Archive for Science Fairs

Two Massachusetts High School Students Make Finals of Intel Science Talent Search 2013!

January 30, 2013 editor High School Science Fairs, Science Fairs

Two Massachusetts high school students made it into the finals of the Intel Science Talent Search 2013!  A program of Society for Science & the Public, the talent search will culminate in an awards ceremony in March, where the 40 finalists — chosen from a field of more than 1,700 entrants — will compete for $63,000 in awards.  The top winner will receive $100,000 from the Intel Foundation.

Lexington High School student Surya Bhupatiraju’s project, “On the Complexity of the Marginal Satisfiability Problem,” propelled him to the finals of this year’s Intel Science Talent Search.  Surya is no newcomer to science fair success. Along with his project partner, Hao Shen, he won a team first place at last year’s Massachusetts State High School Science & Engineering Fair for their research investigating the spread of the Influenza A virus.  Surya went on to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair at MIT in 2012, where he won a Special Award from Agilent Technologies.

Jacob Johnson, a student at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, also made the cut at Intel STS 2013.  The Boxborough resident’s project is entitled, “Integrative Genomic Analysis of a Mouse Model of Malignant Breast Cancer Reveals Crucial and Novel Cancer Drivers.”  Like Surya, Jacob is a science fair veteran.  His 2012 project, ” Novel Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis in Malignant Breast Cancer,” took first-place honors at the 2012 Massachusetts State Science & Engineering Fair.

Jacob and Surya will join the other 38 finalists in Washington, D.C. for a week-long event from March 7-13.  There, they’ll undergo a rigorous judging process and meet with national leaders. In past years, this has included a visit with the president of the United States, interaction with preeminent scientists and display of their research to the public at the National Geographic Society. Top winners will be announced at a black-tie gala awards ceremony at the National Building Museum on March 12.

Intel has sponsored the Intel Science Talent Search for 15 years. Because Intel views education as the foundation for innovation, Intel and the Intel Foundation have invested more than $1 billion over the past decade, and Intel employees have donated close to 3 million hours toward improving education in more than 60 countries.

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Intel Science Talent Search 2013 Semifinalists

January 11, 2013 editor Science Fairs

Congratulations to the semifinalists in the 2013 Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS)!  The nations’s most prestigious pre-college science competition, Intel STS is a program of Society for Science & the Public (SSP).

“Together with Intel, we congratulate these exceptional students, look forward to watching their future progress, and commend the mentors, teachers, schools, parents, and communities that have contributed to theis success,” said SSP President Elizabeth Marincola.

Eleven Massachusetts students made the semifinals, rising to the top 300 from a crowd of 1,700 entrants.  They are:

Dhroova Aiylam (16)
Massachusetts Academy of Math & Science, Worcester, MA

Giridhar M. Anand (17)
Newton North High School, Newtonville, MA

Surya Narayanaraju Bhupatiraju (17)
Lexington High School, Lexington, MA

Aheli Chattopadhyay (17)
Foxborough High School, Foxborough, MA

Christina Chen (18)
Newton North High School, Newtonville, MA

Haejun Cho (18)
Milton Academy, Milton, MA

Rachel Herrup (18)
Commonwealth School, Boston, MA

Jacob Paul Smullin Johnson (17)
Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, Acton, MA

Aaron J. Klein (17)
Brookline High School, Brookline, MA

Shohini Kundu (17)
Amherst Regional High School, Amherst, MA

Jennifer Ming Walsh (18)
The Winsor School, Boston, MA

The semifinalists will be whittled down to a field of 40 finalists, who will be announced on January 23rd.  Finalists will compete for a top prize of $100,000 in March at the Intel Science Talent Institute held in Washington, DC.

See on Society for Science & the Public

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Sally Ride’s Legacy: Advancing STEM Education in Middle School

September 7, 2012 editor Middle School Science Fairs, Science Fairs, STEM Education

Broadcom Foundation Executive Director Paula Golden received a “high-five” voicemail from astronaut and STEM champion Sally Ride just weeks before Ride’s untimely death from pancreatic cancer: “Paula, this is Sally Ride. I clipped an article you wrote about the importance of motivating kids to study math and science in middle school and called to let you know that the Broadcom Foundation is on target with support for training teachers in STEM project-based learning.”

As Golden points out in a blog post on Huff Post Impact, Ride’s most significant legacy may well be the results of her effort to empower middle school teachers to inspire kid to pursue STEM studies — and eventually, careers — through Ride’s “Train the Trainer” program.  “Sharing STEM knowledge and inspiration has never been more essential,” Golden writes. “According to the National Academies, among wealthy nations, the United States ranked 23rd in science and 31st in math in standardized tests. We now know from study after study that the effect of a quality teacher on a child’s life is monumental.”

Broadcom does its part to advance science education among students in this important age group through its national science fair competition, the Broadcom MASTERS.  By supporting teachers and honoring excellence among students, Broadcom honors and advances the mission championed by the great Sally Ride.
See on www.huffingtonpost.com

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Massachusetts Students Make Broadcom MASTERS Finals!

