Week 24: The ISM Showcase

Weekly Report #24 Week 24: (2/23/2026-3/9/2026)

During this week, I was not well and had to be absent from school on Friday and was bedridden throughout the day. This has resulted in the deferral of the completion on a couple of assignments. However, I feel much better now.

During the period after my recovery, I have been working hard on my personal project, CureAid. It is an artificial intelligence-based health platform that connects people with chronic health conditions with Patient Support Programs with the aim of lowering the cost of drugs. The platform uses AI technology such as web scraping, machine learning, and natural language processing. The platform allows people with chronic health conditions to communicate with the platform by clicking the microphone icon on the dashboard. The AI then processes the information.

In terms of academic responsibilities, I have been focused on the requirements for Physics and Calculus. I have been preparing for the upcoming tests after the spring break. In the area of robotics, we recently had a meeting where we discussed the inventory of all the materials electronically and then organized the materials in the hardware storage. We are also focusing on the upcoming UIL competition scheduled for the 20th of March in Waco.

I have been working hard on the application for the summer programs. There are just a few programs left. I also completed the Johns Hopkins ISPEED program and the HSRA for UT Austin. Unfortunately, I have been unable to engage in social activities with my peers due to the sickness but hopefully I plan to meet with them later in the week.

Throughout the past week of the ISM program, I had the opportunity to share different aspects of my research with an interested audience through the showcase. The presentation included my research paper, the OnscoScan AI component, and a live analysis of a chest X-ray image in which the audience was encouraged to participate. I also discussed the current status of the Biophotonics masterclass component, the photodynamic therapy (PDT) simulator, and the artificial intelligence (AI) component of the final product.

With regards to the photodynamic therapy investigation, I presented the audience with two different black box demonstrations of the real-time photodynamic therapy process with quinine-infused tonic water and the effect of ultraviolet (UV) light. The tonic water is a photosensitizer, and the UV light is a specific wavelength of light. The blue color of the tonic water is the localized cell death of cancer cells.

I also presented the audience with three different epoxy resin models with beads at the bottom of each one, representing the limitation of photodynamic therapy: the penetration of light. A laser is then passed through the epoxy resin to show the limitation.

Currently, I am in the process of adding more to my Biophotonics masterclass component of my final product and simultaneously refining my ISM research paper for submission to a scholarly journal. I am very appreciative of the opportunity to take this course and develop the project as well as the opportunity to continue this class next year.

Closing this chapter, opening the next.