Arabella Mariano wins 1st place in Chemistry at the New Hampshire Science and Engineering Expo!

The New Hampshire Science and Engineering Expo (NHSEE) is an annual event, held on March 20th this year, where high school students present STEM-related research projects and compete for awards. This year, 78 students participated, each evaluated by five judges. Prior to the expo, Ms. Arabella Mariano from Phillips Exeter Academy reached out to Prof. John Tsavalas, of the UNH Chemistry Department, to ask if she could gain help with UV-Vis spectroscopy measurements for her proposed project. A fantastic opportunity for UNH outreach, Tsavalas happily agreed to help. Arabella’s motivation for project choice developed out of her love of tea. With the green tea market expanding, she felt it is important for consumers to understand the potential difference in nutritional benefits between loose-leaf tea and bagged tea; her hypothesis being that loose-leaf tea may contain less processed leaves and thus potentially a greater concentration of beneficial catechin compounds. Arabella’s research project, “Determination of Catechin Concentration in Loose-Leaf vs. Bagged Green Teas Using UV-Vis Spectrophotometry”, won first place in the Chemistry category, a $1500 scholarship for the Applied Scientific Research program at the New Hampshire Academy of Science, and the Naval Science Award from the Office of Naval Research!

After the event, Arabella commented, “Overall, it was an incredible experience. I learned so much from Dr. Tsavalas and his PhD student Jaeger Gerold while conducting my research at UNH, and the Expo allowed me to meet other passionate high school researchers from across New Hampshire. It’s a fantastic opportunity for any high school student interested in STEM because there are no limits to what you can explore!”. Jaeger is a first-year graduate student in Chemistry with Prof. Tsavalas and did a fantastic job guiding and encouraging Arabella with the technical aspects of her tea leaf extractions, sample preparation, analytical characterization, and giving her feedback on her poster preparation. We are proud of Jaeger for his excellence in UNH outreach and who knows – maybe we will find Arabella’s application to Chemistry at UNH in the future!

Jaeger and Arabella "posing" for the paparazzi at the UV-Vis Spectrometer

Arabella Mariano having difficulty holding all her NHSEE prizes at once