June 11, 2025 – For Stanton College Preparatory School students Alan Alwakeel and Nicole Jiang, the passion behind their work is undeniable.
“From the moment I competed in my first science fair in seventh grade, I’ve dreamed of competing at the International Science and Engineering Fair,” shares Alwakeel.
“It started out as a mandatory project, then it became a part of me,” adds Jiang.
This summer, Alwakeel and Jiang are celebrating impressive victories for the respective science and history fair projects they worked on last school year. Team Duval News spoke to each student to learn more about their award-winning projects.
A Science Fair Project Combining AI and Cancer Research
Alan Alwakeel says his science fair project began with an idea –– to integrate artificial intelligence with medicine. Through his work with Mayo’s SPARK (Science Program for the Advancement of Research Knowledge) Program, a mentorship program for local high school students, Alwakeel was able to put his ideas into action.
“The opportunity to do research at Mayo and invent a solution that might one day reach patients is truly amazing,” says the rising senior.
After spending countless hours conducting research and labs under various departments at Mayo, Alwakeel eventually wrote a computer program to simulate a cancer tumor. He then used machine learning to run experiments and predict what treatments would be most effective in killing two aggressive forms of breast cancer. This culminated in a science fair project titled “The Virtual Cell: Revolutionizing Personalized Cancer Treatment Through AI-Powered Simulation.”
Alwakeel’s project earned top honors locally and regionally, winning first place in the category of Cellular and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, along with the Grand Award at the Florida State Science and Engineering Fair. The Grand Award came with automatic admission to the International Science and Engineering Fair, or ISEF, to represent Florida.
Once at ISEF, Alwakeel earned the second Grand Award in the Cellular and Molecular Biology category.
“Creating something that’s beneficial to the world and can really make a difference is incredibly motivating,” he says. “This win has inspired me to keep going.”
Though this year’s competitions are over, Alwakeel says he’s far from finished. Next year, he plans to expand his research by studying different types of cancer. And with the assistance of his SPARK mentors, Dr. John Copland and Dr. Cui Tao, he’s also working to ensure his work has a lasting impact.
“Both Dr. Copland and Dr. Tao have been extremely supportive,” he says. “To the point where we are filing a patent on The Virtual Cell with Mayo.”
A History Project That Became Personal
A love for history and a passion for research. They’re the reasons rising sophomore Nicole Jiang says she’s been participating in Florida History Day, or FHD, since the seventh grade.
“I love history, and I love digging up historical facts online,” shares Jiang. “History allows you to take advantage of the internet to its fullest.”
FHD is an annual initiative that invites middle and high school students to research topics in local, national, or world history using primary and secondary sources. Jiang says this year’s theme of “Rights and Responsibilities in History” posed a unique opportunity for her to research a topic that hits close to home –– United States vs. Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court Case that established birthright citizenship in the US.
“This is very personal to me, because I am a citizen of the United States through birthright citizenship,” she explains. “My parents came to the US (from China) by work Visas.”
Jiang spent weeks researching and analyzing the case, digging into internet archives through resources like the Library of Congress and the California Digital Library. In the end, Jiang presented her findings digitally, entering the individual website category under the title "United States vs. Wong Kim Ark: A Defining Milestone in American Birthright Citizenship."
Jiang won her local and district fairs, eventually qualifying for state. Entering the state competition, she admits she was nervous. But her knowledge and expertise put her ahead of the pack –– all the way to first place.
“When I didn’t get announced for second place, my heart sank. But when they said my name (for first place), I literally gasped!”
This summer, Jiang advanced to the National History Day competition at the University of Maryland. There, she achieved even more success, earning the top award in the U.S. Constitution History category. Though this year's competition is done, Jiang says she’s eager to continue in her pursuits with more history fairs and more research.
“In retrospect, it really made me feel proud of myself,” she says of her work. “I feel proud of the journey that I've built.”