October 22, 2024
Plano ISD students competed in the annual Texas Junior Academy of Science (TJAS) competition held on October 10 and 11 in College Station, Texas. High school students (grades 9-12) from across the state conducted research during the school year and presented results at TJAS through both spoken and written word.
53 Plano ISD students were accepted to present at the 2024 TJAS competition. Of the 10 first place category awards that advanced to the second round of competition to determine grand prize winners, seven were Plano ISD students. Plano ISD captured both first grand prize awards, for both Physical Science & Engineering and Natural Sciences! Additionally, Plano ISD students also captured the 2nd grand prize in Physical Science & Engineering and 3rd grand prize in Natural Science. All first place category winners have been invited to attend the American Junior Academy of Science (AJAS) Conference held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), where they will interact with other students from the United States, as well as present their research to prominent scientists in the field through both oral and poster presentations. The 2025 AJAS/AAAS Conference will take place on February 13-15, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Grand Prize Awards
Natural Science Division
Siri Peddinti, Plano East Senior High, 12th grade, Life, Behavioral & Social Sciences - first grand prize, A Deep Learning Approach to Detecting Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Tracking Treatment Efficacy via Vocal Acoustic Inflections and Sentiment Ana
Jessica Zhang, Jasper High School, 10th grade, Environmental Science - third grand prize, Optimizing Enzyme Thermostability: Plastisphere Enriched Genes for Plastic Degradation
Physical Science & Engineering Division
Ryan Xu, Plano West Senior High, 11th grade, Engineering II - first grand prize, GIVS: A Novel, Generative Artificial Intelligence Vision System for the Visually Impaired
Arya Gurumukhi, Plano East Senior High, 11th grade, Engineering I - second grand prize, The Bionic Leaf: Developing a Novel Catalyst to Use with the Bacterium Ralstonia eutropha for Artificial Photosynthetic Systems
First Grand Prize Winners- Natural Science: Siri Peddinti (PESH); Physical Science & Engineering: Ryan Xu (PWSH)
First Place Category Awards
All first place category winners are invited to present their research at the American Junior Academy of Science Conference in February 2025.
Arya Gurumukhi, Plano East Senior High, 11th grade, Engineering I, The Bionic Leaf: Developing a Novel Catalyst to Use with the Bacterium Ralstonia eutropha for Artificial Photosynthetic Systems
Annie Li, Plano West Senior High, 12 grade, Chemistry, Cyclometalated Platinum Complexes for Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes
Siri Peddinti, Plano East Senior High, 12th grade, Life, Behavioral & Social Sciences, A Deep Learning Approach to Detecting Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Tracking Treatment Efficacy via Vocal Acoustic Inflections and Sentiment Ana
Sravya Pilla, Jasper High School, 10th grade, Medicine & Health II, Wearable, High-Sensitivity Bio-Transistor For the Detection of Biomarkers in Sweat
Diya Shah, Plano East Senior High, 12th grade, Medicine & Health I, Spice at First Sight: Utilizing Descriptors of Piperoyl Piperidine on TCP-1005 as a Neoteric Treatment for Breast Cancer
Ryan Xu, Plano West Senior High, 11th grade, Engineering II, GIVS: A Novel, Generative Artificial Intelligence Vision System for the Visually Impaired
Jessica Zhang, Jasper High School, 10th grade, Environmental Science, Optimizing Enzyme Thermostability: Plastisphere Enriched Genes for Plastic Degradation
Second Place Category Awards
Second Place Category Awards
Shivani Nathan, Plano West Senior High School, 12th grade, Biochemistry/Microbiology
Jerusha Abraham, Plano West Senior High, 12th grade, Chemistry
Chloe Lee, Plano East Senior High, 12th grade, Chemistry
Tanvi Kumar, IB World School at Plano East, 11th grade, Computer Science/Mathematics
Vaani Chellamuthu, IB World School at Plano East, 11th grade, Computer Science/Mathematics
Anirudh Narayanan, Plano East Senior High, 11th grade, Computer Science/Mathematics
Ana Spiride, IB World School at Plano East, 10th grade, Engineering I
Keshav Anand, IB World School at Plano East, 10th grade, Engineering I
Varun Sridhar, Plano East Senior High, 12th grade, Engineering I
Hiruni Wansapura, Jasper High School, 9th grade, Engineering II
Isha Agrawal, Plano West Senior High School, 12th grade, Engineering II
Trisha Desai, Plano West Senior High School, 11th grade, Engineering II
Zaina Aalia, IB World School at Plano East, 10th grade, Life, Behavioral & Social Sciences
Ishaan Nirmal, Jasper High School, tenth grade, life/behavioral/social sciences
Manya Gummaraju, IB World School at Plano East, 12th grade, Medicine and Health I
Hrishikesh Harish, Plano Senior High School, 12th grade, Medicine and Health II
Vijay Shivnani, Shepton High School, 10th grade, Medicine and Health II
Vedant Sundar, Plano East Senior High, 11th grade, Physics/Earth and Space Sciences
Third Place Category Awards
Arnuv Modh, Jasper High School, 10th grade, Biochemistry/Microbiology
Zaynab Abbas, Plano West Senior High, 12 grade, Biochemistry/Microbiology
Dhroov Bharatia, Plano Senior High School, 11th grade, Computer Science/Mathematics
Isabelle Hou, Plano Senior High School, 11th grade, Computer Science/Mathematics
Saura Agarwal, IB World School at Plano East, 11th grade, Engineering I
Vaisshnavi Navaneethakrishnan, IB World School at Plano East, 10th grade, Engineering I
Aaron Castro, Jasper High School, 9th grade, Engineering II
Samuel So, Plano West Senior High, 11th grade, Engineering II
Lina Shin, Plano West Senior High, 12th grade, Environmental Science
Nidhi Ajmera, Williams High School, 9th grade, Environmental Science
Anna Du, IB World School at Plano East, 10th grade, Life/behavioral/Social Sciences
Daniel Rutnam, Jasper High School, 9th grade, Life/Behavioral/social Sciences
Arundhati Vankayalapati, Plano East Senior High, 12th Grade, Life/Behavioral/Social Sciences
Ayushi Savla, Plano East Senior High, 12th grade, Medicine and Health I
Elizabeth Grandinetti, Plano Senior High School, 11th grade, Medicine and Health II
Aarini Sen, Jasper High School, 12th grade, Physics/Earth and Space Sciences
Sanabhi Gauraw, Plano East Senior High, 11th grade, Physics/Earth and Space Sciences
Aika Saadiq, Vines High School, 10th grade, Physics/Earth and Space Sciences
Honorable Mentions
Nishka Kerkar, Clark High School, 10th grade, Biochemistry/Microbiology
Syed Ayaan Husain, Jasper High School, 10th grade, Computer Science/Mathematics
Dev Arora, Plano West Senior High, 12th grade, Computer science/Mathematics
Ananya Chakravarthi, Plano East Senior High, 12th grade, Engineering I
William Zhou, Jasper High School, 10th grade, Engineering II
Ananya Javali, IB World School at Plano East, 10th grade, Medicine and Health I
William Xie, Plano West Senior High, 12th grade, Medicine and Health I
Shriya Viswanathan, Plano Senior High School, 11th grade, Medicine and Health II
Ananya Srivatsan, IB World School at Plano East, 11th grade, Physics/Earth and Space Sciences
