense.”

W

hile the Moody Innovation Institute currently

only covers the Highland Park School District, the program has been marketed as a template for school districts across the nation.

The Institute

"The Moody Innovation Institute grant makes it possible to accelerate these [STEAM] efforts by supporting teacher professional development, providing enhanced technology, and funding staff to facilitate the design of relevant, engaging, integrated learning opportunities that enhance the outstanding educational experience in HPISD."

T

he next major step is to spread STEAM learning throughout the Dallas Inde-

pendent School District.

“While the Innovation Institute has so far only been implemented at Highland Park, the ultimate goal is to give all public schools in Dallas and eventually the country the ability to teach with a STEAM mindset.”

While Orsak acknowledges that changes in teaching methods are often difficult to implement, often due to parent backlash or financial costs, he envisions that soon all schools will have the ability to innovate.

“What makes STEAM so successful in giving students a backbone for the future isn’t the expensive technology, the advanced classroom spaces, or a large budget for projects. The little changes in teaching, such as the use of creativity in solving problems or the value of cross-discipline problem-solving, are what have had the biggest impact so far.

As the parent of a current 9th grader, Peter, Orsak hopes that public schools soon are able to provide their students with the ability to adapt to all different types of problems. While class sizes at larger public schools may dwarf the class sizes at smaller private schools, Orsak sees STEAM providing educators with the necessary tools to turn their students into personal problem-solvers regardless of class size.

“Once the basics are implemented, students have the ability to run with their skills and explore on their own.

The great thing about teaching through innovation is the students have more control over their destinies, giving anyone with a knack for exploring all the possibilities in the world.”

Noting the progress made so far through STEAM education in the USA and the upcoming growth, Orsak is content with the changes, and he is “simply excited to be part of the ride.”

“We’ve come so far in the past few years, and I can’t help but admire the progress that’s happened.”

While Orsak may view himself as a passenger on the train to teaching through innovation, he truly has been one of its conductors.

Source: www.steamathp.org

42 The Scientific Marksman 43

Reality James Shiao '20, Faraz Asim '20

I

n a competition for professors and professional programmers, nobody expects a high school student to be an important part of a team.

Yet, that’s what everybody discovered when junior Meyer Zinn competed in a Hackathon, programming a prize-winning artificial intelligence in virtual reality (VR).

The November 10 HACK AI Hackathon was held in the UTD, with teams from all over Texas.

With his team from UT Southwestern, Zinn’s goal was to build a VR environment that let people experiment with artificial intelligence, design their own models, and solve image recognition problems.

“We essentially created a game backed with a lot of computational power that lets you rearrange the layers of the deep-learning model and give you live feedback on the accuracy of the model,” Zinn said.

The theme of the Hackathon was machine learning and data science, so the use of a VR environment to display data was unconventional and impressive. The team won the science fiction award for the highest “wow” factor.

“Programming in VR is probably the easiest part,” Zinn said. “Oculus provides pretty incredible libraries that enable you to create your own virtual reality experience. We built off of other’s work to combine it with the team’s expertise in artificial intelligence to give a better product.”

Despite the futuristic nature of the project, Zinn believes that VR will not be an essential part of life in the future. He cites nausea and disorientation after wearing a headset for too long as a frustrating problem.

“To get the same experience in VR that you would get in real life, you need to be able to move

around,” Meyer said. “You need to watch over someone in VR to make sure they don’t stumble into a wall.”

Meyer is much more optimistic about the fate of augmented reality (AR), where objects are displayed over what one sees, while also showing the environment around them. Phil Chen, Founder of the HTC Vive, agrees with Zinn on this outlook.

“I think, more particularly, we’ll be seeing more in the augmented reality space,” Chen said.

“I’m a huge believer in the next generation AR cloud [digital 3D copies of AR that can be shared across multiple devices].”

VR entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg, however, has a different view.

“When you put on the headset and you try it out, you really do feel like you’re there within seconds,” Zuckerberg said in an interview with WIRED. “We’ve done a lot of work [in gaming], and the Oculus team is extremely strong. I felt like if we combined those efforts, we could build something really special.”

Chief Executive Officer of VRChat, a popular game for VR, agrees with this sentiment.

