On January 26 and 27, PHS research teacher Mark Eastburn and student Daniela Gonzalez ’24 will attend the Global Education Benchmark Group’s Climate Education Summit at Columbia University to present the PHS Research Program’s efforts to promote diversity while recruiting for their ongoing projects, including their work on using oil derived from black soldier flies to replace the palm oil in soaps and other cosmetics.

At its core, the program’s goal is to create a climate project that not only attracts more students but also reframes climate change as a solvable problem.

“I've tried to inspire students to take an active role in what they can do within this community to combat climate change. The angle for Columbia is the inclusion-making: finding ways of bringing more students [into the program],” Eastburn said.

With the black soldier flies soap design, which won first place in the 2021 Mercer County Science Fair and Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Competition, Eastburn and leaders of the research program are currently brainstorming ways to expand soap production to transform it into an entrepreneurial prospect, which would create academically-oriented job opportunities.

“[Samsung] was here yesterday to take a video about how these projects help the students involved [and] how this changed our lives, because this 100 percent [opened] doors for me,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez expresses gratitude for the program and hopes that further presentations will increase the program’s appeal so that her peers can benefit and draw inspiration from it.

“Some students now know that this exists; they [now] know that they can start with

their own products. This [program] is a way to [make their dreams a reality],” Gonzalez said.

By bringing together people from different passions and interests, the inclusive research community at PHS and the strong support it receives is what allows its participants to flourish together.

“The research program, [is] very successful not only because of the awards that we have gotten, but more importantly … because it includes students who are recent immigrants and students who are really high academic achievers,” said Principal Cecilia Birge.“Not many schools have research programs; it is unique to a handful of schools that are very committed to science.”