Cool for the summit

With a father as an engineer, the Landsberger brothers have been exposed to the science field since childhood, and have now begun their own work. On Sept. 15, senior Huws Landsberger and junior Rei Landsberger attended the China Climate Leaders Summit concerning greenhouse gas effects. This summit was established by President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Landsbergers debuted their scientific findings at this summit.
Huws Landsberger’s research focused on the effects of the temperature on salt marsh plant growth. He studied how fluctuation in temperature changed plant growth at the Cabrillo salt marsh. Huws estimates he spent six months planning and researching his project. For the creative portion of his project, Huws used what he learned from his Environmental Science Advanced Placement class from last year. To conduct his research, Huws went to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro. There, he met mentors who encouraged and helped him with his work. Science Research teacher Peter Starodub advised Huws on the deadlines and direction of his project.
“[Science research] is interesting because it involves knowledge outside of what you learn in school, and you get to focus on something you are actually interested in,” Huws said. “It’s pretty fun to do your own thing.”
Rei Landsberger was interested in a different aspect of environmental research. Rei’s project focused on creating a solar tracking device that helped direct solar panels at the sun during the day. Rei decided to work with solar panels because he has always been interested in renewable energy and in the versatility of a solar panel. Rei approximates the total work time for his project to be around five months.
“I hope to pursue [work on solar panels], or the science of engineering or maybe go into something more theoretical like physics,” Rei said.
Several high profile people attended the summit, including California Governor Jerry Brown, other politicians from around the U.S. and China and executives from companies that promote green energy. In addition to presenting their projects, the brothers were able to join a delegation and listen to speeches about the Chinese climate policies being passed to help China become a cleaner country. They previously had no knowledge of Chinese energy policies.
“There were few people invited and very few representing high schools,” Huws said. “It was nice to have two of us from Peninsula.”