About This Site - Our Team
The ThinkQuest team that designed this site was more talented than it was diverse. All team members are entering the 9th grade. Here is some information about each member's contributions and roles, as well as some personal background information. Keep in mind that the contributions listed of each member are just a sampling, as many other minor tasks for this project also needed to be performed as well, such as translation. Click on each person's face below to see more information.
Peter - Project Manager and Lead Web Developer
Peter was the leader of the ThinkQuest team. From recruiting team members to assembling the website, he was instrumental in every step. After consultation with the coaches, Peter set deadlines, meeting dates, and managed communication among the team. The Medicine and International Policy sections were the results of his work.
In addition to the research, Peter worked diligently with the team to create the layout of the website. His programming and web development expertise resulting from years of learning and two past entries in ThinkQuest, combined with his leadership, have brought the site to its magnificent condition.
In other areas, Peter enjoys student council activities. He is an avid debator. Peter's favorite subjects in school are mathematics and science. Camping and associating with friends are among his favorite pastimes.
Ray - Animation and Graphics Supervisor
Ray's mastery of Macromedia Flash MX 2004 furnished the site with its intriguing introductory movie, rDNA flash animation, and appealing header. He was there every step of the way providing aesthetic guidance and assistance. As a result of Ray's talents, the site is very pleasing to look at.
As a researcher, he completed the Myth and Fact and U.S. Law and Policy section flawlessly.
Ray is also an intense advocate of changing the ThinkQuest prize to notebook personal computers as was done years ago.
Jenny - Senior Graphics Assistant
Jenny was a great team member. The research that she did in the basic biology area was superb.
Her talents at graphics design yielded the icons for the navigation bar and other little additions throughout the site.
In our website, I researched and wrote about biology. Biology is a very detailed and complicated topic. After I was finished with biology, I was asked to draw icons to help with the navigation and appearance of the website. I enjoyed doing this since I like to draw. Aside from being apart of ThinkQuest, I also like playing sports and reading.
Isaac - Associate Director of Research
Isaac has become an expert of genetic engineering after many hours of research. Isaac was indispensable to the team as he took a leading role in the research. He was responsible for researching and explaining the recombinant DNA method, the cornerstone of genetic engineering. Other topics he covered included industry and agriculture. His superb writing brought to the site easily understandable writing.
Isaac's comical character also provided great emotional support to the team. He is an extremely talented musician and dedicated worker.
Masuma - Senior Political Analyst and Assistant Web Developer
Masuma was a great addition to the team. Her exquisite writing, research capabilities, critical thinking, and web development skills all aided the successful construction of the Human's Playground website.
ThinkQuest has been a very rewarding experience for me since I could collaborate various interests of mine, such as webdesign and writing. Also, the controversy section provided me an opportunity to argue with myself in a way, which turned out to be more interesting than most would imagine. Basically my thinkquest part of this summer is irraplaceable, and I go into highschool with more experience, more knowledge, and many more mistakes made.
Cong - Senior Research Assistant
Contributions: Cloning, Future, History, rDNA, Scientists Hobbies: Music, volleyball, hanging out with friends, reading, etc.
This ThinkQuest project took a lot of hard work but I really enjoyed it. I spent time with my friends, and learned how to creatively combine work with fun, such as "purloining" cake (see picture) after a pizza dinner, fighting with Isaac for kisses from Peter. ahem Hershey kisses, carpooling with Jenny, calling random people from Ray's cell address book, etc. At our last meeting, the day before school started, as the project, as our summers, drew to a close, I was satisfied to see that other than this website itself, we also accomplished a lot more.
I don't know what.. but something is wrong with my left eye in the above picture. Ray couldn't fix it in photoshop because Peter refused to acknowledge the abnormality, and doesn't have photoshop on his laptop.
Mr. Maa - Assistant Coach
This is my second year involved in Think Quest competitions. Serving as the assistant couch for this team, I kept a close eye on the team to meet the timelines. I also helped scheduling the team to have a face-to-face interview with Dr. Ranade who had extensive experience on genetic research at Bristol-Myers Squibb at New Jersey. I hope people benefit from reading this web site to learn more about genetic research.
Mr. Harman - Primary Coach
Mr. Harman was a highly supportive advocate of the team throughout the entire process. He took care of all the paperwork, including registration, approval, and submission. He also assisted the team by editing all of the written texts. He supervised the team and secured the school facilities for ThinkQuest. His faciliation and cooperation with the team resulted in this successful website.
Mr. Harman has been teaching eighth grade science at the Community Middle School in the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District for eighteen years. He spent another eleven years teaching science at The Hun School of Princeton. The Earth sciences are his favorite subjects to teach and he coaches golf and girls' basketball. Some other pastime activities that he enjoys are traveling the world, collecting rocks/fossils and playing golf. He and his wife of 24 years have a 14-year old son in the ninth grade.