Skaneateles Students Compete at Regional and International Science Fairs
Several Skaneateles Central Schools students recently competed at the 37th Annual Central New York Science and Engineering Fair. The Syracuse Museum of Science and Technology (MOST) hosted the event at the SRC arena at Onondaga Community College on Sunday March 20, 2016. Over 200 public, private and home-schooled students in the 11-county central New York area exhibited their work.
Two Skaneateles Middle School students also displayed projects at the event. Eighth grader Hannah Boyle won High Honors for her project Brown is the New Green: Utilizing MFC’s to Convert Organic Matter into Energy. She also won several awards: the SUNY ESF Best Environmental Science Project Award, Honeywell Summer Science Week at the MOST Scholarship, and Broadcom MASTERS Award. Seventh grader Nicolas Galbato also presented a project called The Watched Pot: Is There a Faster Way to Boil Water?.
Three Skaneateles High School students competed in the senior division (grades 9-12) of the event: Calvin Blackwell, Alex Van Riper and Alexander Wulff. Calvin Blackwell and Alexander Van Riper worked under the supervision of Dr. Charles Driscoll, Syracuse University Professor of Environmental Systems Engineering. Alexander Wulff received feedback on his project from engineering teacher Matthew Slauson.
Calvin Blackwell earned highest honors and was chosen to attend the New York State Science Congress in June for his project entitled The Comparisons of Mercury Concentrations in Fish in Fort Pond, Big Moose Lake and West Caroga Lake. He also won several awards: The Stockholm Water Prize, NASA Earth Systems Science Award and the American Meteorological Society Award.
Junior Alexander Van Riper earned high honors for his project called Effects of Calcium Materials in the Neutralization of Soils Acidified by Acid Rain. He also won two awards: American Chemical Society Award and American Meteorological Society Award.
This was junior Alexander Wulff’s fifth year competing at this regional science fair. He earned highest honors for his project: CastMinder: Embedded Smart Sensors and Companion Software to Detect the Onset of Conditions Associated with Cast Complications. He took home the Lockheed Martin Science and Technology award. His was also one of two projects awarded the grand prize, an opportunity to compete at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
Alexander Wulff recently returned from Intel ISEF. This year the fair was held in Phoenix Arizona from May 8 through May 13, 2016. Over 1700 students from 70 different countries presented their work to judges from around the globe. Intel ISEF is the largest pre-collegiate science fair in the world.
Alexander placed 4th in his category of embedded systems for his project CastMinder: Embedded Smart Sensors and Companion Software to Detect the Onset of Conditions Associated with Cast Complications. He also impressed the special award judges and received an award from the Patent and Trademark Office Society, as well as an honorable mention from the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE).
“Attending ISEF was an incredible experience for me,” Alexander said. “It was eye-opening to see all the amazing projects that people my age from all over the world have been doing.”
