LAPS Sweep Highest Honors At Northeastern New Mexico Regional Science And Engineering Fair

LAPS Regional Science FairLAPS students competed March 7 in the Northeastern New Mexico Regional Science and Engineering Fair. Photo Courtesy LAPS

LAPS NEWS

Los Alamos Public Schools students traveled to Highlands University March 7 to participate in the Northeastern New Mexico Regional Science and Engineering Fair

Los Alamos students took all of the Highest Honors at the Science Fair, and 24 LAPS students will be going to the 2020 State Science and Engineering Fair. The complete list of winners, including honorable mentions, is attached.

Highest Honors:
Best in Show (Senior)
Lillian Peterson and Max Corliss (Los Alamos High School)

Best in Show Runner-up (Senior)
Phillip Ionkov and Anthony Lestone (Los Alamos High School)

Best in Show Alternate #1 (Senior)
Anna Abeyta (Los Alamos High School)

Best in Show Alternate #2 (Senior)
Charles Strauss (Los Alamos High School)

Best in Show (Junior)
Andres Interregui and Daniel Kim (Los Alamos Middle School)

Elementary, middle and high school students from Northeastern New Mexico region bring their science projects to the Regional Science Fair to compete in a variety of science-related categories. “I am very proud of our students who represented LAPS at the Regional Science Fair,” said school district Science Fair Coordinator Eva Abeyta. “I hope they enjoyed expanding their knowledge and being able to share their findings with a larger community.”

The following are the 2020 Northeast New Mexico Regional Science and Engineering Fair Official Results 

(*Denotes Bid to State Competition; (**Denotes Bid to International Competition;) 

HIGHEST HONORS: 

**Best in Show (Senior) 

Lillian Peterson and Max Corliss (Los Alamos High School) **Best Show Runner-up (Senior) 

Phillip Ionkov and Anthony Lestone (Los Alamos High School) Best in Show Alternate #1 (Senior) 

Anna Abeyta (Los Alamos High School) Best in Show Alternate #2 (Senior) 

Charles Strauss (Los Alamos High School) Best in Show (Junior) 

Andres Interregui and Daniel Kim (Los Alamos Middle School) 

Animal Science (Junior Division): 

1st Place- Kiowa Carlson* (Los Alamos Aspen Elementary) 

“Critters Caught on Camera” 2nd Place- Sasha Simakov* (Los Alamos Middle School)  “ABCD: Abundance of Bacteria on Cats and Dogs” 3rd Place- Henry Middleton (Los Alamos Middle School) “Are Dog’s Mouths Really Cleaner than Humans’ Mouths?” HM- Angel Pacheco (Taos Middle School) “The Effects of GMOs” 

Animal Science (Senior Division): 

1st Place- Karin Ebey* (Los Alamos High School) “Climate Change on Crocodilians: Modeling the Effects of Variations in Rainfall 2nd Place- Marcus Froeschle* (Taos Academy Charter School) “Ultrasonic Disruption 2: Impact of Ultrasonic Frequencies on Lumbricus terrestris” 

Behavioral and Social Science (Junior Division): 

1st Place- Ciara NiChearnaigh* (Los Alamos Aspen Elementary) “Is First the Worst? Does Going First in a Competition Give you a Disadvantage?” 2nd Place- Iliana Sandoval* (Acequia Madre Elementary) “Do Words Matter?” 3rd Place- Lucas Robbins (Mandela International Magnet School) “Evil: It’s in the Eyes…” HM- MairiJane Cook (Taos Charter School) “Forget What Your Mom Tells You, Electronics are Good for You” 

Behavioral and Social Science (Senior Division): 

No Awards 

Biology (Junior Division): 

1st Place- Natalie Smith* (Roy Municipal Schools) “Way Down Yonder Where the Cattails Grow” 2nd Place- Yana Gonzales* (Taos Academy Charter School) “Junk Food’s Hidden Mysteries” 3rd Place- Ethan Martinez (Los Alamos Mountain Elementary) “Which Goes Fuzzy First?” HM- John Cawkwell (Los Alamos Middle School) “Can the Building Blocks of Life Arise By Chance?” 

Biology (Senior Division): 

1st Place- Lillian Peterson and Max Corliss* (Los Alamos High School) “Activity by Contact Model to Predict Enhancer Gene Connection” 2nd Place- Nevaeh Aragon* (Roy Municipal Schools) “Who Can Take the Heat?” 

