Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students presented results of medical research they have conducted this year through the National Institutes of Health at a symposium held at Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) headquarters in Chevy Chase May 13.

The students' work is the outcome of grants from HHMI for the Student and Teacher Program at NIH. The students began their work last summer, then worked side-by-side with NIH scientist-mentors throughout the school year.

In addition, the grants fund the work of about 10 teachers chosen each year to participate in six weeks of laboratory research at NIH during the summer. Teachers may return to NIH for a second summer to continue their research and develop additional instructional units.

The 19 students who presented their research at the May 13 symposium are:

Montgomery Blair High School: Alexander Mejia
Winston Churchill High School: Shilpa Gowda, Jessie Tao
Albert Einstein High School: Siti Nur, Sarah Morris
Walter Johnson High School: Manisha Kak, Frederic Lestina, Elisa Schrank
John F. Kennedy High School: Nerg AchiriMofor, Dejaimenay Stephenson
Richard Montgomery High School: Claudia Tchatchouang
Paint Branch High School: Isha Gupta, Elizabeth Koenig
Poolesville High School: Eric Laing
Quince Orchard High School: Nancy Kim
Rockville High School: Shaleen Vira
Seneca Valley High School: Hemal Narendra Sampat
Wheaton High School: Jeet Bahra
Walt Whitman High School: Daniel Asin
Thomas S. Wootton High School: David Y. Chen

MCPS teachers who conducted internships during summer 2003 are:

Montgomery Blair High School: Kathryn E. Sander
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School: Jeffrey F. Chyatte
Damascus High School: Jason J. Gvazdauskas
Gaithersburg High School: Nicole R. Holmes
Walter Johnson High School: Shayda F. Eskandary, Stephanie N. Malone
Northwest High School: Chad T. Freeman, Dina S. Link
Paint Branch High School: Natasha Ezerski
Thomas W. Pyle Middle School: Peter J. Petrossian

Twenty-one students and nine teachers also have been selected to participate in the 2004-2005 Student and Teacher Program.

Student participants will be:

Montgomery Blair High School: Mariam M. Khan
James Hubert Blake High School: Selen G. Tolu
Winston Churchill High School: Thomas E. Clinch, Jordan J. Cohen, Joseph J. Kovacs
Albert Einstein High School: Phebe L. Brenne
Gaithersburg High School: Sandesh Rao
Walter Johnson High School: Nirav B. Joshi, Rachel A. Strauss
John F. Kennedy High School: Adedana M. Ashebir
Richard Montgomery High School: Awais Zia
Northwest High School: Mei-Hsin Cheng
Paint Branch High School: Juliana N. Ssemanda, Ali M. Syed
Poolesville High School: Rachel E. Carr
Rockville High School: Shannon Liu, Benjamin D. Solomon
Seneca Valley High School: Sumegha K. Singhania
Walt Whitman High School: Nicholas L. Evoy
Thomas S. Wootton High School: Angela M. Fan, Szu-Heng Liou

Participating teachers will be:

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School: Jeffrey Chyatte
Albert Einstein High School: Steven J. Parcells
Robert Frost Middle School: Jamie L. Zellers
Walter Johnson High School: Shayda F. Eskandary
Col. Zadok Magruder High School: Deborah L. Copeland, Rosetta A. Jordan
Rockville High School: Sarah D. Daniel
Watkins Mill High School: Ericson J. Perez
Walt Whitman High School: Donald J. DeMember