“Business is using VR for visualizing places and things that have yet to be built,” he said. “When you share an online VR space with other people, it’s a more immersive communication medium than any phone or monitor screen can provide.”

As the technology for VR and AR become more and more sophisticated, perhaps their use will become more and more commonplace.

Zuckerberg, Chen, and others vow to change these technologies for the better in hopes that they will create a better future.

Sophomore Rohan Khatti's Playstation VR headset.

250.56 million emails sent

375 megabytes consumed per household

50 6.29 million items ordered from Amazon

million tweets

...per day

44 The Scientific Marksman 45

WW

Conquering the Unconquerable Sahitya Senapathy '20

C

ancer – one of the most widespread and virulent diseases in the world. In 2015 alone, cancer caused 8.8 million deaths worldwide. On average, one in six deaths globally are attributed to cancer, and every year, almost 14 million new cancer cases occur. With statistics like these, it’s no surprise cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. In fact, cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, only surpassed by heart disease.

The term cancer refers to a large family of diseases, distinguished by rapid cell division, that affects any part of the body and can potentially spread to other areas. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is caused by, “the interaction between a person’s genetic factors and three categories of external agents, including: physical carcinogens… chemical carcinogens… and biological carcinogens.”

Physical carcinogens are characterized by forms of radiation, and chemical carcinogens tend to be contaminants in food or drinking water, while biological carcinogens are infections from specific bacteria or viruses. Additionally, the WHO identifies tobacco and alcohol use, lack of physical activity, and a poor diet as all contributing towards an increased risk of developing cancer. STIs, such as HPV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C, can also increase the chances of developing cancer.

Increasing age is also a contributing factor to an increased risk of cancer.

While a variety of treatment methods for cancer exist, such as chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation therapy, these treatments sometimes cause adverse side effects and are not effective. Because of this, innovations in cancer treatment and prevention are continually being made and are vital to developing better methods of

Photo Courtesy of SPLifographic

materials.

successfully combating the disease.

Here are some of the most recent developments in cancer research: A new method of combating cancer is being formulated at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research in Germany: using sperm to deliver cancer drugs. Although the use of sperm to fight cancer may appear incredulous, the work of Haifeng Xu and his team of researchers displays how using sperm can be more effective than

current chemotherapy methods. While traditional chemotherapy affects both cancer and normal cells, the team’s use of sperm allowed it to solely attack tumors without harming normal cells. The team used doxorubicin hydrochloride, a common chemotherapy medication, and also outfitted the sperm with synthetic magnet harnesses to guide them towards the tumors, allowing the sperm to deliver the drug. Xu’s results are astonishing: the sperm, when released in a dish containing

cervical cancer tumors, killed eightyseven percent of the cancer cells in three days. However, Xu’s innovative method is limited to use for cancers in the female reproductive tract, but it promises a possibly ingenious method to combat those cancers and even other conditions affecting the female reproductive tract in the future.

Scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences have developed an innovative method to use light-emitting nanoparticles to detect tiny tumors. The team is hopeful that this new method can lead to earlier cancer detection, which could contribute to more effective treatment. The team of scientists experimented their method on mice, injecting them with nanoprobes, which are microscopic optical devices.

These nanoprobes would travel through the bloodstream and emit short-wave infrared light (SWIR), tracking tiny tumors.

The study demonstrated that use of these nanoprobes was considerably more effective than using MRIs because they were both faster and more accurately able to detect smaller tumors. The team described these small tumors, which are often overlooked by MRI scans, as the Achilles heel of surgical management for cancer. The team also mentioned that the technology might be available within five years and could be used to detect a multitude of cancers. There is good reason to be hopeful for the emerging possibilities of using nanotechnology to combat cancer.

Innovations in gene research also contribute to efforts to fight cancer.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered an IncRNA (a long, non-coding RNA) and dubbed it THOR, standing for Testis-associated Highly-conserved Oncogenic long non-coding RNA. THOR

10000

Median Monthly Cost for Cancer Drugs in the US

Since the 1970’s, the median monthly cost of new cancer drugs in the United States has been exponentially increasing, reaching a median price of $10,059 in range of 2010-2014.