Chemistry (Junior Division): 

1st Place- Juliana Flores* (Taos Charter School) “Why So Sour?” 2nd Place- Ayden Clavel* (Roy Municipal Schools) “Sugar Happy” 3rd Place- Celia Pesiri* (Los Alamos Barranca Mesa Elementary) “The Effect of Temperature on Crystal Growth” HM- Isavela Vasquez (Taos Middle School) “Five Second Rule” 

Chemistry (Senior Division): 

1st Place- Rose Osborne* (Taos Academy Charter School) 6Shield vs. 2.0: Natural and Synthetic Textile Protection via Carbonate, Isopropanol…” 2nd Place- Zeynep Bastas* (United World College) “Which Food Should be Used in the Production of Bioplastic?” 

Computer Science (Junior Division): 

1st Place- Carlos Miller* (Taos Middle School) “Earth & Oil” 2nd Place- Amaya Lopez* (Taos Middle School) “Hat Apps” 

Computer Science (Senior Division): 

1st Place- Charles Strauss* (Los Alamos High School) Using AI to Detect Cancer” 2nd Place- Naveen Velappan* (Los Alamos High School) “Ardvino Controlled Mowerboat” 3rd Place- Ming-Yuan Lo* (Los Alamos High School) “Simulation of Granular Particles” 

Earth Science (Junior Division): 

1st Place- Brayden Allen* (Los Alamos Middle School) “Improving the Efficiency of Furnaces with Raspberry P:3” 2nd Place- Logan Moore* (Eldorado Community School) “The Effect of Surface Types on Air Temperature” 3rd Place- Flora Mack* (Taos Integrated School for the Arts) “The Layers of an Avalanche” HM- Jazmin Bernal (Taos Middle School) “Squeaky Clean” 

Earth Science (Senior Division): 

No Awards 

Energy and Transportation (Junior Division): 

1st Place- Loretta Montoya* (Roy Municipal Schools) “Heat Sink” 2nd Place- Santiago DeHerrera* (Taos Middle School) “Magnetic Transportation” 3rd Place- Stefan Breier* (Taos Integrated School for the Arts) “Aerodynamics Impact on Rocket Performance HM- Loren Suazo (Taos Middle School) “Does Sound Affect Fires’ Behavior?” 

Energy and Transportation (Senior Division): 

1st Place- Selma Baca* (Roy Municipal Schools) “Unload the Fuel” 2nd Place- Carter Brezina* (Taos Academy Charter School) “Powerskin: Light Energy Collection System for Perpetual Drone Power” 

Engineering (Junior Division): 

1st Place- Daniel Kim and Andres Iturregui* (Los Alamos Middle School) “An Innovative Military Tool to Keep Service Pilots Out of Dangerous Combat Situations” 2nd Place- Edwina Martinez* (Los Alamos Middle School) “Softball Bat Debate: Which is Better, Composite or Aluminum?” 3rd Place- Rylie Philpot* (Academy for Technology and the Classics) “Sand Survival” HM- Haiden Jorgenson (Los Alamos Middle School) “Building and Energy Conversion Cycle” 

Engineering (Senior Division): 

No Awards 

Environmental Science (Junior Division): 

1st Place- Jackson Fudge* (Roy Municipal Schools) “Nano Sphere Demolation” 2nd Place- William Borovina* (Los Alamos Middle School) “Where are the Trees in the Valles Caldera?” 3rd Place- Penelope Barry-Hoffman* (Los Alamos Barranca Mesa Elementary) “Does Paving Material Affect River pH?” HM- Londen Kessler (Eldorado Community School) “Ant CO2 Experiment” 

Environmental Science (Senior Division): 

1st Place- Anna Abeyta* (Los Alamos High School) “The Effect of Ungulate Grazing in the Valles Caldera” 2nd Place: Katherine Pacheco* (Taos Academy Charter School) “War of the Bloom 2: Natural Reduction of Algae Bloom & Impact on Environment” 3rd Place- Cadence Gonzales* (Academy for Technology and the Classics) “Particulate Matter” HM- Mays Hussein (United World College) “GOLGAV to Reduce Gas Waste” 

Mathematical Science (Junior Division): 1st Place- Cara Gauss* (Los Alamos Chamisa Elementary) “A World of Gaussian (Normal) Distributions” 2nd Place- Hyunoo Kim and Asher Koh* (Los Alamos Middle School) “How to Win at Monopoly” 3rd Place- Julian Singell (Los Alamos Middle School) “Are New hire Employees Capabilities Accurately Evaluated During Hiring Process?” 

