Samuel Lossef
Sam Lossef was born and raised in Washington, DC, where he graduated summa cum laude from the School Without Walls. He is a three-time finalist at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). At Columbia University, Sam intends to study Materials Science and Engineering.
Sam first became interested in engineering during his freshman year of high school when he conducted research on improving the efficiency of Stirling engines using pyrolytic graphite, a material which contains the nanomaterial graphene. He presented this research at the 2016 Intel ISEF conference.
Sam also worked as a summer apprentice at the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in the Spacecraft Engineering Department. He focused on developing highly efficient 3D printed antennas for space solar power transmission. He presented his research at the 2017 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair where he received a First Place Award from the United States Air Force and a Second Place Award from the US Patent Office Society. He was also recognized as a scholar in the Regeneron Science Talent Search for a paper entitled, “Printenna: A 3D Printed Biquad Yagi Antenna for Transmission of Space Solar Power”.
The following summer, Sam returned to the NRL to conduct computer simulation research on a variety of novel and untested antenna shapes to evaluate their efficiency for transmitting RF power from space. He presented his project entitled, “Investigation of Novel Antenna Designs Using In Silico Modeling” at the 2018 Intel ISEF competition, where he received the Second Place Grand Prize in the Energy/Physical Category and a Second Place Special Award from NASA.
In his spare time, Sam enjoys playing jazz on the saxophone and classical music on the guitar.