LAPS Students Make Their Mark At Regional Science Fair

IMG-7765.JPG

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”