Two Moravian Academy students Okezue Bell ’23 and Neha Skandan ’21 and one recent graduate, Neil Deshmukh ’20, were selected as INSPO Research & Innovation Competition (IRIC) 2020 finalists.

Their projects were among the top 200 selected to participate in the 2020 edition of IRIC, which this year takes the form of a virtual showcase. Each student will be awarded a $10,000 entrance scholarship to the Rochester Institute of Technology for qualifiying and advances to the next round of the competition.

Bell ’23 submitted a project in the technology category of the competition. His research, AIXIV: A Blockchain-Compatible Machine Learning Model Capable of Autonomous Data Manipulation and Modification, was an exploration of artificial intelligence (AI). About his project, he said, “My goal for AIXIV was to create a machine learning (a depth of AI allowing for the system to autonomously receive data and learn from it) AI that could be integrated into multifarious applications.”

Skandan’s ’21 project, Bending the Curve: A Mathematical Model to Predict the Impact of a Novel Approach to Mitigate the Opioid Crisis, was submitted in the biology category. She says, “Although initiatives by the medical community and law enforcement have been taken starting in the year 2017 to address the opioid epidemic, additional initiatives are needed to flatten, and possibly bend, the otherwise exponentially increasing opioid overdose curve. The hypothesis is that empowering teenagers to assist a loved one struggling with an opioid use disorder can help bend the curve, which is a novel method as current initiatives are taken by adults.“

Deshmukh ’20 also entered into the technology category with a project entitled: An Adaptive, Low-Cost Device for Automated Offline Medical Analysis Utilizing Interpretable Neural Networks with Reinforcement Learning Optimization. His research explores a method of diagnosing diseases. He says, “This scalable method of detecting anomalies before they pose a threat, holds the ability to create clinical impact around the world by profoundly increasing access and scope of medical care.”

According to INSPO Science Canada, the IRIC is judged by “industry leaders, established professors, and other top youths in North America’s premier online science fair.” You can view the virtual showcase, including the projects of Moravian Academy students, here. 

The Moravian Academy community congratulates these students on this incredible achievement and wishes them luck as they advance through the competition.