STS 2012 Finalist Rachel Davis Describes Her Experience

Rachel Davis, Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS) 2012 Finalist, discusses her research, experience at the Intel STS, and more.

 

What was your experience being an Intel STS finalist like? 

The week I spent in Washington D.C. for Intel STS was the best experience of my life.  I was so honored to have been chosen as an Intel STS Finalist, and then the opportunity to fly to Washington D.C. and meet so many brilliant people was just incredible.  My teacher kept telling me that I would never be the same afterwards, and she was completely right.  All the finalists were treated like celebrities, followed around by cameras and given gourmet meals.  The judges were really fun to hang out with, and on the last morning I ate breakfast with two Nobel Laureates.  The best part was definitely the people; the other finalists were so smart and fun to be around, and I miss them so much.

 

Can you provide a short description of your research and how you initially became interested in this topic? 

Five years ago, my house burned down.  It was a traumatizing experience, and I lost absolutely everything that I owned.  However, I stuck to my studies, and I really wanted to help people and prevent what happened to me from happening to other people in the future.  I joined my local fire department as a volunteer, and became the first nationally certified firefighter in my department.  During my fire training, I saw that a lot more gas tanks are being made of plastics that burn quickly in car fires.  This facilitates a need for flame retardant plastics, and I decided to look for labs that would allow me to research how I could create these.

 

What makes your research different from what has been done with flame retardants in the past? 

Traditionally, halogenated substances, or those containing elements like bromine, have been added to materials to improve their flame retardancy.  However, these materials have been found to release really dark, dense smoke when they are on fire, and even when they are not on fire they are releasing harmful materials that we are inhaling every day.  I used a phosphate-based substance as an alternative to these harmful materials, and it worked as a great flame retardant additive to plastics!  Not only could these substances be added to biodegradable plastics, but I’m finding now that they work as great additives to non-biodegradable plastics for uses in electronics.

 

How has doing original research and participating in programs like the Intel STS affected you? 

Performing research in a distinguished science research laboratory was such an honor, and being recognized for this research was an even greater honor.  It really means a lot to me that my research was labeled as important and relevant to society; I want to make a difference, and getting recognized for what I have done really means a lot.  Intel STS taught me that I am important and that my research wasn’t just like everyone else’s.  I have made a difference and discoveries unlike any others, and I hope to inspire others to pursue such goals as mine in the future.

 

What are your future plans? 

This summer, I will continue my research with biodegradable flame retardant materials at Stony Brook University at the GARCIA MRSEC program, where I will also be supervising high school students who would like to compete in competitions like Intel STS and ISEF.  I’m really excited to teach students all about my research and how to use the equipment, and I can’t wait to show them how much fun working in a laboratory can be! In the fall, I will attend MIT majoring in materials science and engineering, where I hope to continue my research with polymers.  I’m so excited!

  

Do you have any advice for young students interested in science? 

Get involved early!!  I think that a lot of students don’t understand that science isn’t just studying from a book – it is all around you.  Science is the computer in front of you; looking at how the speaker vibrates to produce a sound and how it was told to speak in the first place.  Science is studying bird migration patterns and detecting land mines.  Asking questions about how things work is the first step to finding answers, and making great discoveries.  If a particular question intrigues you, go and look for the answer, no matter how difficult the journey to the answer might be. 

 

SSP Alum Rolf Barth Understands the Importance of Having Encouraging Parents

In the early 1940s in Jackson Heights, New York, a mother took her young son, who was about 5 or 6 years old, to the movies. They saw Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet about Paul Ehrlich, a famous German doctor and Nobel Prize winner who found a treatment for syphilis and was the originator of the concept of antibodies.

 

Little did she know, that experience would change her son’s life. Rolf Barth (STS 1955) says it was then, in that theater, that he decided his life’s work. “That was it. I decided I wanted to be a doctor and a scientist.” His mother continued to help him pursue his dreams and, years later, drove him to the main post office in New York City to make sure that his STS project on immunologic enhancement was sent off to the Westinghouse Science Talent Search (now the Intel STS). Several months later he remembers telling his Italian grandmother, who didn’t speak English very well, “I’m expecting a very important telegram…so don’t lose it!”

