Meet the Eight Gatton Academy Students Chosen as KJAS Delegates for the prestigious 2025 American Junior Academy of Science

Sixteen talented students from The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science at Western Kentucky University recently showcased their research at the Kentucky Junior Academy of Science (KJAS) meeting in Frankfort. This event brought together 50 students from across Kentucky who presented their scientific work.

Out of these participants, 11 students were selected to represent the state at the upcoming American Junior Academy of Science (AJAS) conference. This exciting event will take place in Boston, Massachusetts, in February 2025. A commendable eight out of the 11 delegates are from The Gatton Academy.

Here’s a look at the students from Gatton and their impressive projects:

Aanyaa Arora (’25, Greenwood High School)

• Aanyaa explored how certain proteins influence cell cycle regulation and shape in yeast. She was guided by Dr. Joseph Marquardt from the WKU Biology Department.

Asa Ashley (’25, Bowling Green High School)

• Asa’s work focused on the dynamics of relativistic fermions in noncommutative space-time and was mentored by Dr. Tony Simpao from WKU’s Physics & Astronomy Department.

Ava Blackledge (’25, Rowan County Senior High School)

• Ava researched a gene product from a bacteriophage that can be toxic to Mycobacterium smegmatis, with mentorship from Dr. Rodney King in Biology.

Katie Isaacs (’25, University Heights Academy)

• Katie’s project aimed at enhancing photon detection for deep virtual Compton scattering, mentored by Dr. Renee Fatemi at the University of Kentucky.

Youngwoo Kim (’26, Model Laboratory School)

• Youngwoo investigated K2P channels’ role in cellular membrane potential, under the guidance of Dr. Robin Cooper at the University of Kentucky.

Varshith Kotagiri (’25, Western Hills High School)

• Varshith developed a novel fluorescent sensor for detecting analytes in water, mentored by Dr. Lei Li from WKU’s Chemistry & Biochemistry Department.

Sydney Putnam (’25, Mercer County Senior High School)

• Sydney’s research examined the role of V-type ATPase in the development of Drosophila melanogaster air sacs with the guidance of Dr. Ajay Srivastava from WKU.

Daniel Thelen (’25, Corbin High School)

• Daniel conducted a quantitative study of geochemistry and flow dynamics in the Mammoth Cave National Park’s Great Onyx groundwater basin, mentored by Lee Ann Bledsoe from WKU’s Crawford Hydrology Lab.