I’m a high school student involved in a program at an OOS flagship which pairs participants up with graduate students or professors to assist in lab research.
By the end of the application process, I was paired with a tenured professor who’s conducting some computer engineering studies using optical coherence tomography and convolutional deep neural networks. Along with one other high schooler, I met with the professor and had a discussion on how exactly to contribute given my past experience and expertise in the area. He decided it was of the best interest to give us a self-contained project working in this area, with him serving in more of an advisory role.
I’d like to earn some recognition for my partner and I’s research, but I’m a bit lost on where to begin. We’re using the universities lab equipment under graduate student supervision, which would seem to disqualify us from independent science fairs like ISEF or RegeneronSTS. Are there any journals we should try submitting our research to? What sort of competitions are open to students in our position?
Thanks!
The grad students you are working with may know of the research conferences that might be interested in your work and whether high school or undergrad type research is presented there. Your high school science teachers may know of presentation opportunities as well.
@CheddarcheeseMN
I’ll ask the mentors if there’s anything they know of.
As for my high school teachers, unfortunately that’s not an option I can scope out right now since the research only lasts during the summer.
Thanks for the suggestions
“We’re using the universities lab equipment under graduate student supervision, which would seem to disqualify us from independent science fairs like ISEF or RegeneronSTS.”
Is this a hard rule?
@ChezCurie
For all intensive purposes, yes it is. There are other drawbacks that go along with ISEF and similarly-natured competitions, so I’m looking for alternatives.
Your mentors will need to be your coauthors regardless of where you publish. Ask your mentor where he publishes, or look on his website for his CV, which will contain his publication record. As far as where to present, the best place (if traditional science fairs are out) is likely where he presents, which is likely his primary professional conference for the year; this is often associated with a professional society like IEEE–maybe their Photonics Society?
(Also, just for future usage, the phrase is “for all intents and purposes.”)
I meant that the HS science teacher would have some ideas about where students can present their work. The season in which the work is conducted doesn’t matter.