8000

6000

Data from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

4000

2000

0

1975-’79

‘85-’84

‘90-’94

‘95-’99

‘00-’04

‘05-’09

1,735,350 1,735,350CASES

According to National Cancer Institute, from 1990 to 2014, the overall cancer death rate in the United States fell by 25%.

‘10-’14

An estimated 1,735,350 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in the year 2018 alone.

• Breast, lung/bronchus, prostate, and colon/rectum cancers account for about 50% of all new cancer cases in the United States.

• An estimated 266,120 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018, making it the most common cancer diagnosis.

• From 2011 and 2015, the incidence of 8 of the 20 most common cancers have showed significant decrease.

­—

'Cancer can be treated very well for many people. In fact, more people than ever before lead full lives after cancer treatment.'

— American Cancer Society

was found in various organisms, including zebrafish, mice and humans. The research team decided to investigate the gene because it was found in other animals than humans and therefore could have an important function in the body.

The team discovered that THOR was related to certain forms of cancer and that inhibiting it could stifle massive tumor proliferation. The researchers found that if they knocked down THOR in cancer cells, cancer cell expansion slowed, and when it was eliminated from normal cells, the cells were not affected negatively.

Hopefully, future drugs could target THOR to try to efficiently halt cancer

According to the National Cancer Institute about 38.4% of all men and women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their life.

growth cells. The team plans to develop a compound that binds the IncRNA to a complementary sequence and knock it down.

Everyday, we grow closer and closer to conquering cancer, with more effective methods being conjectured and experimented. All around the world, scientists and researchers are working together to find a cure for the disease.

As innovations and the ever-progressing technology of today contribute to this global effort to stop cancer, we should recognize the scientists and experts who work day by day to develop better methods of treating cancer.

46 The Scientific Marksman 47

Is AI Worth it?

A

rtificial intelligence, or AI, is a rapidly emerging technology designed to replicate the power of human cognition. When mentioned today, we know of AI in the everyday personal assistants on our mobile devices like Apple’s Siri or the portable virtual devices such as Amazon’s Alexa, but AI is much more. Artificial intelligence can take the form of self-driving cars, Google’s search mechanisms, and even the military’s innovative technologies.

Recently, the world has witnessed a surge of interest in AI’s potential applications. Many investors speculate about AI’s influence on different various industries in the future.

Tech pioneer and St. Mark’s parent Mark Cuban is one of the most ardent proponents of the AI movement.

“They need to understand how it works. AI will impact every field by 2025,” Cuban claims.

Additionally, the application of “artificial neural networks” – the machine equivalent of the human brain’s complex of neurons – to AI can prove to be a vital feature of corporate systems in the future. Because neural networks advance as functions of the data they receive and record the algorithm’s responsiveness to test data, these tools become more and more capable of accurate and effective execution over time.

With applications ranging from automated trading in the investment banking industry to cancer detection in hospitals, these networks have profound implications for future technological systems.

“I think knowing how to create neural networks and ap-

“

Sahitya Senapathy '20

ply them to different industries will be huge,” Cuban remarks.

With the advent of research in applications of neural networks, being able to compete in an ever-growing, global field of AI technologies is an essential characteristic at the corporate level. Innovation, however, requires that current and future generations of American engineers and researchers are knowledgeable in AI fields to exceed the world’s current capabilities.

“Every generation controls its own destiny. [Students] will be the ones defining the future of education,” Cuban says.

There still remains the question: where do we start?

When becoming immersed in such a broad and practical investment, it important to establish a baseline from which business leaders and investors decide to move forward in the field. One well-known area is the self-driving automobile industry. Autonomous cars have long been a technological marvel, and major companies such as Tesla, Uber, and Google have, for the past few years, been investing large sums of money into this hopeful enterprise.

“I don’t know if they will be ubiquitous for individuals, but for commercial shipping and delivery they will be. So yes, the investment is worth it,” Cuban says.

However, a challenge that not only parallels but also counteracts developments in AI is the subject of malicious software. Advancements in AI be used to improve upon and optimize current technological functionalities, and yet they can also be used against these systems.

