Jessica Li is Semifinalist in Siemens Comp

Warren resident Jessica Li, a junior at the Pingry School, is a semifinalist in the 2016 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, recognizing her research on Alzheimer’s disease. She is one of 19 semifinalists from New Jersey.
The Siemens Competition, launched by the Siemens Foundation in 1999, is the nation’s premier research competition for high school students. More than 400 semifinalists were selected this year from 1,600 students who submitted individual and team projects. With Jessica’s selection as a semifinalist, Pingry’s research program continues its notable success in this competition: semifinalists for eight consecutive years, making Pingry the only New Jersey school with this distinction. Specifically, Pingry has had 12 semifinalists and one regional finalist over that time period.
“Since a young age, I have harbored a love for science,” Jessica said, referring to her parents’ careers in medicine and the scientific books and journals in their home. “I learned as much as I could, then Pingry introduced me to scientific research and offered hands-on experiences, contributing to my appreciation of experimental science.”
A member of Pingry’s Independent Research Team (iRT), Jessica has been studying Alzheimer’s disease because of how it affected her great-uncle. “It was saddening to see the havoc the disease had wreaked on my greatuncle’s mind,” she said. Her project, for which she led a three-student team, examined how Alzheimer’s disease might be accelerated by exposure to a chemical found in pesticides (lambda-cyhalothrin, an insecticide registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). According to the project’s executive summary, “This study shows that lambda-cyhalothrin… may aid the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and may need to be reevaluated for commercial use.” Jessica received guidance in her work from a professor at the State University of New York.