Wilbraham & Monson Academy’s Hanming “Joy” Xu ’27 used a lot of big words for a recent science project. She also won a big prize.

Joy earned second place at the Massachusetts Science and Engineering Fair for Region I at Western New England University on March 6.

Joy’s project, titled Size and Distance Dependent Plasmonic Enhancement in Tannic Acid Modified Silver Nanoparticle Luminol Chemiluminescence System, was in the Chemistry category.

“After receiving the award, I was really surprised,” Joy said. “To be honest, I can do better. I have another state one (competition) so I am more in a reflecting mindset than pure joy.”

At the Region I event, Joy was trying to “increase the light signal produced by ultrasensitive signaling, like a COVID-19 test is an ultrasensitive signaling. We synthesized a material that can help boost the light signal of these detections.”

Joy’s project stems from a summer program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

“Joining this science fair forced me to make a poster and wrap up my summer project while also gaining some recognition,” she said.

But it wasn’t easy. For people not in the know, the topic carries rare lingo, as evident in her project’s title. She used WMA’s STEM Expo in early March to clarify her terminology.

“The hardest part about creating my project was how to present it to people who had no idea about my field,” Joy explained. “During our school’s science fair, I had too much jargon, which was not supporting my project as no one could understand what I was talking about. Simplifying terms and clarifying my project was what I tried to do while preparing. It was really difficult because I know all the concepts in my presentation that I might assume others also understand, while others actually don’t.”

Joy, whose top three finish qualified her for the state competition on April 9, gained valuable experience at the Region I contest that she hopes will benefit her at future events as well as in the field of chemistry. 

“I think the peer pressure surrounding me was the hardest part of being at the competition because most of the people who joined the competition were from really good schools,” Joy said. “These schools had groups of people coming to the competition while I was the only one from WMA so I felt a bit lonely. But after we started to talk to each other, the fear was eased and I made some friends there.”