CLEVELAND — The Northeast Ohio Science and Engineering Fair sends the top winners to the International Science Fair to compete against STEM projects from around the world. This year, four students were among the winners. And we’re talking some serious science.
“I investigated a potential cause of tau fibrils in our brain, which is believed to be a cause of Alzheimer's disease,” explained Samyuktha Iyer from Laurel School.
Basically, tracking proteins in the brain and why they form Neurofibrillary tangles that disrupt the communication in the brain leading to Alzheimer’s.
For Samyuktha, this research is personal. “My grandma actually suffered with Alzheimer's for 15 years,” she told us.
Another project looked at monitoring water quality.
“I was trying to use Daphnia magna, which are an aquatic plankton. They're very tiny as a biological indicator of water quality, using their heart rate, population rate of change and movement speed over time,” said Mentor High School student Madeline Bender. “I really fell in love with this organism as I did more research because I think they're adorable, but they're very, very interesting.”
“So one of my biggest passions is trying to design ways in which I can make the world more sustainable for generations to come,” said Beatrice Hardacre from Hawken School
How is she making that passion come to life? By tackling truly recyclable plastics.
“I took natural inputs from biomass, such as, you know, the shells of palm crabs or olive oil or beer, and use that to create a recyclable and sustainable polymer,” explained Hardacre.
Or exploring the sky using Photometry, a method of determining the age and distance of stars with photography, using an affordable camera.
“And usually, people will spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars getting started. So, my project was essentially creating a system that's much less expensive, but just as accurate as a really high cost system,” said West Geauga High School student Bryn Morgan. “It really makes astronomy and photometry as a whole a lot more accessible.”
All four are planning on a STEM career related their research’s field of study. All four also agree, that attending the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
“It was so amazing to get to talk to people from all these different countries and even just all around the United States,” said Iyer.
“One of the biggest things that I really took away was getting to make connections to the people that are around me because I had never met the majority of the people I went with before,” remarked Bender.
“The best night for me was we did this pin trading event in which people all made different pins that were representative of the place that they were from,” said Hardacra.
“There were so many people, I think they said 63 countries represented. So, people from countries I'd never even heard of for there,” said Morgan.
The Great Lakes Science Center provides judges and prizes in the local competition. The students’ work is on display at the science center through June to inspire other students to participate in a local science fair of their own.
