Division Avenue High School students recently presented their work at the Hofstra University Summer Science Research Symposium. Science Research students Riley Cunningham, Nish Keer, Vidhi Patel each worked with Hofstra professors throughout the summer on their projects. The program ended in late October with the symposium, providing student the opportunity to share their findings. See below for a detailed description of their projects and some of their experiences in the program.

Riley Cunningham - Changing Medication Habits Using Arduino-Based Technology
Class of 2026

Riley Cunningham worked under the direction of Dr. Oskar Pineno. During the Hofstra University Summer Research Program, her group developed a prototype that assists users in creating a new habit of taking medication on time. The prototype was designed with CC++ code and included a button, LED, LCD Screen, Potentiometer, and a buzzer. Riley said "It was a very positive and rewarding experience as I learned about a new aspect of psychology, forming and breaking habits, while creating a device with technology that I was unfamiliar with. The program allowed me to gain experience leading a group project and all the responsibilities that come with it. I also made new connections with peers in different groups and helped with their research projects!"

Nish Keer- Examining Seasonality: Signal Detection Analysis on Bitcoin Price and Sunspots
Class of 2026

This past summer, I had the valuable opportunity to work with Dr. Antonios Marsellos, an associate professor in the Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability at Hofstra University, as part of their Summer Science Research Program. With his expert guidance, I was able to take a deep dive into the research process and brainstorm a project of my own to explore. My research focused on the similarities and differences of two distinct datasets; namely, the price of Bitcoin and the occurrence of sunspots. Using the coding software R, I was able to run analysis on both datasets to remove the background noise of the raw data, revealing hidden patterns and signals. Not only can these have many further applications, such as predictive modeling or creating more efficient algorithms, but the research also brought to light the need for specialized analysis strategies depending on the type of noisy dataset being studied. Although my experience was conducted remotely, I was able to garner a rich understanding of the research process, and was extremely excited and happy to work with Dr. Marsellos and to be a part of the Hofstra University Summer Science Research Program.

Vidhi Patel - Acculturative Stress within Eating Disorders: An Interaction with Ethnic Identity in African Americans
Class of 2025

Vidhi worked under the direction of Dr. Mun Yee Kwan in the Department of Psychology. Vidhi studied stressors that uniquely impact the development of mental disorders, including eating disorders in minority groups. Her work emphasizes the need to identify and examine stressors for different minorities in the context of eating disorders: where mainly Caucasian women have been studied. A sample of 42 African Americans was studied to develop a moderation model to determine the correlation between eating disorders, acculturative stress, and ethnic identity. Acculturative stress was found to be positively correlated with eating disorder symptomatology, while the correlation between ethnic identity and eating disorder symptomology, as well ethnic identity and acculturative stress and eating disorder symptomatology was found to be statistically insignificant.