Overall Summary
Elementary Division Results Junior Division Results Senior Division Results
Presentations by Senior Winners
Thank You Notes
Indianapolis. Some home-schooled children participate.
Scientech had 40 people at the fair Tuesday (members and guests) to judge and do the record keeping.
participate in the June trip to Grand Valley State University (GVSU) and the Annis Water Resources Institute (AWRI). The travelers will be involved in a research cruise on Lake Michigan in one of the AWRI boats.
We will see some of this at our 24 March Scientech meeting.
Tess Seip, Project: High Bounce, Low Bounce, Any Kind of Bounce, Mary E Castle Elementary, Indianapolis
Zoe Pohl, Project: What a Bean Seed Needs to Germinate, Home Schooled, Carmel
Kate Nelson, Project: The Growing of Stalactites and Stalagmites, Smoky Row Elementary, Carmel
Natalia Chaudhry, Project: The Growing of Stalactites and Stalagmites, Smoky Row Elementary, Carmel
Melissa Baker, Project: Super Circuits, Hinkle Creek Elementary, Noblesville
Zoe VanderWater Project: Super Circuits, Hinkle Creek Elementary, Noblesville
Matthew Seaman Project: Can Giant Hissing Cockroaches Learn?, North Grove Elementary, Greenwood
Luke Frandsen Project: Can Giant Hissing Cockroaches Learn?, North Grove Elementary, Greenwood
Allexus Philley, Project: Bikini Bottom Boats, Liberty Park Elementary, Indianapolis
Jessica DeWitt, Project: How Fast Are You?, Mary Castle Elementary, Indianapolis
Evie Brooks, Project: Ice Wedging, Sycamore School, Indianapolis
Brooks Hepp, Project: i Hear i Loss, St. Simon, Indianapolis
Palmer Skeen Mackie, Project: Electrical Organ Discharge, Center for Inquiry School 84 IPS Indianapolis
Andrea Underwood, Project: Crime Scene 101: Fingerprints, Plainfield Community, Middle School, Plainfield
Sofia Veraldi, Project: How Much Trash Can We Save From Going to the Land Fill, Center for Inquiry School 84 IPS, Indianapolis
Drew Ahner, Project: Propane, Noblesville Intermediate School, Noblesville
Sophia Cothrel, Project: Do Plants Have Feelings, School:St. Simon the Apostle, Indianapolis
James Delaney, Project:The Efficiency of Fluorescent Lightbulbs, School: St. Monica, Indianapolis
Anna Kelly, Project:In Hot Water:The Effect of Heated Water on Plants, School: St. Luke Catholic, Indianapolis
Conner Reagan, Project: Polymers the Atom Party, School: The Oaks Academy, Indianapolis
Miguel Palabrica, Project: Indy Water: Is It Safe? School: St. Louis de Montfort, Fishers
Raelon Bolton, Project: Water Pressure, School: Center for Inquiry, IPS #84, Indianapolis
Francesca LaRosa, Project: What Factors Affect the Pitch of Glass, St Barnabas School, Indianapolis
Grace Kinnaman, Project: H2 - UH-O, St.Maria Goretti, Westfield
Josh Bleisch, Project: Endothermic and Exothermic, Noblesville Middle School, Noblesville
Austin McDonald, Project:Water Quality Comparison, Heritage Christian Middle School, Indianapolis
Celeste Muscatieuo, Project: Non-Point Polution- The Effect of Water Runoff , Franklin Twshp Middle School, Indianapolis
Maryam Muhammad, Project: Dissolved Oxygen in Water, School of Knowledge, Indianapolis
Mahnoor Khudadad, Project: Dissolved Oxygen in Water, School of Knowledge, Indianapolis
Kendall Fisher, Project: How the Density of Salt in Water Effects How Much Weight a Boat Can Hold, Franklin Twshp, Middle School, Indianapolis
Jordan Burton, Project: Mind the Music, Noblesville High School, Noblesville
Hannah Martinez, Project: Bottled or Tap?, Noblesville High School, Noblesville
Erika Ocampo, Project: Fake Waves, Noblesville High School, Noblesville
Jonathan Nance, Project: Aerobird, Noblesville High School Noblesville
Josh Compton, Project: Horn Blasters/Air Horn Testing, Noblesville High School Noblesville
Chelsea Aton, Project: How Clean is Our Water?, Noblesville High School Noblesville
Mark Harmas, Project: Water Works, Noblesville High School , Noblesville
Kylie Foster, Project: Testing the Safety of Water, Noblesville High School , Noblesville
Allen Graham, Project: Frozen in Time: the Time it Takes Water to Freeze, Noblesville High School , Noblesville
Brandon Mattox, Project: Salty Water, Noblesville High School , Noblesville
Daniel Mieth, Project: Road Salts in Waterways, Midwest Academy of Indiana, Carmel
Rachel Sinders, Project: Once Upon a Clear Lake: How Fertilizers Affect Water, Noblesville High School , Noblesville
Jessica Cashman, Project: Do Your Flies Wear SPF?, Heritage Christian School, Indianapolis
Emily Kerns, Project: We Are Our Own Worst Enemy - Nine Common Pollutants, Noblesville High School, Noblesville
1st PLACE: Mia Chen, Carmel High School, Carmel PROJECT: Kinase Suppressor of RAS Modulates Multiple Inflammatory Mast Cell Function,Teacher Thomas Maxam received the LEWIS A. MARSHALL AWARD OF MERITChris Zabriskie, Project: Magnetic Braking, Bishop Chatard, Indianapolis
Last week, the Central Indiana Regional Science & Engineering Fair was held at the state fairgrounds. Today's program gave the winners from grades 9-12 the opportunity to come to Scientech and present their projects. The club recognizes the students and their achievement, and also applauds those who served as mentors and faculty sponsors.