 

Rolf received the telegram (which he still has) letting him know that he was an STS finalist. He spent a “marvelous week” in Washington, DC, making friends that he still keeps in touch with, including fellow finalist and Nobel Laureate Roald Hoffmann. “Being a Westinghouse winner helped me tremendously,” Rolf says. “That resulted in me getting a number of scholarship offers from universities.” He decided to accept a full tuition scholarship from Cornell University, from which he graduated in 1959.

 

Parenthetically, Roald Hoffmann has been at Cornell since 1965 and he and Rolf still keep in touch.
Rolf went on to conduct research with Nobel Prize winner George Snell, and earned a medical degree from Columbia University. He has published over 335 papers and is still as active as ever as a Professor in the Department of Pathology at The Ohio State University.

 

At the end of his extended CV, Rolf lists another major achievement. Of the many people he has trained over the years, he notes, that his most important trainees have been his four children. His two sons and two daughters all have ventured into their own fields of science and now work as a rocket scientist, an anesthesiologist, a professor of molecular biology, and a transplant surgeon.

Q&A with SSP Alumna Meredith MacGregor

Meredith MacGregor

Meredith MacGregor, the Intel Science Talent Search 2007 Ninth Place Winner and one of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2006 top award winners, discusses the Brazil Nut Effect, research at Harvard, inspiring girls to do science, and more.

 

What are your memories of Intel STS and Intel ISEF? What was it like to win the top award at Intel ISEF?
It is very difficult to distill all of my memories from Intel STS and Intel ISEF into a short enough response to fit into this interview.  While it may sound cheesy, some of my favorite memories from high school are from Intel STS and Intel ISEF.  Beyond that, some of my best friends are from Intel STS and Intel ISEF and I still keep in touch with many people from my year at Intel STS on a regular basis. It is truly a gift to know and have connections with such a talented group of scientists.

 

Winning the top award at Intel ISEF was an amazing experience.  I was absolutely floored when I heard my named called, so it took me a second to realize that I had to walk up to the stage. Given the incredible talent and competition at Intel ISEF, I think it is impossible to expect winning such an award.  I remember just being stunned and overjoyed at the same time. And, I definitely remember the confetti! (I saved some of it afterwards.)

 

What exactly is the Brazil Nut Effect?
The Brazil Nut Effect (BNE) is a phenomenon that occurs in granular materials.  Essentially, vigorous shaking of a container holding a granular material will cause the components to separate by size, the largest particles rising to the top and the smallest sinking to the bottom.  The name was coined because when you first open a can of mixed nuts, all of the large Brazil Nuts are on the top with all of the smaller nuts underneath, but you can also observe this effect in your morning breakfast cereal.  For my Intel ISEF and Intel STS project, I conducted a series of experiments to study the convective flow that gets set up in a shaken container of granular material and to track how larger “intruder” particles of different densities are carried in that flow.  As it turned out, air pressure plays a critical role in determining how quickly the larger particles rise to the surface.

 

How has doing research when you were young affected your career trajectory?
Doing research when I was young had a definite impact on my career trajectory.  My early research projects gave me my first tastes of the thrill of finding something new out on my own and observing something that nobody else had seen before. By the time I began college, I could not imagine doing anything else but scientific research for the rest of my life and I am still following that goal today.

 

What are you up to now?
I just graduated from Harvard College in May of 2011 and I decided to jump right into graduate school afterwards.  Currently, I am studying as a first year graduate student in Astronomy and Astrophysics at Harvard University.  It was just too difficult to leave Cambridge and all of the amazing research opportunities here. For my current research project, I am studying the disks of dust and debris that exist around young, recently formed stars. By performing observations with submillimeter interferometers like the SMA and ALMA, we hope to be able to probe the process of planet formation within these disks.

 

What got you involved with Harvard Science Club for Girls?
Science Club for Girls (SCFG) is a larger organization in the Boston and Cambridge area that aims to provide mentorship for young girls who are interested in science by running afterschool programs in science for girls in kindergarten through 6th grade.  Undergraduate and graduate women go once a week and teach an experiment-based curriculum on topics that range from Oceans to the Human Body to Rockets.  I heard about SCFG over an email list when I was a junior in college and I knew that I wanted to get involved.  I remember how much my mentors meant to me when I was first beginning my path towards a career in science and I love having the opportunity to fill that role for today’s aspiring scientists.  Most physical sciences are still vastly male-dominated fields and I think that it is critical that we continue to encourage and inspire young girls and women to pursue careers in these fields.

