Westmount student utilized McMaster lab to help earn national award
Local high school student Samna Aziz (left) with McMaster assistant professor Kathryn Grandfield at the Bay Area Science & Engineering Fair, held at Mohawk College in March. This was the qualifying event that enabled Aziz to go on to the Canada Wide Science Fair in Fredericton.
All it took was one wrong movement. A slight twist while stretching, and something was off.
Not long afterward, Samna Aziz was in the waiting room of an orthopedic ER with a minor knee injury. It was here that she was exposed to a whole new world of crutches, casts and elderly patients awaiting treatment.
She never imagined that experience would one day lead to a national award.
Aziz, a promising young student from Hamilton’s Westmount Secondary School, was recently named a Manning Young Canadian Innovator at the Canada Wide Science Fair in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The honour also came with a $7,500 prize.
The Grade 11 student is striving to one day replace traditional bone cements — those that are often far too rigid and may contain toxic materials — with a new alternative that is biocompatible, non-toxic and has the tensile strength of human bone.
Eager to help others with debilitating knee injuries, she’s been working closely with McMaster assistant professor Kathryn Grandfield to further her research in the field.
“Samna is extremely motivated, and a very fast learner,” says Grandfield, an expert in biomaterials and bone interfacing in the Faculty of Engineering.
“She keeps a busy schedule, but always manages to make the most of her time. She’s very mature for her age.”
The duo originally crossed paths at a 2014 Go ENG Girl conference at McMaster, and soon became friends and colleagues.
For Aziz, the connection was instantaneous. It wasn’t long before she started turning up at Grandfield’s lab every Friday afternoon, spending two or three hours each week mixing bone cements and learning how to do complex calculations far beyond her grade level.
“Kathryn has been one of the most inspiring and best mentors I have ever had,” she offers.
“She has done some incredible research in biomaterials, and on top of her crazy schedule, had made time for me to come into the lab and work on a project. She also took the lengths to ensure I completely understood the material the project was based off of and enjoyed doing the work as well, which really helped to develop both the research project and my experience.”
With graduation on the horizon, Aziz says she’s considering studying at McMaster after finishing high school.
“I love how McMaster is so supportive of new research, and how something new is always being done or developed,” she says.
This year’s Canada Wide Science Fair took place at the University of New Brunswick, and featured 400 projects in three age categories involving 468 finalists. Competitors represented the top one percent of science fair projects conducted across Canada this year.
During the competition, Aziz also captured a Bronze Medal of Excellence in the Senior Category, and received the $1,000 Canadian Society for Clinical Chemists Award.
In October, the Westmount student will travel to Saskatoon for the Ernest C. Manning Innovation Awards.