On Tuesday, 18 March, the 1st through 5th graders competed. There were approximately 150 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders involved. They were not judged, but each participant was given a ticket to the Children's Museum. About 250 4th and 5th graders entered the fair, and they were judged by 40+ judges, many Scientech members.
On Thursday, 20 March, grades 6-12 participated. On this day there were almost 400 presentations, again judged by 40+ judges, many from Scientech. Students of grades 6, 7, and 8 received a total of 27 awards. The same number of awards was given to the students of grades 9-12. In addition, 27 students were invited to participate in the annual boat trip at Grand Valley State University in Michigan.
The 1st place winner in the 9th grade was John Elmore of Noblesville High School, for his project entitled "Heart Rate Fluctuation Fun." John's faculty adviser was Kristi Janson. John told us he was interested in the effect the energy drink Red Bull, with its caffeine, has on the heart. As part of his project, he built his own electrocardiograph, and constructed an interface between it and his computer so that the results could be analyzed. The in vivo part of his project involved studying the heart activity of some of his friends before and during exercise on a treadmill, both with and without the energy drink. John concluded, after finding more abnormal heart beats after the energy drink than before, that the drink causes abnormal heart beats.
The 10th grade winner was Ovini Rodrigo of Park Tudor High School, taught and mentored by Mr. Talbert of Park Tudor and Dr. Denys of Clarian Hospitals. This project was called "Shutting a Window of Opportunity: Selection of Antibiotic Resistance in Pseudomonas." Ovini told us she used colonies of staph epidermidis to study whether antibiotic resistance to ciprofloxacin would change when the antibiotic was removed from the culture's medium. She found that the resistance faded in this situation. She also found ciprofloxacin is associated with the development of cross-resistance to imipenem and meropenem, and with reduced susceptibility to doripenem.
The 11th grade competition was won by Meelyn Pandit of Noblesville High School, with his project "Using polyphenolic flavonoids to Inhibit the Growth of Staph Epidermidis." His faculty adviser was Mr. Charles Emmert. Meelyn explained that he used 4 commercially available flavonoids to test whether they would inhibit the growth and multiplication of staph epidermidis. After performing many serial dilutions of the test materials, and after growing many test cultures of the organism, he found that one of the flavonoids, abbreviated EGCG, was an effective inhibitor of the bacterial growth. Three of the flavonoids he tested are in green tea, known to be a rich source of these substances.
The 12th grade winner was Mia Chen of Carmel High School for her project "Kinase Suppressor of RAS Modulates Multiple Inflammatory Mast Cell Functions," advised by Mr. Thomas Maxam. Some cancers are known to arise from sites of inflammation, and the inflammatory reaction involves a particular type of cell called a mast cell. Mia's project studied the relationships between the cancer and the mast cells, and found that the cancer does indeed play a role in regulating the mast cell's function.
At the conclusion of the meeting all the advisors were presented the Lewis A. Marshall Award of Merit for their encouragement of young scholars. All the students were warmly congratulated for their achievement and encouraged to continue their efforts.
Notes by Tom Spradlin
These thank you notes came to Scientech and the Foundation as a result of the 2008 Regional Science Fair. Most of the time our reward is a smile, but in these cases, we have tangible proof we are making a difference.
Kristi Janson is the 9th grade teacher for Brendon (John) Elmore at Noblesville High. They were both at Scientech to accept their awards.
Courtney Hull was the overall winner for the 4th and 5th grade.
Mrs Janice Hull sent a nice note to accompany the note from Courtney. Unfortunately, her note was a little difficult to scan clearly.