Mathematical Science (Senior Division): 

1st Place- Robert Strauss* (Los Alamos High School) “Modeling Unknown Dynamical Systems with Neural Differential Equations” 2nd Place- Avi Pope* (Academy for Technology and the Classics) “Math Becomes Music” 

Medicine and Health Science (Junior Division): 

1st Place- MaryAlice Esquibel* (Roy Municipal Schools) “Diet Switch to Iron Rich” 2nd Place- Sylviana Baca* (Roy Municipal Schools) “Keep Bacteria at Bay, the Natural Way” 3rd Place- Cleome Bianga (Taos Charter School) “H2 Uh Oh” HM- Christopher Romero (Taos Middle School) “You are What You Eat” 

Medicine and Health Science (Senior Division): 

1st Place- Lukas Lahucky* (United World College) “The Effects of Induces Metabilic Acidosis on Insulin Binding” 2nd Place- Hiyona Mori* (United World College) “Alcohol Tolerance Phenotypes and ALDH2 Genotypes in Asian and Non-Asian Populations” 3rd Place- Daniel Pacheco* (Taos Academy Charter School) “The Brain Case: Cervical and Cranial Protection for Multi-Purpose Sports” 

Physics and Astronomy (Junior Division): 

1st Place- Xiaran Chen* (Los Alamos Middle School) “Understanding the Effects of Mass Center Location on Airplane Performance” 2nd Place- Amadeo Wildman* (Taos Integrated School for the Arts) “It’s What’s Inside that Counts” 3rd Place- Carson Ulrich (Los Alamos Aspen Elementary) “Bright Lights” 

Physics and Astronomy (Senior Division): 

1st Place- Phillip Ionkov and Anthony Lestone* (Los Alamos High School) “Measuring and Modeling the Energy Spectrum of Cosmic Ray Muons” 2nd Place- Aldo Rios* (Academy for Technology and the Classics) “Sonic Collisions” 3rd Place- Audrey Garcia and Angel Funck* (Academy for Technology and the Classics) “Breaking Rubber Bands” 

Plant Science (Junior Division): 

1st Place- Lucy Schreiber* (Taos Charter School) “Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones But Words Will Never Hurt Me” 2nd Place- Eliana Kaysing* (Taos Integrated School for the Arts) “Do Different Types of Water Affect Plant Growth?” 3rd Place- Rosario Dodd (Los Alamos Middle School) “An Environmental Hazard” HM- Sophia DeHerrera (Roy Municipal Schools) “Let the Seeds Tell the Story” 

Plant Science (Senior Division): 

1st Place- Anastasia Rees* (Academy for Technology and the Classics) “Roundup vs. Natural Herbicides” 2nd Place- Sofia Horn* (Academy for Technology and the Classics) “Growing Nung Bean Plants” 3rd Place- Tyler Gonzales* (Academy for Technology and the Classics) “E. coli on Organic vs. Non-Organic Lettuce” 

SPECIAL AWARDS: 

Women In Geosciences 

Flora Mack (Taos Integrated School for the Arts) American Chemical Society 

Benjamin Froeschle (Taos Academy) Ayden Clavel (Roy Municipal) Celia Pesiri (LA Barranca Mesa) Climate Change New Mexico 

Mays Hussein (United World College) Karin Ebey (Los Alamos High School) Air Force Research Laboratory 

Andres Interregui/Daniel Kim (Los Alamos Middle School) Stefan Breier (Taos Integrated School for the Arts) Xiaran Chen (Taos Academy) Hayden Greywolf (Taos Integrated School for the Arts) Office of Naval Research 

Ian Wald (Wood-Gormley Elementary) Maryalice Esquibel (Roy Municipal) Rose Osborne (Taos Academy) New Mexico Junior Academy of Science Paper Competition 

Lillian Peterson and Max Corliss (1st place Senior; Los Alamos High School) Karin Ebey (2nd Place Senior; Los Alamos High School) William Borovina (1st place Junior; Los Alamos Middle School)