WKU News

Five Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science students recently qualified for the world-renowned Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Nishu Anekere (’23, Conner HS), Harrison Gover (’22, Bowling Green HS), Sahil Krishnani (’22, duPont Manual HS), Sarisha Lohano (’22, Kentucky Country Day), and Bella Norman (’22, Greenwood HS) were among the five GE Best of Fair winners at the March 5 Louisville Regional Science and Engineering Fair (LRSEF), earning automatic passage to the Regeneron ISEF.  The Louisville Regional Science and Engineering Fair is an annual science and engineering fair held in Louisville, Kentucky, where students in grades 6-12 from 52 Kentucky counties may enter to compete. This year’s fair was held virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Anekere, Gover, Krishnani, Lohano, and Norman will now advance to compete in the Regeneron ISEF in May. The 2022 ISEF will be a hybrid event that takes place in Atlanta, Georgia, May 8-13, 2022. It will include a judged competition and distribution of awards for in-person and virtual finalists.

Three other Gatton Academy students also earned regional awards at the LRSEF. These students are Sahil Chhabra (’22, Bowling Green HS), Brian Nguyen (’23, South Warren HS), and Andrew Park (’22, South Oldham HS).

Individual awards from the LRSEF are as follows:

Nishu Anekere (’23, Conner HS), Harrison Gover (’22, Bowling Green HS), and Sahil Krishnani (’22, duPont Manual HS) earned first place in the Embedded Systems category for their research, “Water Pollution Detection Using Autonomous Drone Hardware and Software Environmental Engineering.” Their mentor is Dr. Farhad Ashrafzadeh from the WKU Center for Energy Systems. They also received the FirstBuild Scholarship Award and the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers Engineering Award.

Sahil Chhabra (’22, Bowling Green HS) earned first place in the Microbiology category for his research, “Genome Engineering of Bacteriophage MooMoo.” His mentor is Dr. Rodney King in the WKU Biology Department. He also received the Office of Naval Research Award.

Sarisha Lohano (’22, Kentucky Country Day) and Bella Norman (’22, Greenwood HS) earned second place in the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics category for her research, “GenFind - Predicting Mycobacteriophage Gene Start Sites Using Artificial Intelligence.” Their mentor is Dr. Claire Rinehart, Professor Emeritus in the WKU Biology Department.

Brian Nguyen (’23, South Warren HS) earned first place in the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics category for his research, “Analysis on an Extend Chronic Wound Model.” His mentor is Dr. Richard Schugart in the WKU Mathematics Department.

Andrew Park (’22, South Oldham HS) earned fourth place in the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics category for his research, “Identifying the Transcription, Translation, and Functionality of Circular RNAs Using High-Throughput Sequencing Data.” His mentor is Dr. Juw Won Park from the University of Louisville’s Computer Science and Engineering Department.

About The Gatton Academy: Established in 2007, The Gatton Academy is Kentucky’s first residential two-year program for gifted and talented junior and seniors. The Gatton Academy’s students enroll as juniors and are full-time WKU students pursuing their interests in advanced science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The Gatton Academy has been named to Jay Mathews’ list of top-performing schools with elite students for eleven consecutive appearances and received the National Consortium for Secondary STEM School’s Innovation Partnership Award.