 

After I had been involved with SCFG for two years, we began the process of forming a Harvard Science Club for Girls student organization.  Having this new organization makes it much easier to reach out to other Harvard undergraduate and graduate students and get them involved in the program as well.  The more mentors we have, the more girls we can reach!

 

Do you have any advice for young students who are interested in science?
First, I would say that it is important to have a goal.  Think of what you ultimately want to be doing (and, don’t worry about the fact that it might change in the future) and then go for it! Having a target in mind makes dealing with the day-to-day challenges a little easier.  Second, jump into research.  Sitting in a classroom is one thing, but there is no better way to get excited about science than to start getting your hands dirty.  It is also a really good way to figure what areas of science you are particularly excited about.

• Visit the Intel STS 2007 Alumni Page
• Volunteer at the Intel ISEF 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA

 

 

 

SSP Alumnus Micah Toll Builds on his Intel ISEF Experience in Pittsburgh

SSP Alumnus Micah Toll with his PEVO

Micah Toll (DCYSC 2000, 2002; Intel ISEF 2006 and 2007; STS 2007 semifinalist) invented a building material that could revolutionize the way we build buildings. He recently shared his thoughts on Intel ISEF, his project, and what he is up to now at the University of Pittsburgh.

 

What are your memories of Intel ISEF?
I attended two [Intel] ISEFs, the 2006 in Indianapolis and the 2007 in Albuquerque. Both were incredible experiences for me in terms of shaping me as a scientist and engineer. The ISEF is an almost overwhelming collection of the brightest students in the world, each sharing their own specific research and fields of study. While I enjoyed viewing the other projects in my category of Engineering, I also loved walking around the other categories and learning about things I never knew existed. Students my age were doing research in every possible field imaginable and it was such an amazing experience to get to see all of this intellectual capital brought together in one place.

 

Oh, and being at trackside for the qualifying for the 2006 Indianapolis 500 wasn't too bad either...

 

Can you tell me a little bit about your project?
For my project I worked on research and development of a portable construction beam that could be used to build life-saving, rapid deployment shelters for remote areas of the world. The idea was to design a new type of material that could be quickly and easily shipped all over the world after natural disasters or used in refugee situations. My solution was a new type of construction beam made of plastic and foam that was light enough for children to use, easy enough to cut and build with so that it didn't require power tools, but could support thousands of pounds. I eventually founded a R&D company, Disaster Rebuilding Solutions, to continue work on the beams.

 

How has doing research when you were young affected your career trajectory?
It has defined my career trajectory and helped me to be a better engineer. I work with fellow engineers all day, and have found that many engineering students these days have made it through their education without learning or utilizing the scientific method. This means they are often missing important results because they haven't learned how to structure their experiments. By doing research when I was young I was able to learn valuable skills that have helped me to better comprehend and analyze my own engineering innovations by ensuring that I can control variables and really understand what my experiments and data are telling me.

 

Can you tell me a little bit about what you are up to now?
I recently founded an electric vehicle startup, Pulse Motors, with two of my classmates from the University of Pittsburgh. We are currently manufacturing a fleet of the first vehicle we have designed, the two wheeled Personal Electric Vehicle Zero, or PEV0, as we like to call it. The vehicle is similar to an electric motorcycle but with functional pedals that allow someone to pedal it as well, if they wish. We are building vehicles here in Pittsburgh and seeking funding to expand our operations and continue R&D on our next generation vehicle slated for release in 2013.

 

Final thoughts:
I think the biggest benefit I've had from [my] early scientific and engineering background is how to think outside the box and be creative. Sometimes things simply don't work; that's life. Those who know how to adapt their procedures or find creative ways to solve problems and fix experiments are innovators in every sense of the word and have the skills to be very successful at what they do. I never take for granted that I had great teachers, mentors, and parents that taught me the value of science, technology, and education from a young age and have helped me to achieve the success I have today.

