About MeHello! My name is Ralitsa Hovanessian and I am a senior at Ocean Lakes High School in the Math and Science Academy. I am interested in the fields of applied physics, aerospace engineering, and mathematics. In my free time, I love to delve deeper into the subjects I find fascinating, especially through independent research. When I'm not learning, I am either playing volleyball, reading, or advocating for increasing easily accessible educational resources, especially in fields such as aviation. For more information about my projects, check out the All Projects Page. For a free digital course for passing your FAA glider or private pilot exam, check out Ralitsa's Flight Ground School!
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My Latest Projects
Designing Mechanism to Increase Independence of Stroke Survivors
Presented: Undergraduate Research and Technology Conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Published: IEEE Xplore
Through the MIT Beaverworks Challenge, I worked with Nathan He and Rockwell Li to develop a specialized bottle opener. This device was designed to empower an elderly woman, who had experienced left-side paralysis due to a stroke, to regain self-sufficiency in meeting her daily requirements, including accessing water, medication, and nourishment.
Presented: Undergraduate Research and Technology Conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Published: IEEE Xplore
Through the MIT Beaverworks Challenge, I worked with Nathan He and Rockwell Li to develop a specialized bottle opener. This device was designed to empower an elderly woman, who had experienced left-side paralysis due to a stroke, to regain self-sufficiency in meeting her daily requirements, including accessing water, medication, and nourishment.
Optimization of Cancer Identification and Prognosis based on DNA Methylation through Machine Learning
Presented: The Virginia Junior Academy of Science Research Symposium
Awards Won: Roscoe Hughes Award for Best Paper in Field of Genetics
Published (awaiting): Columbia Junior Science Journal
Presented: The Virginia Junior Academy of Science Research Symposium
Awards Won: Roscoe Hughes Award for Best Paper in Field of Genetics
Published (awaiting): Columbia Junior Science Journal
With about 1.9 million new cancer cases diagnosed each year in the United States, the early classification and identification of such cancers are vital for accurate and potentially life-saving treatments. In recent years, liquid biopsy DNA methylation testing of tumor suppressor genes, specifically at CpG sites, has been popularized due to its ability to identify cancer epigenetic biomarkers and predict cancer prognoses correctly, and yet most unsupervised machine-learning systems struggle to provide optimal analyses of comprehensive patterns of methylation levels at candidate genes due to their highly-dimensional properties. In this project, I investigated the use of data clustering and algorithmic filtration of such data to better analyze methylation levels in the BRCA2, EGFR, MSH6, and CEBPA genes using 3579 tumor methylation features from The Cancer Genome Atlas Program, finding that a relatively simple switch to Gaussian mixture modeling from traditional K-means clustering methods would increase accuracy by about 12.3%. Such algorithms provide a promising avenue to employ the insurgency of new methylation technology to better identify and diagnose various cancers, including leukemia, breast, lung, and colon cancer, to save lives in a more accessible method.
Ralitsa's Flight Ground School
Through a large span of experiences in flight and in physics, I discovered that there were little publicly available resources to sufficiently the material necessary to pass an FAA written exam for both a glider and private pilot license. For such reason, I created a modular course that goes through the nine vital sections of the test, equipped with practice tests, flash cards, textbook recommendations, and scholarship opportunities for further pursuit. In addition to the written format, I have also created a podcast under "Ralitsa's Flight Ground School on Air" on Spotify to bolster education and to allow for listening and learning on the go. Such education is the convergence of my personal learning through the Tidewater Soaring Society for Gliders, VSGC Private Pilot Ground School, and the VSGC Pathways Program. For those who are interested in the flight physics aspect as well, there are extra modules and sections dedicated to learning more about the science behind flight, as this is one of the aspects of flying which interests me most.
Through a large span of experiences in flight and in physics, I discovered that there were little publicly available resources to sufficiently the material necessary to pass an FAA written exam for both a glider and private pilot license. For such reason, I created a modular course that goes through the nine vital sections of the test, equipped with practice tests, flash cards, textbook recommendations, and scholarship opportunities for further pursuit. In addition to the written format, I have also created a podcast under "Ralitsa's Flight Ground School on Air" on Spotify to bolster education and to allow for listening and learning on the go. Such education is the convergence of my personal learning through the Tidewater Soaring Society for Gliders, VSGC Private Pilot Ground School, and the VSGC Pathways Program. For those who are interested in the flight physics aspect as well, there are extra modules and sections dedicated to learning more about the science behind flight, as this is one of the aspects of flying which interests me most.
CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL MY PROJECTS