August 30, 2012 editor Middle School Science Fairs, Science Fairs

Two of the 30 U.S. students in the final round of the Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars) competition finals hail from Massachusetts.

Daniel Lu of Carlisle, MA will compete in the finals with his project, “Psychoacoustics: The Perception of Volume.”  Assonet’s Ethan Messier will present “Wave To The Future (The Utilization of Marine Waves Using Wave Buoys to Generate Electricity).”  A program of Society for Science & the Public (SSP), Broadcom MASTERS is a leading science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competition for middle school students.

“The 2012 Broadcom MASTERS finalists represent the nation’s finest young innovators,” said Paula Golden, Executive Director of the Broadcom Foundation. “We need ideas from these students, and the thousands of others who participated in the Broadcom MASTERS this year to help solve the grand challenges of this century.”

Daniel and Ethan are among 16 girls and 14 boys who will compete in Washington DC on October 2 for more than $40,000 in cash prizes.  The top award is the $25,000 Samueli Foundation Award, a gift of Susan and Henry Samueli, co-founder of Broadcom Corporation.  While on their all-expenses-paid trip to the nation’s capital, the finalists will take field trips to historical sites illuminating American contributions to science and technology and visit Capitol Hill to meet their elected representatives.

“Independent research and hands-on learning is vital to the success of our bright young students, both while still in school and later in their careers,” said Elizabeth Marincola, President of Society for Science & the Public. “We hope that programs like the Broadcom MASTERS encourage students to expand and continue the process of scientific inquiry.”

Broadcom Foundation was founded to inspire and enable young people throughout the world to enter careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through partnerships with local schools, colleges, universities and non-profit organizations.

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To Strengthen Science, Bring Back Grammar

August 29, 2012 editor Education Innovation, Science Fairs

Randolph-Macon College English Professor Thomas Peyser makes an interesting case for the importance of STEM students having a strong foundation in grammar in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.  “…we can be confident that the abandonment of instruction in grammar is robbing us not just of future writers but of future scientists, physicians and engineers as well,” he writes.

With more and more emphasis on STEM education and less and less on grammar, the gap seems to be widening dangerously.  Scientists use words, sentences, and paragraphs to communicate, just as writers do.  Furthermore, STEM studies require students to distill complex sentences for comprehension.  Without an ample grasp on the fundamentals of grammar, students find themselves at a disadvantage on both the expressive and receptive sides of the communication equation.

One of the key benefits of science fairs is the opportunity they provide for multi-disciplinary learning. A student’s skills as writer, designer, and speaker all come in to play during the science fair process — excellent practice for real-world science.  “Engineers and scientists must be competent readers, writers and speakers of syntactically complex sentences,” Peyser points out. “That is why the English classroom is an important stop on the road to the lab, the clinic and the drafting table. Good grammar isn’t rocket science, but students can’t become rocket scientists without it.”
See on www2.timesdispatch.com

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“Extreme” Science Fair Project Set to Hit the Market… and the Slopes

August 24, 2012 editor Creativity and Innovation, Science Fairs

There’s plenty of room in the fast-moving world of extreme sports for science.  Ben Gulak proved it.  As a teenager, the now-23-year-old had a big ambition: Winning the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.  His senior project, the Uno, was a part Segway, part motorcycle vehicle that he developed as an environmentally friendly transportation option for consumers in Asia.  Although regulatory issues thwarted that vision, the chairman of Intel at the time, Craig Barrett noticed Ben’s project, which won the “most marketable” award.

From there, Ben launched his won engineering design company, called BPG Werks, to develop a similar, even cheaper-to-produce concept — the DTV Shredder.  Geared toward extreme-sports fans, he tough-looking all-terrain vehicle borrows elements from the Segway, motorcycle, and skateboard.   “I really like the idea of bringing something new into the world, to an industry that’s been stagnant for a long time,” Ben said.  With about 4,000 pre-sold to date, Ben anticipates that he’ll ship in November and will have 10,000 sold by the December holidays.
See on www.businessweek.com

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Nine Massachusetts Students Make Broadcom MASTERS 2012 Semifinals

August 16, 2012 editor Middle School Science Fairs, Science Fairs

The Broadcom MASTERS® (Math, Applied Science, Technology, and Engineering for Rising Stars), a program of Society for Science & the Public, is the national science, technology, engineering and math competition for U.S. 6th, 7th, and 8th graders that inspires and encourages the nation’s young scientists, engineers and innovators. This year’s list of semifinalists includes the following nine young stars from Massachusetts:

Dayle Kwang-Liang Wang | Grade 8
Massachusetts Region V Science Fair (USMA01)
Dover-Sherborn Regional Middle School
Gusty Discoveries

Evan Leon Tilley | Grade 6
Massachusetts Region III Science Fair (USMA03)
St. Francis Xavier School (Acushnet)
Salt Water Desalination

Ethan Wyatt Messier | Grade 6
Swansea New England Christian Academy
Wave to the Future: The Utilization of Marine Waves Using Wave Buoys to Generate Electricity

Katherine Miranda | Grade 7
Massachusetts Region II Science Fair (USMA05)
Grafton Home School
Nuclear Energy: How Can We Make It Safer?

