East Hampton students showcase years of research at science symposium

At East Hampton High School, 25 seniors stood before classmates, teachers and families to defend three years of work on subjects that reached from the East End’s shoreline to medical treatment and agriculture. The annual Science Research Symposium showed how far the district’s program has come: students were not just presenting projects, they were presenting the results of years of independent inquiry.

The range of topics reflected that scale. Students examined whether mycelium could become a sustainable building material, how blight canker spreads in apple trees, how music affects lettuce growth and whether athletes can reduce concussions in football. Other projects looked at genetic alterations in leukemia treatment, the use of glycerol monolaurate and petrolatum to eliminate staphylococci in atopic dermatitis, and how storms alter ocean wave dynamics along the East Coast. Sophomores and juniors also offered an early look at the questions they are building for the years ahead.

The program has been operating since 1997 and has steadily expanded. East Hampton High said 43 students were enrolled in Methods in Research in 2023. By 2024, that number had grown to 61, with 13 seniors presenting at the symposium. The next year, more than 70 students took part in the three-year science research track. This year, the school said 87 students participated in the symposium across grades 10 through 12.

Stephanie Forsberg and Paul Rabito run the program, with Renee McGuire serving as department coordinator. The work is built around mentor relationships in each student’s chosen field, which gives the projects a college-lab feel and helps push students beyond the classroom. East Hampton students can also earn University at Albany college credit through the Science Research in the High School program, which UAlbany has sponsored since 1994.

The symposium has also become a competitive pipeline. In 2024, 10 of 13 seniors were selected for the first round of the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair, which drew 405 students. That kind of showing has helped establish East Hampton as a district that can hold its own on Long Island despite its location at the far eastern end of Suffolk County.

The celebration had its share of school spirit, including a chorus of “Osprey strong! All day long!” But the deeper story was the one playing out behind the posters and presentations: East Hampton students spending nights, weekends and summers learning how to ask better questions, gather evidence and explain what they found. For a district that has built this program since 1997, the symposium was less an ending than a public marker of a long research culture taking root.