Glen Burnie High School juniors Abdullah Ashraf and Henry Nwobodo were named the Grand Award winners at the recent 60th annual Anne Arundel County Public Schools Regional Science and Engineering Expo Awards Ceremony.
The duo’s project, “A Low Cost, Tunable Model for Studying Hypoxia-Driven Growth in A375 Melanoma Cancer Cells Using Jacketed Breathable Silicone-Walled Shake Flasks,” examined how a cost-effective special silicone shake flask can be used in cancer research labs to study how low oxygen changes cancer cell behavior.
Ashraf and Nwobodo will represent Anne Arundel County at the 2026 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix, Ariz. Additionally, Kenny Nguyen of Broadneck High School and Aarushi Bhattarai and Chelsea Sun, of Old Mill High School and Atholton High School, respectively, were selected as ISEF Finalists and runners up for the Grand Award.
Two middle school students – Edward Tersine and Joseph Stein, both of Severn River Middle School – earned the nationally recognized Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Award. They will represent Anne Arundel County at the 2026 Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge in Washington, D.C.