0110000101110011011001000 110011001101010011010010110 11110111000001100010011010 0101101010001100010011000 000110011001100000011100 Mark Cuban 001110101011101000110101001 101001011011110111000001100 $35,000

Every generation controls its own destiny.

You seniors will be the ones defining the future of education. You need to understand how it works. AI will impact every field by 2025.

”

$31,238.92

$30,000

$25,000

$20,000

$15,000

$10,000

$5,000

$1622.40

$357.85

$0

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

The graph above represents the projected revenues from artificial intelligence for enterprise applications in the worldwide market in millions of dollars per year from 2016 to 2025. Cuban estimates that AI will be utilized in virtually every field by 2025, when the total revenue is projected to be approximately $31,238.92 (Source: Statista).

“These networks can process more data more comprehensively than humans. If networks are programmed to be harmful, they may prove difficult to stop,” Cuban says.

In the future, neural networks may prove dangerous because of their unfathomable capabilities to store and process data. For example, suppose a system is attempting to breach a network. Being able to record and adapt to any encountered obstacles during the process is a frighteningly powerful ability that is potentially threatening to critical cyber assets.

A survey by PwC Global State of Information Security estimates that the world’s cyber security market is expected to reach $170 billion by 2020. According to the Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report, the world’s economy lost over $450 billion to cyber attacks in 2016 alone.

The subject of cyber security serves as a reminder of the need to extend advancements in AI for the purpose of protecting the very assets this technology aims to improve.

Ultimately, AI is a field that continues to evolve and becomes more complicated. With the proliferation of advancements in AI, the need for future generations to harness these unpredictable tools in a way to sustain the world becomes vital. Humans must keep pace with and adapt to the technological status quo so that we may not only contribute to the world but also secure our efforts to do so.

0 Who Who uses uses AI? AI? 0 0 0 0 01 0

Mark Cuban and others think AI is the future, but chances are you already interacted with it. Here are a few companies that already utilize this technology.

Google Maps uses AI to calculate the fastest route using your location.

Instagram uses AI to interpret emojis and suggest emoji-hashtags. #

Amazon uses AI to create suggested products based on previous searches.

01 48 The Scientific Marksman 02 49

ADVIC E FROM A M A R KSM A N

‘There was no lightning bolt moment, but a lot of breakthroughs over time fielded from many companies, tons of pieces of advice, and a lot of mistakes.’

—Adam Rawot ’13

Building a Startup James Shiao '20 and Ishan Gupta '20 Photo Courtesy of Sergey Nivens

Tech entrepeneur Adam Rawot ’13 has spent the last few years building up his company Woveon. Now, he shares some tips and tricks with his fellow Marksmen.

A

s STEAM jobs grow more numerous and necessary

for our daily lives, a knowledge of the business world has become crucial for many newcomers to the fields.

The first skill founder of Woveon, which links all of a company’s channels together into one database, Adam Rawot ’13 had to master, especially in a business like his, was communication.

“Prove value, exceed expectations, and be courteous but direct,” Rawot said.

“One thing that took me a long time to ace was the email. Being able to be polite but convey everything you need in no more than a few lines is important. Manners are great, but people, especially more senior people, generally value their time heavily too.”

In the infancy of Woveon, Rawot talked to as many experts in specific fields as he could. If he came prepared beforehand with clear questions and didn’t ask for too much of their time, he noticed that people were more willing to talk over the phone or get coffee.

“One trick I did when I started Woveon was go talk it up to people at networking events and ask them some broader questions about the space they were in,” Rawot said. “After that, I would pitch a product like it was already built and had clients and see what people said.”

Rawot used his networking skills and teamed up with two mid-career professionals, one of whom was his previous boss, to devise a plan and turn his idea into a reality.

“People judge the quality of a company by its overall trend, not necessarily where it’s at in a specific moment.”

“Being able to pair with more experienced people, even if they are only advisors, gives a lot of credibility to your projects,” Rawot said. “St. Mark’s carries a ton of name weight and generally people have a much better network than they expect. Start meeting people and keep talking to people.”

But Rawot didn’t rely too much on the people he met. Every day, he would devote time reading about the industry, markets, emerging technologies, and anything else he could get his hands on. By staying informed, Rawot made sure he solved his company’s problems with innovative and creative methods.

