Pioneers in Science: Meet the interviewers
Pioneers in Science leverages an unusual pairing: world-renowned scientists and high school students. In this event, six New York City high school students will take to the stage to interview Nobel Laureate in Physics Leon Lederman and MIT’s groundbreaking robot designer Cynthia Breazeal. Brief biographies for Lederman and Breazeal can be found on the World Science Festival website. Here we introduce our student
interviewers.
Interviewing Leon Lederman will be:
Michael Kaplan (11th grade, Bronx HS of Science)
A physics lover with a knack for making complicated ideas understandable and exciting, Michael is currently doing an independent research project on biomolecular simulation with a professor at CUNY. When he’s not delving into computational physics, he’s playing his guitar or shooting hoops.
Rachel “Roxy” Lachhman (12th grade, Brooklyn Tech)
An aspiring aerospace engineer, Roxy finds science in everything she encounters, and is always hungry for discoveries that await around the next corner. She participates in practically every science fair and competition she comes across, and has still found time to get a black belt.
Dennis Wynn (11th grade, Williamsburg Prep HS)
Dennis is a true scholar whose eyes quite literally light up when he starts discussing the big questions about the universe, and about how everything works. He sees science in everything he does, whether he’s walking down the street or playing an intense game of handball. He loves physics, creative writing and his pitbull Nena.
The students who will take the stage with Cynthia Breazeal are:
Tim Chang (12th grade, Stuyvesant High School)
Tim loves exploring the big questions about the world, and likes the challenge of making things work in new and exciting ways. He has been designing, building and experimenting with microbial fuel cells, and is also editor of the school newspaper. He’ll start at MIT in the fall.
Rosa Pena (10th grade, MCSM)
Rosa, a robot enthusiast, is doing an independent research project on robotic engineering and obstacle avoidance. She’s an aspiring astronaut, and is the catcher on her school’s softball team. She can’t wait to meet Breazeal, and is particularly interested in hearing how she, as a woman, got to where she is today in the world of science.
Paula Santos-Shevett (10th grade, NEST+m)
She’s a robot enthusiast who’s also passionate about music. She builds her own robots in her spare time. And she compares the opportunity to meet Lederman and Breazeal to getting to meet Mick Jagger…twice.
You can learn more about the event here.
Tickets are on sale here.
This post was written by Markus