Los Alamos Public Schools students at the Northeastern New Mexico Regional Science & Engineering Fair. Photo Courtesy LAPS
LAPS NEWS
Students representing Los Alamos Public Schools made their mark at the Northeastern New Mexico Regional Science & Engineering Fair, garnering Best in Show in both the Junior and Senior Divisions, as well as 12 first place honors and 11 second place awards.
Twenty-three students are heading to the State Science Fair next month.
Juniors Lillian Petersen and Garyk Brixi received the Best in Show in the Senior Division for their project, “A Novel Computational Tool to Inform Cost-Effective Nutrition Interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa”. They were also awarded first place in the Senior Division of the New Mexico Junior Academy of Science Paper Competition.
Michael Bane, a 6th grade student at Aspen Elementary, received Best in Show in the Junior Division for his project, “Aerofoil Engineering”. In addition, he received first place in the Junior Division of the New Mexico Junior Academy of Science Paper Competition.
Eva Abeyta, District Science Fair Coordinator, offered her congratulations to the students who represented LAPS. “Our students represented the district well,” she said. “I am very proud of each and every one and the efforts that they put into their projects.”
The State Science Fair will be held April 5-6 at New Mexico Tech in Socorro.
Here are the results from the Regional Science Fair:
New Mexico Junior Academy of Science Paper Competition
Senior Division
1st place: Lillian Peterson & Garyk Brixi, Los Alamos High School
Honorable Mention: Karin Ebey, Los Alamos High School
Honorable Mention: Elijah Pelofske, Los Alamos High School
Honorable Mention: Christie Djidjev, Los Alamos High School
Honorable Mention: Robert Strauss, Los Alamos High School
New Mexico Junior Academy of Science Paper Competition
Junior Division
1st place: Michael Bane, Aspen Elementary School
2nd place: David Reichhardt, Mountain Elementary School
Honorable Mention: William Borovina, Mountain Elementary School
Honorable Mention: Sonja Ebey, Los Alamos Middle School
Honorable Mention: Katie Petersen, Mountain Elementary School
Animal Science
Junior Division
2nd place: Zoe Bent, Chamisa Elementary, “Picky Picky Birds”
3rd place: Betty Kang and Andrea Chapman, LAMS, “Would a Dog be Capable of Choosing a Favorite Color?”
Senior Division
1st place: Karin Ebey, LAHS, “Modeling Effects of Invasive Species”
Behavioral & Social Science
Junior Division
1st place: Katherine Petersen, Mountain, “How Easy is it to Read Simple Spelling”
3rd place: Madelyn Crotzer, LAMS, “Blue Light? Sleep Tight?”
Honorable Mention: Elise Ovaska, LAMS, “Overthinking Everything”
Senior Division
2nd place: Nilesh Mukundan, LAHS, “There’s an App for That!”
Biology
Junior
1st place: Conlan Wilds-Rivera, LAMS, “Evolving Euglenas”
2nd place: Marcos Martinez, Barranca Mesa, “Bacteria Wars”
3rd place: Molly Couture, Barranca Mesa, “Yeast Fermentation in Different Types of Bread Flours”
Senior
1st place: Charles Strauss, LAHS, “Protein Function Prediction via Artificial Intelligence”
Chemistry
Junior Division
2nd place: Rebeca Rocha, LAMS, “What Affects the Rates of Enzyme Catalyzed Reactions”
Computer Science
Junior
1st place: Alexander Livescu, LAMS, “Adventures in QC”
2nd place: Quinton Geller, LAMS, “Boosting WiFi”
3rd place: Andrew Morgan, Barranca, “Detecting Shock Waves with Al”
Senior
1st place: Elijah Pelofske, LAHS, “Using QAOA to Solve NP-Hard Problems on NISQ Devices”
Earth Science
Junior
1st place: Yunseo Kim, LAMS, “Global Warming and Your Health”
2nd place: Veronica Parra, LAMS, “What is the Radius of the Earth’s Core?”
3rd place: Eliza Lamborn, LAMS, “Best Solar Oven”
Senior
2nd place: Robert Strauss, LAHS, “Analyzing the Kola Tsunami”
3rd place: Christie Djidjev, LAHS, “Ice vs. Water: Estimating Ice Shelf Melt Rates”
Engineering
Junior
Honorable Mention: Zachary Sheats, Piñon, “Getting Into Shape”
Honorable: David Reichhardt, Mountain, “Robustness on Lego Bridges”
Environmental Science
Junior
3rd place: Annabella Rosette, Barranca Mesa, “How Will Feeding Earthworms Different Diets Affect Their Growth?”
Senior
1st place: Lillian Petersen and Garyk Brixi, “A Novel Computational Tool to Inform Cost-Effective Nutrition Interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa”
Mathematical Science
Junior
1st place: Sonja Ebey, LAMS, “Non-Identical Triplets”
2nd place: Julian Singell, LAMS, “Are New Hire Employees Capabilities Accurately Evaluated During the Hiring Process?”
Medicine and Health Science
Senior
1st place: Anna Abeyta, LAHS, “The Study of Spinal Muscular Atrophy and the Survival of Motor Neuron in Arabidopsis thanlilia”
Physics & Astronomy
Junior
1st place: Mikey Bane, Aspen, “Aerofoil Efficiency”
2nd place: Katie Crooker, LAMS, “The Hot Chocolate Effect”
3rd place: Linnhtet Htoon, Piñon, “Newton’s Cradle”
Senior
1st place: Phillip Ionkov, LAHS, “Experimental Validation of Quantum Entanglement Using Affordable Apparatus“
Plant Science
Junior
2nd place: Brayden Allen, Piñon, “Sprouting Seeds with Raspberry Pi”