The Science department is pleased to inform you of our full and comprehensive program of courses to meet the needs of all our students. In addition to the four state Regents courses: Earth Science, Living Environment, Chemistry, and Physics, we have a series of excellent college-level advanced placement courses: A.P. Biology, A.P. Chemistry, A.P. Environmental Science, A.P. Physics, and A.P. Psychology.  We also have a fine selection of research-oriented courses in both the physical and biological sciences.

The goal of the Science Department is to provide students with a firm foundation in the sciences and to instill in them the desire to pursue their study of science at the college level and beyond.

Some of this year’s accomplishments are:

Cardozo Excels at Regional Science Olympiad
Congratulations to Cardozo’s science Olympiad team for their remarkable overall 3rd place finish on Saturday February 7th at the science Olympiad regional competition. The regional competition included 40 teams from all around New York City. Our team secured 12 medals including 4 gold and 2 silver medals. We would like to recognize the efforts of all the team members, the coaches Mr. Kaiteris, Mr. Siega, Mr. Glasel, Ms. Brady, and Ms. Eisenzopf and also team captains Ming Cheung and Jenny Yang. You all have made us very proud and we wish you the very best at the state level competition on March 21st at West Point.
 
Events	Team A	Team B
Astronomy	1st (James Yu and Tina Tian)	6th (Ben Suarez and Vishal Vig)
Chem Lab	8th (John Psonis and Luis Carvalho)
Disease Detective	7th (Sharon Guzman & Qimin Ng)	4th (Jenny Yang and Jennifer Chin)
Dynamic Planet	5th (Alex Lemell and Milda Stanislauskaite)
Ecology	6th (Ike Lee and Joe Arra)	10th (Jenny Yang and Tyler Bianco)
Electrical Vehicle	2nd (Jeffrey Chien, Vinny Shenoy, and Chong Gu)
Elevated Bridge	1st (Jeffrey C. & Vinny S.)	2nd (Jenny Yang and Vera Dong)
Environmental Chem	9th (Alex Lemell & John P.)
Experimental Design	3rd (Ming C., James Y., Alex Lemell)	7th (Nazia J., Lyan C., Seojung L)
Fossils	9th (Ike Lee and Sharon Guzman)	8th (Ben Suarez and Jennifer Chin)
It’s About Time	4th (James Yu and Chong Gu)	7th (Angel Montero and Shuhan Wang)
Physics Lab	5th (John Psonis and Luis Carvalho)
Picture This	1st (Ming Cheung, Tina Tian, Luis Carvalho)
Sumobot	1st (Kevin Law, Jeffrey Chien)	8th (Sophia Lobo, Kenny Ren, Chong Gu)
Trajectory	4th (Kevin Law and Sophia Lobo)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
* Other participants include: Bowyoung Kim, Marcos Zelaya, Shayan Afridi, John Kwon, Yansheng Wang,
Cardozo Excels at State Science Olympiad
Congratulations to the Cardozo Science Olympiad for its outstanding achievement in the New York State Science Olympiad Competition which was held at West Point on March 20th and 21st. Jenny Yang and Jeffrey Chien won 4th place in Elevated Bridge. James Yu and Ming Cheung won 3rd place in It’s About Time. Kevin Law and Ike Lee earned 4th place in Trajectory, in addition to many other members who placed in the top 20 in the state. The team was ranked ahead of more than 23 other state teams. Special thanks to team captains Ming Cheung and Jenny Yang and to the coaches and participants, Mr. Siega, Mr. Kaiteris,Mr. Glasel, Ms. Brady, Mrs. Eisenzopf for making all this possible.
 
 
Cardozo Excels at New York City Science and Engineering Fair
Congratulations to three Cardozo students that have become semi-finalists in the New York City Science and Engineering Fair, held this past February. Eight hundred students from NYC competed in this Fair. Jesse Schneider, under Ms. Rauch’s mentoring and guidance, presented his project on Micro Hydogels for Modular Tissue Engineering; that explores new techniques for creating artificial cardiac tissue for surgical implantation. Jesse did his research at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center under the direction of Dr. Cheema and Dr. Pak. Demitra Kampakis and Robert Bednarski worked as a team on a plant project; Plant Protein Response to Osmotic Stress, in which they found a novel pathway for the regulation of aquaporins. The work was completely done in Ms. Brady’s Biology Research class. Kudos to these three students, that will compete with ninety other NYC students, on March 25th, at the Museum of Natural History. A small group will then be selected to present their projects at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Reno Nevada.

Cardozo Excels at Chemistry Olympiad
Congratulations to Cardozo student James (Gwo Dong) Yu. James competed in the 2009 Chemistry Olympiad and advanced to the national level competition. He is among only 20 students from the greater metropolitan area, who qualified for the national competition. Congratulations also go to his teacher, Dr. Chan.
 
Cardozo Excels at Regional Envirothon
Cardozo’s ENVIROTHON team, Ashley Lam, Anna Marinos, Taha Masroor, Jennifer Sun, and Matt Wong, came in First in Queens in the Envirothon Competition held at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx April 3rd. Competing against top students from many other NYC high schools, our team earned a spot in the
New York State Envirothon, which will be held May 27 & 28 at Keuka College in upstate New York. To prepare for the event, they must study North American forestry, wildlife, soil, and aquatic environments, as well as prepare a 15 minute oral presentation about a current environmental issue involving biodiversity. Mrs. Donoghue, the team advisor, would like to congratulate these fine students on their excellent performance.
 
Cardozo Excels at State Envirothon
Cardozo’s ENVIROTHON Team, Ashley Lam, Anna Marinos, Taha Masroor, Jennifer Sun, and Matt Wong, successfully competed in the New York State Envirothon competition in Keuka, NY, last week. Competing against top students from all over New York State, they worked together and performed various field tests on soils, trees, and water bodies, identified plant and animal species, and addressed many current environmental challenges. The team distinguished itself by being one of the top ten finalists in the Oral Presentation for their thoughtful, comprehensive solution to a complex environmental issue that they presented before a panel of judges. Mrs. Donoghue, the team advisor, was proud to have such fine students representing Cardozo at the state level.
 
Cardozo Excels at Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP)
In March 2009, five Cardozo students who are enrolled in the Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) at Queensborough Community College (QCC) attended the Statewide STEP Conference in Albany, NY. Two of these students (Carla Herrera and Diana Llanos) were awarded 4th place in the Biological Sciences/ Senior Division for their poster presentation entitled “The Detection of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in Food.” They conducted their research at QCC with a Biology faculty mentor (Dr. Mangala Tawde). In addition, four Cardozo students (Breanna Ford, Dawn Henderson, Diana Llanos, and Ingrid Palencia) were part of QCC STEP’s Science Bowl team, which was awarded 4th place in this competition.
QCC’s STEP program is funded by the New York State Department of Education, and is directed by Dr. Joan Petersen and Dr. Simran Sehmi, both members of QCC’s Biology department
 
All the above accomplishments were made possible due to highly motivated students, very dedicated teachers, and a supportive principal. Thank you all very much. . We hope to provide our students with a firm foundation in the sciences and to instill in them the desire to pursue their study of science at the college level and beyond.