At Bergen County Academies, students have access to a wide range of opportunities, one of the most valuable being the chance to engage in hands-on research and explore their academic interests in depth. While many research opportunities are free, students are required to attend the yearly EXPO event at the school. This year, on March 2nd, 2025, over 100 students have attended, with the school offering various options for students to be involved in their own ways. Among those students was Sana Kashyap, a sophomore in the Academy for Medical Science Technology, who was involved in Cell Biology Research.
With BCA offering many fields of sciences and maths to students, it allows all 7 academies to be connected, ranging from chemistry, math, agriscience, and many more. “Computational biology is getting more and more popular, since it allows people to predict stuff without having to do expensive biological experiments that are more time and cost intensive,” Sana said. “Since AI does it, I was able to make a model that was more interpretable to the users for my field of research.” Several students this year at EXPO were also in the same field as Sana, which is a field that integrates several topics of science.
“My topic was predicting redox induced polyreactivity of monoclonal antibodies using machine learning models,” Sana said. Though it sounds complicated, it was made much easier thanks to the use of AI and computers. “I essentially created an AI model that helps with therapy development, since it can predict whether the antibodies will become polyreactive after being exposed to oxidative agents.”
While Sana started her research towards the end of 2024, she was able to collect data and participate in EXPO, within less than half a year. Several students answered that their biggest struggle in research was finding the time to balance both schoolwork with research. Although students are given 2 periods per week dedicated to research, many find that it isn’t enough time to do the research they need, hence why it is often necessary to find time outside of school to make more progress. “I’d recommend getting it done during the weekends. Make sure to block out specific times to focus on it,” Sana added.
“Don’t wait for the perfect topic, just get started,” Sana said. “While you do your preliminary research, you’ll be able to craft a pretty good project.” In addition to the challenges of balancing schoolwork with research, students also answered that finding a good topic can be one of the biggest challenges of doing research. As the preliminary step to research, it is the most important step to consider, and struggling to find a good topic can be extremely demotivating.
All the Local/ISEF level students were given the opportunity to present their research to judges, who were BCA alumni. While the thought of speaking to judges sounds intimidating, as it requires good rhetorical skills and deep knowledge on their topic of research, Sana answered that it wasn’t as scary as she thought it would be. “I’m pretty passionate about my topic, so it was fun to have conversations about it with people in the field,” she said. With this being Sana’s first year at EXPO, she said that it was quite fun and not as scary as she thought it would be.
In this year, EXPO offered a new option for students who were not presenting their data, called the associate level. This year, associate level students were allowed to attend project viewing, interview projects for a chance to win a T-shirt from a raffle, and listening to guest speaker Dr. Robert Kennedy, who has a PHD in biosciences and is an adjunct professor of Biology and Ecology at Ramapo College. Most students answered that viewing the projects were their favorite part of the activities offered to associate level students.
In conclusion, 2025 BCA EXPO offered students many opportunities to connect with their field of research, whether they were presenting, or going as an associate level, serving as an educational experience to many. While many students find various challenges while doing research, EXPO serves as a rewarding experience for their hard work.
