Having already won the Otago Science Fair, attended the 2020 Royal Society Powering Potential workshop, achieved a Silver Crest award, established STEM blues at Columba, and generally excelled in all manner of scientific endeavours, students Olivia Charles and Maia Robertson were looking for their next challenge.

The task the girls decided to undertake was to step outside the usual limits of High School Science and enter the real world of academia, by having an article published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

The students decided to investigate the effect of microwaved water on the growth of plants. This topic had been identified as the focus of an earlier GATE project and delivered surprising results. There was also some conflicting information already published in scientific literature. Olivia and Maia decided to carry out their own investigation to add to the body of knowledge while bringing in chemical analysis of the water samples - an aspect that has been poorly examined in past research.

The girls worked with an advisor, Dr Anthony Stumbo from the Otago Museum, who offered advice for carrying out the investigation, as well as guiding them through the publication process. Nevertheless, a huge amount of work and learning was required by Olivia and Maia. Some of the challenges the girls had to overcome included: learning to use statistical software, running t-tests and ANOVAS to interpret and communicate their data, intricately examining the water chemistry of Dunedin tap water, and dusting off and recalibrating specialised chemistry equipment. The girls also had to identify and adapt to the formatting of an appropriate journal before going through the nerve-racking process of submitting for peer review and waiting for judgement.

On November 12, the day after seniors left Columba College for their study period, Olivia received an email informing her that their article had been accepted for publication. The moderator comments informed the girls that they only needed to make minor edits, advice they promptly followed.

The article ‘Effect of Microwaved Water on the Growth of Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) Seedlings’ will be published in ‘American Academic Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences’.

We are very proud of Olivia and Maia and congratulate them on their outstanding achievement.