“It’s really easy to fall into patterns of imposter syndrome in entrepreneurship, especially with the amount of messaging about the idea of the ‘super founder’ who can do everything,” Rawot said. “Taking in feedback from people, acknowledging gaps in your plans, and implementing what you’ve heard goes a long way.”

R

awot usually built a product idea around 40 percent of

the way before reaching out to people and getting feedback. He also found that some of the best feedback came from his competitors’ customers.

“Look for the companies [competitors] are targeting and try and talk with them about why it solves their problems.” Rawot said. “I’d look for how they differentiate, what in their signaling made it more appealing, and investigate their sales channels.”

Two of the most important factors in a business’ success are product-market fit and founder-product fit, according to Rawot. Product-market fit refers to being in a good market with a good product while founder-product fit refers to having a product that will satisfy the founders themselves.

“The biggest professional hurdle is defining what product-market fit and founder-product fit mean for your industry,” Rawot said. “While product-market fit has a lot of resources

available, I would argue founder-product fit is as equally important if not more so a component of building a company.”

Nearly every entrepreneur believes they have a great idea that will gain traction. Nearly every entrepreneur also fails. It’s critical to know how to work a room and sell your pitch, but it’s also important to know when it’s time to move onto your next idea.

“Get good at taking rejection,” Rawot said. “You’re going to have dozens of bad pitches, make a lot of bad products, and meet a lot of cynical people.

The people that say yes to everything you’re doing are often, in my experience, the ones you want to avoid. “ In the creation of Woveon, Rawot has realized that nobody is too young to become an entrepreneur. For him, it doesn’t matter how much experience somebody has. Nobody is ever really ‘ready’ to start a company.

“A lot of the appeal is the satisfaction of having all of your work matter, celebrating wins as they come up, and a borderline obsession with the problem you’re working on,” Rawot said.

“For me, a lot of the jump was entirely mental. It mostly came down to me realizing that I was happiest when I felt like my work mattered.”

What Do You Mean?

Product-Market Fit:

Not only must your market be sustainable, but you also need a product that will satisfy and thrive in that market.

Founder-Product Fit:

Founders need to have a genuine interest in their product that will motivate them to work the extra hours and put in the effort to ensure the product’s success.

50 The Scientific Marksman 51

THE SCIENTIFIC MARKSMAN

S TA F F PA G E EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Ishan Gupta ’20, Sahit Dendekuri ‘19 MANAGING EDITORS James Shiao ’20, Sahitya Senapathy ‘20 CURIOSITY EDITORS Austin Zang ’20, Christopher Wang ‘20 INNOVATION EDITORS Josh Mysore ’21, Rishi Mohan ’21 DISCOVERY EDITORS Alam Alidina ’21, Jack McCutchan ‘20 CREATIVE DIRECTORS Antonio Quinones ’21, Tamal Pilla ’21 COPY EDITORS Arjun Nair ‘20, Paul Sullivan ’20 HEAD PHOTOGRAPHERS Ben Hao ’20, Tyler Nussbaumer ’20 STAFF Faraz Asim ’20, Meyer Zinn ’20, Sid Vattamreddy ’20, Toby Nwafor ’20, Ben Meyer ’21, Metehan Punar ’21, Abhi Jain ’22, Alex Geng ’22, Ashvin Nair ’22, Jeffrey Chen ’22, Max Chuang ’22 FACULTY SPONSORS Dr. Bonnie Flint, Ms. Nupur Israni

SCIENTIFIC MARKSMAN the

C

Photo Courtesy of Getty Images

LOOK UP AT THE STARS AND NOT DOWN AT YOUR FEET. TRY TO MAKE SENSE OF WHAT YOU SEE AND WONDER ABOUT WHAT MAKES THE UNIVERSE EXIST. BE CURIOUS. CURIOUS

–STEPHEN HAWKING 1942-2018

THE SCIENTIFIC MARKSMAN VOLUME 07 2018-2019

ST. MARK’S SCHOOL OF TEXAS 10600 PRESTON ROAD DALLAS, TX 75230 214.346.8000