Trevor enjoys basketball, soccer and tennis and is a member of the SCA and Peer Helpers and is vice president of the A Club at his school. Trevor says that a career in science is ideal for Trevor because he is "very curious and likes to find out how things work."
Trevor's older brother is his mentor. "He took every AP science and math class his high school offered and won departmental awards in both math and science," says Trevor.
Trevor had discovered through prior research that vitamin C (ascorbic acid) plays a major role in plant growth and is a major function of photosynthesis. For his project, he wanted to determine what effect different concentrations of vitamin C would have on the growth of Zea mays (corn) plants. He hypothesized that if vitamin C promoted growth, it could be used to stimulate growth in both houseplants and crops. He also hypothesized that lower concentrations of vitamin C are more beneficial than higher concentrations and that Zea mays plants receiving the lowest concentration of vitamin C would grow the tallest and have the most dry-root mass.
Trevor planted 80 Zea mays seed in 80 containers and randomly divided the seeds into groups of 20. He applied a different concentration of vitamin C to each group every other day. After three weeks, he measured all the plants and calculated the mean heights and mean dry-root masses. Trevor proved his hypothesis that a smaller concentration of vitamin C enhances growth, as compared with the control that received only distilled water and with those receiving higher dosages. He speculates that plants receiving higher concentrations of vitamin C do not fare as well due to increased soil acidity.
