BREMERTON — Some of the brightest academic minds in the state competed against each other in Bremerton recently.
They shared ideas on using microbes that live in soil to break down polyethylene and how to isolate lipids from leftovers from the winemaking process and then turn them into biodiesel.
And most of them weren’t old enough to vote.
It was the 58th annual Washington State Science and Engineering Fair (WSSEF) hosted by Bremerton High School March 27-28.
An estimated 3,000 people attended the fair over the weekend — the largest in the fair’s history.
“Each and every year the Fair achieves another level of accomplishment due to the students and their ability to meet the challenges of today’s complex world with true scientific research and engineering ingenuity,” said Caroline Stein, who’s been involved with WSSEF for 15 years.
The fair awarded $1.8 million in awards and scholarships, Stein said.
Much of the work was university-level quality, said Paul Verell, a biology professor at Washington State University.
“Some of the work is of incredibly high quality,” Verell said. “To think that they’re all high school students is astonishing.”
Verell wasn’t alone in his astonishment.
“Bottomline, when I was going to high school I did not know, not in my high school or in any high school the area that I know of, not one but two teams studying gas impurities and their effect on nuclear reactors,” said City Councilman Mike Sullivan, who participated as a judge at the fair.
Councilman Roy Runyon, who also participated as a judge, had a similar reaction.
“Some of our young people are extremely talented and the projects that we’re seeing are just amazing,” Runyon said.
Overall winners
WSSEF School of the Year: Sunnyside High School in Sunnyside.
WSSEF Science Teacher of the Year: Marjorie Yergen from West Valley Junior High in Yakima.
WSSEF Gold Medallion: Naveena Bontha, Hanford High School, Richland, 10th grade, “Developing Novel MOF Membranes for CO2 and H2 Capture.”
WSSEF Silver Medallion: Sriharshita Musunuri, 9th grade, “Application of Tetrahedrite and Magnesium Silicide in a Novel Thermoelectric Unicouple to Generate Electricity from Industrial Waste Heat.”
WSSEF Bronze Medallion: Swetha Shutthanandan, 11th grade, “Novel Design of Water Soluble Porphyrin Containing Supramolecular Complex Nanoparticles for Enhanced Photodynamic Cancer.”
WSSEF: Intel International Science and Engineering Fair finalists:
Mahalaxmi Elango, 11th grade, “Implementation of Machine Learning for Better Resistance Prediction in Acute Myeloid Leukemia.”
Meera Srinivasan, 12th grade, “A Novel Phenotypically-anchored Bioindicator for Assessing the Marine Impacts of Urban Stormwater Runoff.”
Rosemichelle Marzan, Hyrum Bock, Cameron Beardsley, 11th grade, “Parabolic Conflation Reflector.”
Best of Grade
First grade: J. Hazel, “Crazy Science 2: Building to Save Matt.”
Second grade: V. Adamala, “The Effect of Temperature on Magnet Strength.”
Third grade: T. Khandekar, “Windmill Efficiency.”
Fourth grade: H. Biane, “Beautiful Faces Craniofacial Abnormalities.”
Fifth grade: M. Hillier, “Electromechanical Energy Conversion.”
Sixth grade: A. Pierce, “Testing Tropisms.”
Seventh grade: I. MacMurchie, “Breaking a Spider Web by Subjecting it to Wind Using a Mathematical Model.”
Eighth grade: S. Weber, “Designing a Luminosity Meter to Detect Toxins Using Bioluminescence.”