 

• Get involved with the Intel ISEF 2012 in Pittsburgh
• Learn more about the SSP Alumni Program

 

A Letter from an ISEF 1956 Alumnus

 SSP recently received this letter from Donald W. Linzey (ISEF 1956) on his recollections of the science fair and how it has impacted his life since.

 

I currently receive the Newsletter with information about SSP alumni.  Most of the articles are about much younger winners and their early careers.  I thought that you might like to know how my participation with then-Science Service has affected my career.

 

I won the very first Baltimore City Science Fair in 1956 – some 55 years ago.   It was sponsored by Johns Hopkins University and the North Baltimore Kiwanis Club.  The sponsors paid for my family and me to travel to the 7th National Science Fair in Oklahoma City where I won a 4th Place Award with my exhibit entitled “Herpetology”.  We have many photos, but I am sure that you have some in your archives.  We travelled by train, and it was a trip that my entire family has never forgotten.  My Mom prepared an entire scrapbook of the trip which I now have.

 

It is amazing to compare the competition in 1956 with that of recent years. In 2006, the current sponsors of the Baltimore Science Fair (Towson University) invited me back to be the Keynote speaker and to help present the Grand Awards at their Awards Ceremony.  I found it hard to believe that 50 years had passed since I had received my award.

 

I continued my education at Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) in Westminster, Maryland and then did my graduate work at Cornell University (MS, 1963; Ph.D, 1966).  I taught at Cornell for one year, then taught at the University of South Alabama, Virginia Tech, and for the last 22 years at Wytheville Community College in Wytheville,Virginia.

 

When I began teaching at Wytheville, I realized that the students in this entire region of Virginia could never progress any farther than their high school fair (and most of the schools did not even have a science fair at that time).  I felt a responsibility to give back to the community some of what I had gained by being a Science Fair winner.  Thus, in 1991, we (my wife and I) organized the first Blue Ridge Highlands Regional Science Fair that encompassed 7 counties in rural southwestern Virginia.  Little did we know how our Fair would grow over the years.  We directed the Fair for 18 years.  During this time, our fair’s territory grew to encompass 16 counties and 3 cities.  We stimulated science fairs in many schools over the years.  Our Regional Science Fair would have students from approximately 15-20 high schools and 15-20 middle schools.  We averaged about 125-150 students each year, but had 225 one year.  We generated a great deal of support from the educational, business, and medical communities.  We invited Don Harless and Carrie to our Fair one year (he said that it was the only invitation he had ever received to attend a regional fair).  Every year, my wife and I would chaperone our two Grand Award winners and their teachers to the ISEF – Biloxi, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Diego, Reno, San Jose, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Louisville, and many others.

 

The trips were very rewarding for the students, their teachers, and for us.  We learned a great deal on these trips and, as a result, made many improvements to our Fair.  On our trip to Biloxi, one of our students told us that he had never been out of the state of Virginia.  To see our students win awards at ISEF and to know that we made a positive difference in their lives made all of our yearlong work worthwhile.

 

I was both fortunate and priviledged to serve as a member of the Intel ISEF Advisory Council for a two-year term from 1995 to 1997.

 

In 1999 at Philadelphia, one of our students, Nisha Nagarkatti, was one of the two top award winners at ISEF.  Accompanied by Don Harless and Carrie, she and the other winner went to the Nobel Prize ceremonies.  Nisha has since gone on to achieve her MD degree.  We have had many First, Second, and Third Place winners at ISEF over the years as well as many winners of special awards and scholarships.  Many of our Grand Award winners have been quite successful in their careers.  Our very first winner in 1992 is now a practicing nephrologist in Maryland.

 

In 2009, my wife and I decided that it was time to turn our fair over to some younger folks.  I am now 72; she is 70.  We are both still teaching and enjoy working with students, but running a Fair as large as ours was extremely time-consuming.  I am happy to say that our Fair is in good hands with Dr. Christine Hermann of Radford University.  My wife and I are continuing to help and advise Chris with the logistics, fund raising, etc.

 

Little did I know how my participation in the Baltimore City Science Fair 55 years ago would affect my life and career.  My graduate degrees are in the fields of vertebrate zoology and ecology.  My participation in the Science Fair is still on my CV.      

