On April 4th, the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences welcomed ten student teams from Sayville, Brentwood, and Plainview Old Bethpage JFK High Schools to NYIT’s Old Westbury campus for the sixth annual Engineering and Technology Showcase Competition. Every year, NYIT School of Engineering and Computing Sciences and ConnectToTech partner to hold the competition. ConnectToTech is a volunteer organization whose mission is to inspire and support students to connect to technology educational and career opportunities through community, academic, and other partnerships. The competition is sponsored by a generous donation from the New York Community Bank Foundation.

The teams were judged on their use of technology or science concepts and design originality, as well as the significance of the problem they sought to address and the potential for practical applications. All teams included at least one female student.

The judges included: Judy Murrah of ConnectToTech; Marian Conway, Ph.D., Executive Director, New York Community Bank Foundation; Mike Nizich, Ph.D., Director of the Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center at NYIT; and Sarah Meyland, Ph.D., associate professor in Environmental Technology and Sustainability.

The winning team, Supersilk from Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School, conducted a study to explore the potential of combining Graphene, a highly durable carbon allotrope and a semi-conductor of electricity, with silk, a flexible and resilient fibroin, to create a Supersilk. The team integrated Graphene nanoparticles into the diet of silkworms and found that these silk worms exhibited high breaking points than the control.

One of Sayville High School’s teams, Advanced Prosthetics, won 4th place for its STEM integration. The team members presented their use of bionics to modify a prosthetic arm and program of the Arduino code to provide greater dexterity with the thumb. Other winning teams included JFK High School’s Microphotosynthetic Power Cells team, which won 3rd place for its study on freshwater cyanobacteria to create a microphotosynthetic power cell and Brentwood’s Nitrogen Mitigation team, which won the Sustainability award for its project on the ability of Phragmites australis, a species of large perennial grass, to mitigate nitrogen.

• 1st Place ($1000): Super Silk, Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School
• 2nd Place ($800): BAMLETs, Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School
• 3rd Place ($600): Microphotosynthetic Power Cells, Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School
• 4th Place, STEM Integration ($250): Advanced Prosthetics, Sayville High School
• Biology Excellence: Team Algae Bloom, Brentwood High School
• Creativity: Athletic Protection Engineering, Sayville High School
• Energy Pioneer: Green Bicycle, Sayville High School
• Entrepreneurship: Organic Filters, Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School
• Excellence in Medical Science: Dopamine, Brentwood High School
• Sustainability: Nitrogen Mitigation, Brentwood High School