Eight science research students from North High School and South High School received awards at the 2026 Long Island Science and Engineering Fair (LISEF) on March 12. LISEF is a two-round competition for the most advanced high school projects in the region.
More than 400 projects were submitted for this year’s competition and the top 25% advanced to the second round of evaluation. During round two, students present their research to professionals from local universities and scientific institutions who hold PhDs in their respective fields.
Grand Awards
Grand Awards—first place, second place, third place, and honorable mention—are awarded to the top presenters in each of 15 research categories. Students’ name, school, research category, and project tile follow.
Two students were awarded second place in their respective categories: Austin Jin, South High, Biology, “M-CATCH: A Multiplex Microparticle CRISPR Assay for Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Characterization”; and Julia Xu, South High, Technology, “A Novel Market-Based Machine Learning Framework for Detecting ESG-Washing in Investment Fund”.
Three projects were awarded third place: Mark Li and Hye-Seung Cho, South High, Technology, “NTStream: A Cross-Stack Hardware Compiler for the Structural Synthesis of Custom ASIC Accelerators From Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) for Edge Computing Applications”; Joyce Xu, South High, Technology, “Developing an Affordable On-Device Animatronic Hand and Large Language Model Based Pipeline for Real-Time American Sign Language Conversation”; and Ethan Wang, South High, Biology, “SPARK - Simulation Platform for Adaptive Resistance Kinetics”.
Three students received honorable mentions in their respective categories: Brandon Li, North High, Math and Physics, “Analysis of Geomagnetic Storm Effects on Satellite Orbital Decay”; Cynthia Zhang, South High, Environmental Sciences, “Evaluation of AI Weather Prediction Model on Extreme Eastern U.S. Extratropical Cyclones Using a Cyclone-Relative Approach”; and Brendan Lo, South High, Biology, “Blocking SERCA2a With Thapsigargin Induces Cytokinesis Failure in Cardiomyocytes”.
Special Awards
Two Great Neck students were named as recipients of Special Awards, which are presented by various science associations, government agencies, and private companies in recognition of outstanding research in specific areas.
North High student Brandon Li received the Ricoh Award for Sustainable Development. This award recognizes an outstanding project that addresses social and environmental challenges and a meaningful solution for a more sustainable future.
South High student Austin Jin was awarded the Dr. Lorrence Green Award in Microbiology. Provided by and named for a LISEF judge of more than 25 years, this annual award celebrates an extraordinary project in the microbiology category.
North High science research faculty members are Christopher Bambino, John Cimilluca, Catherine Leong, Alison Widawsky, and North High research director/senior research teacher/science department chair/district research facilitator Jessica York. South High science research faculty members are senior research advisors Loriana Demirciyan, Nicole Spinelli and Dr. James Truglio, and the science department chair is Courtney Knacke.