 

My graduate degrees are in the fields of vertebrate zoology and ecology.  My interest in herpetology has continued, and I have written two books – “Snakes of Alabama” and “Snakes of Virginia” (3 printings).  I have worked as a Park Ranger-Naturalist in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and have conducted wildlife research there for the past 46 years.  I have written two books on the mammals of GSMNP plus a major book entitled “The Mammals of Virginia”.  In 1998, I authored a textbook which is being used worldwide entitled “Vertebrate Biology” for McGraw-Hill Publishers.  The Second Edition is being published by the Johns Hopkins University Press and is due to be on bookshelves in January, 2012.  What goes around comes around.  Johns Hopkins University was one of the major sponsors that helped me begin my career and now they are publishing my textbook which they will be distributing worldwide.

 

The science fair experience has been a major part of our lives.  We have provided a means for over 2,500 middle and high school students to showcase their scientific talents.   We have provided a conduit into the Virginia State Fair as well as to ISEF – opportunities that were nonexistent prior to 1992.

 

Don and Carrie became good friends.  We have also enjoyed working with all of the other members of Science Service and SSP who work so very hard to put on this annual event.

 

Just thought you might like to know how being a National Science Fair winner 55 years ago has impacted my life and the lives of over 2,500 students.

 

Sincerely,

Dr. Donald W. Linzey, Ph.D.

 

SSP Alumni, tell us what you have been up to by completing an SSP Alumnus Profile

 

Kyle Yawn Explores Mysterious Rocks and Lunar Dust with NASA

Kyle Yawn in the Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center during the undocking of the 27S Soyuz vehicle from the International Space Station.

 By Caitlin Jennings, Communications Specialist, Society for Science & the Public

 

Kyle Yawn (Intel ISEF 2005, 2006, 2007), from Warner Robins, Georgia, thought Intel ISEF was an incredible environment. “Not too many people from where I was from were big into science or had that much passion,” he says. “It was really good just to see the enthusiasm that was carried throughout the whole week.”  While at the Intel ISEF,  he heard experts like Jane Goodall and Brian Greene speak about science and joined a group of hundreds of students working to solve global problems.

 

Kyle’s passion for research and science lead him to study aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech and to intern at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. He is currently working in part of a Cooperative Education Program with NASA and Georgia Tech. With NASA, he has examined how to remove lunar dust from space suits, worked on two pieces of hardware which are on board the International Space Station, trained space station astronauts, developed technology to make rocket fuel on Mars, and investigated more earthly mysteries, such as moving rocks in Death Valley. “There are these rocks that move on the dry bed,” he says. “They leave trails but no one has ever seen them move. So we were out there looking at some of the geological processes that could be going on that cause these rocks to move.”

 

Kyle with urine hoses from the bathroom on the International Space Station.  Kyle disassembled these to analyze the filters and understand the chemistry behind the urine reclamation systems.

While Kyle goes where his curiosity takes him, he encourages students to “keep coming up with questions to ask,” because there are still many more problems to solve. “And don’t think that the question you come up with is too big for you to answer, for you to pursue while you are a student, because you can find the right people that can help make things possible.”

 

In fact, Kyle is becoming one of those people. A freshman in high school recently contacted NASA because he wanted to do a project on rocketry, and Kyle has been responding to some of his questions. He says he feels like he is on the opposite side of the process now, “helping these students who are just getting started in science fair,” and he is excited to see what these students can accomplish with a little guidance from him.  

 

• Read more about Kyle
• Volunteer at Intel ISEF 2012 in Pittsburgh
• Learn more about the SSP Alumni Program

 

SSP Alumna Ellie Ehrenfeld Remembers STS in 1958

“I was a tough, budding young hippie in the late ‘50s — with a long dark braid down my back, black turtle-neck sweater and jeans (I think, thankfully, I left my guitar and banjo at home!)” Ellie, shown above at STS, says, adding that she remembers, “We held a poster session in the hotel ballroom, and Vice-President Richard M. Nixon… chose to come to my poster… I fear I may have been less than gracious.”

By Caitlin Jennings, Communications Specialist, Society for Science & the Public

 

Ellie Ehrenfeld (Science Talent Search 1958) has published more than 150 papers, served as the Director of the Center for Scientific Review at the National Institutes of Health, is working with the World Health Organization to eradicate the polio virus, and has many other distinguished achievements.  Ellie is now a Scientist Emeriti and she brings her vast knowledge of biology to global public health efforts. However, like all great scientists, she had to start somewhere, and her somewhere was a high school chemistry class. 

