TNJSF JEI Award Winner: Ahisha Ravi

Ahisha Ravi attends Millburn High School in New Jersey and felt inspired by her and her peer’s experiences to understand why an individual’s test anxiety could affect others. After looking deeper into the literature, Ahisha learned about stress contagion, a phenomenon that describes how the stress experienced by an individual can affect others. Determined to find a way to stop the spread of stress contagion, Ahisha developed a treatment strategy aimed to increase a subject’s self confidence. Her study revealed that subjects that underwent her treatment regimen experienced a reduction in stress levels which may have the potential of helping researchers develop treatments to mitigate the spread of stress contagion.

When reflecting on her research experience, Ahisha shared a challenge she faced was difficulty in finding willing test subjects to comply with her treatment strategy. She shared that in looking for subjects, some of her subjects did not fully adhere to her treatment strategy or dropped out. Still, Ahisha remained dedicated to her project and maintaining a sample pool that had participants of different genders and racial identities. While preparing her presentation for TNJSF, Ahisha found repeated practicing her presentation increased her confidence in presenting and ability to engage in deep discussions with the judges.

Congratulations to Ahisha and her success at TNJSF! We can’t wait to see what she does next!

The material on this page was prepared by Hannah Thompson, JEI Managing Editor and Claire Otero, JEI co-Editor in Chief. Ahisha Ravi provided the photo and answers to standard questions which were lightly edited for clarity.