Keerthi Sugamaran, a senior at Lexington High School, took first place in the Southern New England Region Junior Science and Humanities Symposium sponsored by and held at Harvard Medical School, and funded by the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. There were over 250 students and teachers from 31 Massachusetts and Rhode Island schools attending the symposium. Keerthi was amongst the 10 people chosen to give oral presentation after an intensive selection process by a panel of 18 Harvard faculty members. Her first place win got her a $4,000 cash award and qualified her to go to the National Symposium that was held in San Diego, California from April 24-28, 2002, where she secured third place in her division.

Keerthi was born in Boston and has lived in Massachusetts her whole life, the last 10 years of which have been spent in Lexington. Both of her parents are scientists: her father is an Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at UMass Boston and her mother is an Associate Professor at Boston University as well as a research chemist at the VA Hospital. When asked about where she got the idea for her project, “Prevention of Oxidation Browning – Biochemical Characterization of a Novel Inhibitor,” Keerthi said the phenomenon of browning always bothered her when she was younger and after her father told her a little about and how and why it happened, she always wondered about ways to stop it. She came up with the specific idea by reading lots of research papers and, when she found her topic, her father helped her find a mentor at UMass.

Keerthi’s research findings were said to be quite interesting. She shared some key elements of her oral presentation with us: “Plants and insects have been co-evolving to adapt to the defenses that each one creates against the other. Oxidative browning of plants products from phenoloxidase serves as a protective mechanism against herbivorous insects because it makes the plant indigestible. An inhibitor, which served as a defense mechanism for effects of phenoloxidase, as characterized from the gut extracts of the tobacco hornworm. The extract was used on fruits, vegetables, and mushroom tyrosinase (phenoloxidase) to see whether it prevented oxidative browning. It was concluded from heat treatment and gel electrophoresis that the inhibitor was a protein. Since it is a glycoprotein, I cleaved the carbohydrate to see if it was necessary for inhibition. Finally, various reagents were used to test which amino acids were involved at the active site of the inhibitor. It was found that dopa, and possibly histidine are involved at the active site of the inhibitor. The results show that herbivorous insects have developed a mechanism to counter the effects of phenoloxidase.”

When asked about her interests and extracurricular activities, Keerthi said her interests include Lincoln Douglas Debate in high school, Bharat Natyam dancing, and playing the Veena. She has been doing Bharat Natyam for 12 years and has learned it from Meena Subramanyam in Weston. When asked about how she got started, Keerthi said that her parents put her into it when she was 6 but after some time she began to appreciate it. What she enjoys about Bharat Natyam is that it is an art form, a mode of expression, and a personification of grace. “I got a lot of things from Bharat Natyam including confidence, perseverance, and a deeper understanding and appreciation of my Indian culture.” As Keerthi has lived in the US her whole life and only been to India four times, it is through dance and the playing of the Veena, as well as the company she keeps, that she keeps in touch with her heritage. Keerthi had her Arangetram in her sophomore year.

Keerthi has accomplished much in her academic life, in the sciences and other areas as well. She won second place in the State Science Fair in her sophomore year and first place in her junior year, as well as being a semifinalist in the Siemens science competition. I mainly knew her through debate and though I did Policy Debate instead of Lincoln Douglas, I did get to see Keerthi at tournaments and car washes and other fund-raisers. One thing that I have observed about her is that she is very energetic and passionate, important traits in becoming an effective debater. Her accomplishments during her career as a Lincoln Douglas debater include winning Second Place at the State Tournament, being in the top eight at Vestavia, a national tournament, breaking into elimination rounds at such prestegious tournaments as Harvard and Bronx School of Science, and qualifying to attend and then going 4-3 at the Tournament of Champions.

Keerthi will be attending Bowdoin College in the fall where she plans to pursue the fields of International Relations and Biochemistry. She says that she came by her interest in International Relations through her participation in the Lincoln Douglas debate program at Lexington High School and wants to take biochemistry as well in order to pursue her interests and give her a deeper knowledge so that she can help in the battle against bio-terrorism. I believe that with her passion and drive she will do very well in this or any other field she chooses to go into. As for her plans in the coming summer, Keerthi plans to work at a debate institute for 2 weeks and then get a job, maybe involved in science research because of opportunities that may have been opened because of her exemplary performance at the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.

In conclusion, when I asked Keerthi if she has any inspiring words or advice to give, she groans, as most people would at such a question, but says, “Do the things in life you want to do, work hard to understand the subjects that interest you, and don’t let anyone tell you what to do with your life.”

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