 
“My [STS] project was very simple:  In a junior year chemistry class lab, we had used the reagent ammonium dichromate, a common oxidizing agent, whose decomposition products were described in our text book.  But I smelled ammonia, which was not supposed to be among the products.  I brought this to the attention of my wonderful, inspiring chemistry teacher, Mr. Benjamin Karp.  He suggested I work out what the reaction was that produced ammonia, and when I did, he suggested that I apply for the Westinghouse STS,” Ellie says. “I was quite surprised when I was notified that I was among the finalists, and was invited to Washington, DC.”

Ellie Ehrenfeld

“The STS award was truly a life-changing event for me,” she says, noting that the scholarship helped her go away to attend college, when she couldn’t have otherwise, and gave her the confidence to apply for a pre-college research program at Jackson Laboratories, where she made important contacts and learned valuable skills before even starting her college career. But, perhaps even more important, she notes, “My STS project provided the first educational experience ever in which I felt that I had actually discovered something new, that had not been known before.  For the first time, I did not just learn what others had already discovered, but discovered something myself.  This was a major new accomplishment for me — a skinny, young girl of immigrant parents who spoke English with an embarrassingly (to me) thick accent.  It had a major impact on my drive to do research as an undergraduate and probably even after.”

 

To the accomplished scientists of the future, who are making their own discoveries in high school chemistry classes, she advises: “Science is such an essential, important and far-reaching contributor to almost every aspect of our society — there is no end of possibilities of how it can be developed, used and applied. The important thing is to find something that you love to do, that you have some passion about, and dive in.”

 

• Read an article about the Ellie
• Lear more about SSP’s alumni program

From Science Fair Project to Global Solution

a Village Energy digester in a pilot project with Changing Rural Life Forever in Sidonge, Kenya

By Caitlin Jennings, Communications Specialist, Society for Science & the Public

 

Many of the projects displayed at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair have moved past the science fair floor and are making real differences in the lives of people across the globe. Barnett Koven’s Intel ISEF 2008 project, an anaerobic digester that produces efficient, low cost energy, is another such success story.

 

“Overall, Intel ISEF was a really great experience,” Barnett says. “I was certainly not the typical high school student. For example, I spent a good chunk of my after school time in our school’s greenhouse ̶ which I was using as a make shift lab – and not on the football field. At Intel ISEF, I met a number of like-minded individuals – some of whom I am still in touch with today – and realized for the first time that there is vast world of possibilities available for young people who are interested in science and engineering. Moreover, viewing the amazing array of presentations by other students was inspiring and in part spurred me to refine the anaerobic digestion technology and process which was my [Intel] ISEF entry.”

 

After the fair, Barnett kept tinkering with his project but also pursued other activities, such as going to Peru to help translate for American doctors providing free care to children. Many of the children had health problems due to the effects of using fuel such as wood and from electrical fires caused by poor wiring. They also often had respiratory health issues that may have been due to indoor air pollution from cooking and heating. “Through this as well as travels through the Ecuadorian Andes, I realized there was a huge need for reliable, safe, and also environmentally-friendly energy sources in the developing world,” Barnett says. With the help of friends, he modified his Intel ISEF project further and founded The Village Energy Project to help get his invention into the homes of the people who could benefit from it.

 

Barnett has accomplished a lot, but he notes he has had help and inspiration along the way from peers as well as scientists, including Oliver Sacks, a family friend. “Oliver shared his profound interest in diverse fields ranging from magnetism to geology with me as I was growing up,” Barnett says. His science teacher, Paul Gilmore, also provided him with a lot of encouragement and guidance necessary for completing the Intel ISEF project. Because of this, Barnett says to the many science teachers, fair directors, and other people involved in SSP: “never underestimate the impact you can have on tomorrow’s future scientists.” 

 

He also has learned that there are many different images of a scientist, and that they are not confined to lab coats and test tubes. “For those young people who are interested in science but are not sure that they will be content simply doing research for the rest of their lives – I do not think I would have been – know that there are myriad opportunities to combine scientific acumen with other diverse activities ranging from philanthropy to business and from civil service to development work.”

