'Pinnacle' Student Garners Grant for Science, Innovation & Design Program

Hamden Hall senior Alex Buhimschi’s recent second place win at the 50th Connecticut Junior Science and Humanities Symposium didn’t just earn him scholarship money for his upcoming tuition at Yale University, it also garnered the school's Science, Innovation & Design Program a $500 grant award.

According to Dr. Frank Gasparro, Alex’s mentor and the co-chair of the Science, Innovation & Design (SID) Program, the grant will be used for associated research costs such as chemical supplies and analysis.

To date, the SID program has 20 “pinnacle” students – selected juniors and seniors who conduct independent projects that culminate in a thesis presentation.


Alex is a charter member of the Pinnacle Program. His win at the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) earned him an all-expenses-paid trip to the National JSHS to be held in Ohio in May and the opportunity to win a $12,000 scholarship.

Alex will also present his research, titled UVB-Induced Psoralen Photoadducts and their Rapid Detection by Surface Enhanced Laser Description Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry Technology, at the annual Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering meeting in May.


“Alex taking the silver at the UConn JSHS establishes the validity of the Science, Innovation & Design program and sets standards for other students to aim for,” said Gasparro, who noted that Alex will serve as the chemistry teaching assistant for his May project. During that time he will also put the “finishing touches” on his research manuscript that has been submitted to the international research journal, Photochemistry & Photobiology.

Sophomore Jeremy Bronen is also looking to identify a pinnacle project for his junior and senior year. To that end, Jeremy has become a member of MakeHaven in New Haven, a facility that provides access to tools and resources in Jeremy’s field of electrical engineering. He will also attend a summer program at UConn to further his research.

Also in the planning stages under the SID umbrella is the creation of a new app for high school chemistry. Gasparro noted that a group of students will work with him and Hamden Hall technology guru Chris Buckley on the project in the coming months. 

For more details on Hamden Hall’s SID Program, click here.