Kumaran V.K. Ratnam | Grade 7
Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair (USMA50)
R.J. Grey Junior High School (Acton)
A Study of Macular Degeneration and a Design of an Ultrasonic Guiding Device to Aide the Patients

Daniel Lu | Grade 8
Carlisle Public Schools
Psychoacoustics: The Perception of Volume

Emily Anna Lane | Grade 7
Douglas Elementary School
Peel Power

David Anthony Bau | Grade 8
Lincoln Public Schools

Fan Liu | Grade 8
Quincy Central Middle School
Fly Why? Will Irradiation Produce Mutations on Drosophila melanogaster?

Congratulations to them all!
See on www.societyforscience.org

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17-Year-Old Builds Artificial ‘Brain’ to Detect Breast Cancer

July 26, 2012 editor Girls, Women, and Minorities in STEM, Science Fairs

Brittany Wenger, a 17-year-old science whiz from Florida, has taken the Google Science Fair’s top prize with her invention of an artificial brain with an uncanny ability to diagnose breast cancer. “I taught the computer how to diagnose breast cancer,” Brittany said. “And this is really important because currently the least invasive form of biopsy is actually the least conclusive, so a lot of doctors can’t use them.”

Brittany’s artificial neural network is a computer program coded to do turbo-charged brain-like thinking, in this case, with the power to detect complex patterns.  She built it with Java, deployed it in the cloud, and ran more than 7 million trials.  The accuracy of artificial neural networks improves with use.  Brittany brought her project to the point of having a greater than 99 percent sensitivity to malignancy.  “It will require a little bit of coding and tweaking, but it would be very easy to adapt it so it could diagnose other types of cancer and potentially other medical problems,” Brittany said.
See on www.futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com

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MA State High School Science Fair Standouts Compete in BioGENEius Challenge

June 15, 2012 editor Science Fairs

Two high school students who entered outstanding projects into this year’s Massachusetts State High School Science & Enginnering Fair (May 3-5 at MIT) will compete in this weekend’s BioGENEius Challenge in Boston.  According to Suzanne Grillo of MassBioEd — a local partner of the BioGENEius Challenge, “The BioGENEius Challenge is the premier competition for high school students inspired to excel in the field of biotechnology.”

Rahi Punjabi, a sophomore at Marlborough’s Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School, will showcase his project, “The Role of Garlic in Attenuating Pseudomonas Infection.”  He discovered that a therapy combining garlic with tobramycin could benefit patients with cystic fibrosis.

Oliver Dodd, a senior at Needham High School will compete in the BioGENEius Challenge with his project called “Cancer Growth Regulators.”  Oliver studied how the release of naturally occurring proteins in platelets may be manipulated to starve tumors.

Rahi and Oliver will be among 37 students from 11 states competing at the BIO Convention on Sunday (6/17).  If they advance from the first round of judging, the international competition awaits on Monday, June 18th.  Good luck to both of these amazing young scientists!
See on www.massbioed.org

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Intel Talent Search Winners Succeeded by Pursuing their Passions

June 14, 2012 editor Inquiry-Based Learning, Science Fairs

The top three finalists in this spring’s Intel Science Talent Search credit things like parental support, perseverance, a spirit of inquiry, and science fair participation for their successes.

For his project, first-place winner Nithin Tumma analyzed the molecular mechanisms in cancer cells and found that by inhibiting certain proteins, it may be possible to slow the growth of cancer cells and decrease their malignancy.

A high school senior from Michigan, Nithin suggests that his participation in science fairs earlier in his academic career laid a foundation for his recent success. “I wasn’t great at winning, but I had a good time doing it,” he said. “My parents always supported me. So I kept on doing it. And it worked out.” It worked out in a big way: Nithin received a cash prize of $100,000 as first-place winner of the Intel Science Talent Search.

According to second-place winner Andrey Sushko from Washington state, the habit of observing the world and asking questions laid a foundation for the kind of experimentation that led to his project: a tiny motor, only 7 mm in diameter, that uses the surface tension of water to turn its shaft. “This project started more or less with playing with model boats in the bathtub,” Sushko said.

For her project, third-place winner Mimi Yen focused on microscopic worms, specifically looking at their sex habits and hermaphrodite tendencies. The senior from Brooklyn, NY says that her parents had a significant role in her success. “When I pursued this research project, the most important thing was for them to support me,” she said. “And that’s what they did very well.” Mimi’s research could lead to a better understanding of the genes that contribute to behavioral variations in human beings.

The most distinguished pre-college science competition in the country, the Intel Science Talent Search is a program of Society for Science & the Public. The competition recognizes 40 high school seniors who are poised to be the next leaders in innovation and help solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. Intel funded $1.25 million in prizes for the competition’s winners. “We invest in America’s future when we recognize the innovative achievements of our nation’s brightest young minds,” said Intel CEO Paul Otellini.
See on news.investors.com

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