 

• Learn more about Barnett and the Village Energy Project
• See how you can inspire young scientists and get involved at the Intel ISEF

 

Eleven SSP Alumni are Celebrated as 2011 Davidson Fellows

The Davidson Institute for Talent Development recently honored the 2011 Davidson Fellows, eleven of who are SSP alumni. The Fellowship awards $10,000, $25,000, and $50,000 scholarships to people under the age of 18 who have contributed a significant piece of work in the fields of Mathematics, Science, Literature, Music, Technology, and Outside the Box.   The Fellows were  honored at a reception in Washington, DC on October 5.  

 

The SSP alumni who received this prestigious honor are listed below:

 

• Arjun Aggarwal (DCYSC 2005, 2006, 2007; SSP MSP 2008; Intel ISEF 2010, 2011) 
• Matthew Bauerle (DCYSC 2005, 2006, 2007; SSP MSP 2008) 
• Marian Bechtel (Intel ISEF 2010, 2011) 
• Benjamin Clark (Intel STS 2011, Intel ISEF 2011) 
• Siddhartha Jena (Intel ISEF 2010, 2011) 
• Sunil Pai (Intel STS 2011, Intel ISEF 2010) 
• Rebecca Chen (Intel ISEF 2011) 
• Jayanth Krishnan (Intel ISEF 2010, 2011)
• Anirudh Prabhu (Intel ISEF 2011
• Shalini Ramanan (Intel ISEF 2010, 2011)
• Raja Selvakumar (Intel ISEF 2010, 2011)

 

Learn more about these alumni and the other 2011 Davidson Fellows.

SSP Alumnus and Science Fair Judge Todd Rider Gives Advice

Todd Rider in the lab

By Caitlin Jennings, Communications Specialst, Society for Science & the Public

When Todd Rider (SSP Alumnus: Science Talent Search 1986; International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 1983, 84, 85, 86) made it to his first ISEF as a freshman, he had such a rewarding experience and was so impressed with the other projects, he rededicated his efforts to his research to make sure he could successfully compete and come back every year. “It was very influential to be able to conduct research at that young age and go from having an idea to doing literature research on something, doing experiments on it, writing it all up, and presenting it,” he says.

 

Years later, he’s still impressed with the projects he’s seen at the Massachusetts State Science Fair, where he has been judging for 15 years, and now with Broadcom MASTERS 2011, where he judged projects at a national level for the first time this Fall and really enjoyed it. “The caliber of the students is just so impressive,” Todd says, and he is also impressed by their enthusiasm for science.
What exactly makes a good science fair project though? “It’s very important, especially from my perspective as a judge, for it to be student led, student driven,” Todd says, adding that he is especially impressed with students who build their own tools. “I think that really shows much more initiative and helps the student gain a much better understanding of the science.”

 

 Todd also emphasizes the importance of original research. “It doesn’t have to be earth shattering; you don’t have to really come up with the cure for cancer or something. But I think it’s really important for students to do something that’s at least somewhat different than what people have done before,” Todd says. “It might come out of their own interests, maybe they see some sci-fi movie that features something in it and they want to try to do a much simpler version of that, or maybe it’s a student who just loves gardening and wants to do something with plants.”

 

Todd knows firsthand that somewhat simple high school research can lead to big advances down the road. He recently invented the “CANARY” (Cellular Analysis and Notification of Antigen Risks and Yields), which serves as a canary in the coal mine for pathogens by detecting bacteria. It has many possible applications, Todd says. “Ultimately, you might imagine walking into a doctor’s office and, if you’re sick, you just cough on this thing and within a minute it would tell you exactly what you have.”

 

The CANARY spurred another project when he considered the different ways in which bacteria and viruses are treated. “I wanted something that would be as broad spectrum for viruses as antibiotics are for bacteria,” he says. That’s where DRACOs (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizers) came in, and early testing is promising.

 

Perhaps someday soon the CANARY and DRACOs will be staples in medicine.  For now, it is interesting to wonder if they would have ever come to fruition had a high school freshman in 1983 not been so inspired by the ISEF projects he saw.

• • Read about Todd’s work on CANARY and DRACO
• • Ask Todd to give a presentation in your classroom
• • Learn about the SSP Alumni Program