NMJAS regional winners

Congratulations to the winners of the 2026 New Mexico Junior Academy of Science regional winners. Each region holds an oral presentation competition, generally associated with that region’s science fair. Regional winners advance to the state competition in Socorro at the state science fair.

Northwest region (Farmington)

  • 1st place, senior division: June Loukinas, Mechanobiological Reprogramming of Cancer Cells in RPM-Simulated Microgravity: A High-Fidelity Transcriptomic Model for Overcoming Chemoresistance and Therapeutic Regression
  • 2nd place, senior division: Aspyn Kaskalla, Concise Assessment of Lingering Radioactivity on the Navajo Nation: Cove Wash, Arizona and Church Rock, New Mexico
  • 3rd place, senior division: Rosa Bonita Schwenk, Determining Whether Possible Environmental Factors Could Contribute to the Aggregate of Kawasaki Disease Diagnoses in San Juan County

Northeast region (Los Alamos to Las Vegas)

  • 1st place, senior division: Tate Plohr, The Effects of Dust Scattering on Observations of X-ray Binaries
  • 2nd place, senior division: Linus Plohr, Collective Intelligence: Driving Lessons from Ants

Four Corners region (Grants)

  • 1st place, junior division: Amelia Martinez, Turning Waste Oil Into Reusable Fuel,  Biodiesel Vs. Conventional Fuels
  • 2nd place, junior division: Tanisha Kayate, Shining Colors: Investigating How Light Color & Solutions Affect Photosynthesis in Spinach
  • 3rd place. junior division: Kiera Munson, The Amazing Effect of light on a Rotating Radiometer 
  • 1st place, senior division: Sunny Louis, Investigating Traditional Remedies Into Diabetic Wound Care: Impact of Yerba Mansa And Green Tea
  • 2nd place, senior division: Sabastian Griego, Watch Out,  Bacteria: Do Microplastics Promote Aggregation and Bacterial Growth by Providing Surfaces for Growth and Enabling the Exchange of Resistance Genes in Water -Based Settings?
  • 3rd place, senior division: Lucas Rychener, How do Artificial Sweeteners Affect C. elegans?

Central region

  • 1st place, junior division: Oscar Groves, Microbial Growth in Your Rice, You Can’t B Cereus?
  • 2nd place, junior division: Scarlett Groves, Star Light, Star Bright, the Importance of White Light: The Search for Water on Distant Planets 
  • 1st place, senior division: Aditi Ganti, Gut Instinct: An AI-Drive Approach to Inflammatory Bowel Disease Diagnosis Using Microbial and Metabolite Data
  • 2nd place, senior division: Charlie Groves, Aerosolized Microplastics and Their Microbiome- It’s Not a Bird, It’s Not a Plane, It’s Plastisphere
  • 3rd place, senior division: Euiryeon Kim, In Silico Analysis for Screening Autism and Assessing Symptom Severity Using Retinal Photographs