The opportunity to contribute to the scientific community was just one of the highlights for three Port Jefferson students who participated in Brookhaven National Laboratory’s High School Research Program.

Earl L. Vandermeulen High School senior Gavin Chambers, junior Grant Samara and 2019 graduate Monica Alexander were each paired with a BNL scientist who served as a mentor for the advanced high school program.

Gavin and Grant’s combined research was in the Collider-Accelerator department, with a project that used artificial intelligence to find chromaticity values from the lab’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and extracting chromaticity using Python machine learning algorithms. Monica worked with a leader in the Brand Management department in the highly competitive six-week research program.

“Programs such as this are exceptional collaborative opportunities for our students to further explore STEM studies at this world-renowned institution,” Jessica Schmettan, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said. “We share in the pride of their research and continued efforts in pursuing these academic disciplines.”