As global temperature begins to rise, there are many effects throughout the world, including more floods, more rain, droughts, freezing, natural disasters, etc. There are many reasons why this climate change is currently taking place, but it is primarily due to human activities such as releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels. The effects of climate change can lead to many ecosystems falling apart, and this can even lead to the destruction of the food chain. It can also affect people's day-to-day life by impacting the water humans drink, and agriculture, which will hurt the economy.

The idea behind this particular AAR project is to dig deeper into the practicality of sending satellites, probes, and other equipment into space. The launch of an object (similar to Voyager 1 and 2) to leave Earth will be simulated in this endeavor. A prototype design for a modern orbital class rocket will be developed. Over the course of this project, the estimated cost for launching projectiles into the unknown will decrease as the design is refined.

The main roadblocks to developing fully sustainable gardens are factors that affect the water used in growing plants. Water ground soil evaporation is the amount of water that evaporates in an area of land in a given time frame. Groundwater erosion is a negative effect of having water flowing underground. Water efficiency is the amount of water that, when put into an area, is actually used by the plants. This is used to describe overwatering. If these problems can be solved or minimized, a garden can be created that, once planted, would be able to survive without human intervention.

In this project, I will be exploring the applications of nano scale particles in the field of medicine. Many medicinal techniques are effective but are not at peak efficiency and could be improved with nanotechnology. The development of nanotechnology will also impact the path medicine will take in the future and I will analyze current developments to get a sense of where the future is heading.

The prices of some pharmaceutical drugs in America have become unaffordable for many Americans. Although affordability varies for each drug, overall cost has become a problem because people who are sick might not be able to afford the medicine they need. The cost of medication is so high partly because drug companies need to pay for their research, which is understandable, given that companies who often pour a lot of time and expense into producing the drug deserve recompense. However, sometimes companies inflate the prices of a drug beyond what a consumer could ever possibly afford. Is it possible to make prescription drugs more affordable to the average consumer, while also resolving the issue in a way that is fair to pharmaceutical companies? In order to study this, I looked at the current system of producing pharmaceutical drugs in the United States, as well as industries within other countries such as the U.K.

Have you ever tried to remember a set of numbers only to forget them moments later? The research from this project will be used to create an understanding of how working memory is affected by stress in students ages 13-18.

There is a debate about whether native or foreign tree species should be planted in Palo Alto. This project will study how healthy each kind of tree is and use that information to determine what trees are better off in the suburban Palo Alto environment.

This research project will analyze the flaws in using current mice models to evaluate Alzheimer’s disease. The limitations of mice models will be identified through extensive research and previous studies. These findings will contribute to suggesting potential improvements to the modeling of Alzheimer’s disease. The project will validate the findings by applying them to other organisms diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. By analyzing the effectiveness of these improved models, the project will aim to provide a more accurate representation of Alzheimer’s disease using animal models.

This project will be a computer simulation of Wolbachia spread through a given geographic region over some length of time. Initial conditions will include the size of the infected mosquito population to be introduced and the introduction location. Other factors that may affect Wolbachia spread will modeled after real world conditions. Some of these factors include climate, seasonal climate patterns, natural disasters, urban population, forest density, daily temperature fluctuations, human behavior, local mosquito population feeding times, and vector control methods already in control. Our goal is to find the ideal conditions for Wolbachia introduction, which could be useful in future disease prevention efforts.

NASA’s spinoff projects have used technologies originally developed for space exploration that have been adapted and further developed for common use, especially relating to the medical world. I am looking into these spinoff projects and collecting data to determine if NASA's budget over the years has had an impact on the output of these projects.