High Schoolers Present at Grace's Inaugural Scientific Research Conference

In class, students gathered data for their proposals alongside the team behind NYU’s collaborative research platform, mindHive, a citizen science initiative that conducts research on human behavior and on the human brain. The conference, which was hosted on May 9, provided a space for students from Grace and Collegiate to present their work and receive feedback from professional scientists. Of the event, High School science teacher Dana Bevilacqua remarked that, “[the conference] is great news for Grace…taking the lead in hosting young scientists to present their own experimentation in collaboration with other schools across the city to hone their experience with a peer review process and citizen science initiative.”

After a keynote presentation by NYU’s Professor Pablo Ripollés (from the department of Psychology and the Music Auditory Research Lab), students presented their peer reviewed research proposals and studies in an exposition set up in the 46 Library. Research proposals included projects like Sophie C. ‘23 and Juliana D.’s ‘22’s, “Exploring Climate Change Behavior and Attitudes Based on Geographic Location,” which explored whether or not living in an urban, suburban or rural location affects one’s willingness to make sustainable lifestyle choices to mitigate the consequences of climate change. Students like Sophie and Julianna used the mindHive platform's scientifically vetted resources to engage in scientific inquiry, to design and review their study proposal and share it with their peers.

It is the hope that this event and collaboration will continue to provide opportunities for Grace students, as well as others across the city, to not only develop experiments built upon real-world data, but to also work side by side with professionals who may further foster an interest in STEM as they progress through their academic careers.