Alex Castronovo

About

I am an 11th grade student at Florida Atlantic University High School with a passion for software development. Through my eight years of programming, I have developed a strong foundation in Python and Java and continue to expand my knowledge in C, C++, Julia, and web development.

I also have experience in data science, graphics programming, working with REST APIs, Linux, and Amazon Web Services (which I use to host this website).

Work Experience

1. Max Planck Florida Instute for Neuroscience

   Magar Fellowship

   Summer 2024

   

   I am a Magar Fellow at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience in the summer of 2024. I am working with the Electron Microscopy (EM) core to develop a software tool written in Python that will automatically analyze synapsyes within EM images of the brain. Its aim is to calculate the surface area of the postsynaptic density facing the presynaptic terminal.

   This data is important because the surface area of the postsynaptic density is correlated with the strength of the synapse, so this tool will help researchers understand the strength of synapses in the brain. Previously, the EM core used a manual technique that required two years to analyze a few hundred synapses. In contrast, this tool can complete the same task in a few hours.

Education

1. Florida Atlantic University High School

   Fall 2023 - Spring 2027 (expected)

   GPA: 4.0

   

   I am an 11th grade student at Florida Atlantic University High School on the Jupiter, FL Honors College campus. FAU High School has a unique structure where students are directly enrolled full-time at Florida Atlantic University, requiring us to take university courses to fill all high school credits. I am on track to graduate with a Bachelor's degree one year after I graduate high school.

2. Stanford Online High School

   Fall 2022 - Spring 2023

   GPA: 3.9

   

   I was a 9th grade student at Stanford Online High School for the 2022-2023 academic year. I took the AP Computer Science A course and achieved a 5 on the AP exam.

   I also took an astrophysics course, which is the most influential course I have taken. It exposed me to the world of astrophysics, academia, and the process of writing scientific a paper. Through this course, I published to the peer-reviewed Journal of Double Star Observations and also wrote a pre-print on data analysis of galaxy filaments. This experience helped me with subsequent research projects at FAU.

Projects

1. Launchify

   

   Launchify is a full-stack web application and service that notifies users via text or email when a rocket is about to launch. The Launchify service is free and fully customizable, with up to 3 notifications per launch and notifications up to 24 hours before launch.

   Go to Website

2. Multiplayer Sudoku

   Multiplayer Sudoku lets you and your friends solve the same Sudoku puzzle together in real-time over the internet, adding a new dimension of collaborative fun to this classic game.

   

   Go to Website Go to GitHub

3. JANGL

   

   JANGL is an acronym for "Java Graphics Library." It is a software library I created utilizing the OpenGL graphics API to make the process of developing 2D graphics and games in Java easier by abstracting many low-level concepts. JANGL is designed to be simple while still allowing the option to access many low-level features, such as overriding the shader automatically applied to an object.

   Go to GitHub

4. Mathematix

   Provided a heavy contribution to an in-development web application which uses 'node blocks,' allowing the user to graph mathematical functions with a visual interface. My contribution primarily focused on bug fixes, code improvements (refactoring), and some quality-of-life features. Our main inspiration for this project is to combine the nodeblock-style interface seen in the Blender software with the graphing capabilities of the Desmos graphing calculator. In 2024, the minimum viable product of this project won first place in the QubitX Hacks competition with over 560 participants and 40+ projects.

   

   Go to Website Go to GitHub Go to Devpost

5. Golden

   

   GOLDEN (Gold Labeling and Density Evaluation Network) analyzes the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI) gold particle dataset. It identifies immunogold particles in an electron microscopy image of the brain, splits the particles into clusters, and evaluates the density of each cluster. The density is calculated using an approach derived from graph theory.

   On the left, you can see an example image of the input data. The gold particles are the small black dots.

   Go to GitHub