Science Team Wins First-Place Siemens Award of $100,000


Juniors Akash Krishnan and Matthew Fernandez won the team category in the national finals of the Siemens


Competition in Math, Science & Technology and will share a $100,000 scholarship for their computer science project, “The Recognition of Emotion in Human Speech.” The two students built a computer algorithm that can


analyze speech and assess the emotional state of the speaker, for example, whether the speaker is angry, sad, bored, anxious, or happy. Matt and Akash were inspired by the


movie I, Robot, in which a robot can sense when its human user is under stress. Using an emotional speech database with 18,215 files, they achieved a 60 percent accuracy rate in


identifying emotions versus 41 percent with a previous award- winning system. Their work has a broad range of applications, from autism research to computer games and lie detection.


Matt and Akash have attended OES since Kindergarten and First Grade, respectively, and have been working together as a science team since the Eighth Grade.


Alumnae/i Receive Fashionable Gift at Reunion


Alumnae/i who attended the boys’ and girls’ soccer games against Catlin Gabel during Reunion Weekend received


complimentary T-shirts, displayed by David Rosenberg ’03, left, and Addison Van Hatcher ’06. Other events included a


gathering at Raleigh Hills Pub and a Saturday luncheon with a PowerPoint talk and tours by Jordan Elliott ’97, who is head of the Upper School. Alumnae from St. Helen’s Hall also attended a tea in the Charlton Room.


Alumnae/i Ice Cream Social


Recent graduates returned to campus in early January to check in with friends who had long winter breaks. They


also chatted with faculty and current students. In the photo, Larissa Pham ’10, left, talks with Raji Nagalla ’10 and Jenni VanderWeele ’10 while they enjoy ice cream sundaes.


10 Seniors Named National Merit Finalists


Ten OES seniors were among approximately 16,000 finalists nationwide in the 56th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. They were chosen based on their performance on the PSAT/NMSQT exam and will compete for


National Merit Scholarships worth more than $36 million to be awarded in the spring.


The finalists are, front row, from left, Justine, Lila, Achala, and Laurie; back row, Tree and Brandon; not shown, Caitlyn, Nathan, Ken, and Justin.


WWW.OES.EDU WINTER 2011 OES MAGAZINE 21 21


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