Oak Park and River Forest High School students Grace Koch and Mateo Nery will be the first students ever to receive mentorship by researchers from COLDEX (Center for Oldest Ice Exploration), school officials announced earlier this month.
Both students are currently enrolled in the Investigative Research Design and Innovation class at OPRFHS, a course taught by Allison Hennings in which students find gaps in currently existing scientific literature and design an experiment to address that gap, consulting with published experts during the process, school officials announced Nov. 3
The opportunity for this mentorship came about after Hennings became the only high school teacher to be selected for participation in a COLDEX School of Ice professional development program this past summer, the school announcement states.
During the program, Hennings was able to share some of her students’ work with the COLDEX researchers.
COLDEX is a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center formed in 2021 which aims to explore Antarctica for the oldest possible polar ice samples, according to the announcement.
“They were so impressed with the level of the work the students did, as well as the fact that they reach out and work with expert researchers around the globe, that they agreed to potential mentorship,” Hennings told Pioneer Press.
Hennings said she was then put in touch with Kristen Rahilly, the director of education at COLDEX. Due to the “level and nature of their research,” Hennings specifically selected Koch and Nery for mentorship consideration, she explained.
Koch and Nery were subsequently interviewed by Rahilly to determine the quality of their work and decide which researchers they should be matched up with.
Because of the high level of expertise needed, COLDEX previously only provided research opportunities for college and university professors, post-doctoral students and graduate students, according to the school announcement.
Koch, who says she is interested in nuclear engineering and environmental science, aims to center her research around developing a way to decrease the cost and increase the accessibility of equipment used in Arctic research.
“Since I was a little girl, I have dreamed of doing something extraordinary,” Koch told Pioneer Press. “With the help of Ms. Hennings, I have been able to make this dream a reality.
“She has allowed me extensive creative freedom, and although it is difficult at times to develop and carry out a college level research project, it is the most rewarding thing that I have ever pursued,” Koch said.
Koch says her mentors, which she said included professors from the U.S. Naval Academy and Texas A&M in addition to Rahilly and Skyer Jacob, a graduate student with COLDEX, are instrumental to her success.
Also helping Koch in her research is Amy Hofmockel, a digital learning librarian at Oak Park Public Library, who is an expert in 3-D printing, and OPRFHS librarian Amber Hooper.
Ideally, said Koch, her post-secondary education will involve more research. She is currently focused on learning how to balance correspondence with her mentors while staying updated on relevant scientific literature, in addition to leadership responsibilities on multiple varsity sports teams and clubs.
The most crucial aspect of her project, she stated, is the establishment of “irreplaceable” relationships she is making with her mentors, which she hopes to take with her throughout her experience in research.
“Right now, I live by the idea of seeking discomfort, and this research project allows me to do so. It is a totally new experience that I am so fortunate to learn and refine my scientific skills from,” Koch stated. “I am also grateful as a Latina female to have the distinguished opportunity to combine my passions for additive manufacturing and innovation and be the first high school student to work with COLDEX. I am forever humbled.”
Nery, whose interest lies in computer engineering and physics, will focus his research project on triboelectric nanogenerators, or TENGs, a promising renewable energy source whose optimal performance at extreme temperatures can be used to outperform batteries and other technologies in Antarctica, he explained.
The novel TENG which Nery hopes to develop through his research has the potential to be used in Antarctica to power machines used in remote locations.
“I know my project with nanogenerators is a unique one and something I can’t accomplish on my own,” Nery told Pioneer Press, “so having mentorship from experts that know where my work can be applied or how I can better structure my experiment means that the process is easier and more exhilarating.”
Nery has reached out and gained mentorship from professors at University of Massachusetts-Lowell and Purdue, he said, in addition to his mentoring from Rahilly, Hennings and Hooper.
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“Getting to not only pursue hands-on research in the field I want to go into, but to also work with COLDEX to find and test applications for my work is thrilling,” said Nery. “I’m hoping to potentially see the devices I’m working on be directly applied in the field to help with research in Antarctica pertaining to climate change.”
One of Nery’s research goals is to make TENGs increasingly feasible for commercial use, and applying them directly for research in Antarctica would likely be a “groundbreaking step in making this happen,” he said.
“I would hope to see TENG devices potentially used in some of the sensors that are used for detecting key measurements of past natural climate change, which may help us determine some of the keys for figuring out our current climate change crisis,” said Nery.
With this mentorship, Nery is in a position to work with researchers who are studying climate change issues, and hopefully aid in providing a new energy source that can be used for a multitude of applications, whether for general power or research-related tasks, officials explained.
Koch and Nery began their mentorship in September and it will continue for the remainder of the school year. Hennings said that they consult with their mentors on a regular basis via Zoom video conferencing and email.
Hennings said Koch and Nery will be done with the data phase of their experiment by the end of the first semester and will spend the spring semester preparing for local, national and international science symposia to submit their work for consideration.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for both Grace and Mateo to be able to work with prominent scientists doing real-time research on big world problems with data that would otherwise be inaccessible,” said Hennings. “They are hoping that the products of their experiments will be able to be used by COLDEX to improve data collection and address current challenges of ice drilling and other equipment being used in Antarctica.”
Joseph Arnone is a freelancer.