The International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) was recently held in Los Angeles, California and was attended by a record 1,700+ finalists from over 70 countries. Eight Palm Beach County students qualified for this competition, the most of any region in Florida. ISEF, which is sponsored by Intel, is the largest high school science research competition in the world.
Joshua Hellerstein from Suncoast High School received a FIRST Place Grand Award in the category of Electrical Engineering and $3,000 for the overall competition. Joshua had already received Third Place at the State Science and Engineering Fair. He also won Second Place at the Palm Beach Regional Science and Engineering Fair earlier this year.
Andrew O’Neill from Suncoast High School received a THIRD Place Grand Award in the category of Energy and Transportation, a FIRST Patent and Trademark Office Society Award and $1,500 for the overall competition. Andrew had already received First Place and a Grand Award in the Physical Sciences at the State Science and Engineering Fair. He also won First Place at the Palm Beach Regional Science and Engineering Fair earlier this year.
Maria Elena Grimmett from Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches received a THIRD Place Grand Award in the category of Environmental Sciences and $1,000 for the overall competition. Maria Elena had already received First Place at the State Science and Engineering Fair. She also won First Place at the Palm Beach Regional Science and Engineering Fair earlier this year.
We are very proud of all of our ISEF finalists, who represented Palm Beach County very well at the International competition:
Andrew O’Neill attends Suncoast Community High School as a Senior; His project was “Infrared Alignment and Photon Densification Apparatus for Energy Optimization”.
Paul Wassel attends Seminole Ridge High School as a Senior; His project was “Transactivation Assays for PPARg and LXRa”.
Joshua Hellerstein attends Suncoast High School as a Junior; His project was “An Artificial Neural Network for Controlled Force Augmentation in an Electromyographic Exoskeleton Arm”.
Christian Coury attends Suncoast High School as a Junior; His project was “The Effects of Wheel Bearing Greases on Rotational Motion”.
Jacqueline Chen attends Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. School of the Arts as a Junior; Her project was “Polarimetric Analysis of Solute Concentration on Optical Rotation of Assorted Chiral Molecules”.
Anthony Olive attends Palm Beach Central High School as a Junior; His project was “Enabling Robots to Navigate Complex Environments through the Use of a Learning AI Algorithm”.
Haley Asofsky attends American Heritage School of Boca Raton/Delray Beach as a Sophomore; Her project was “The Effect of Social Networking on the Mental State of Senior Citizens”.
Maria Elena Grimmett attends Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches as a Sophomore; Her project was “H2Oh No: Pharmaceuticals Contaminate Groundwater! Sulfamethazine Adsorption Isotherms and Kinetics with Hypercrosslinked Polymer MN250 in Acid and Alkaline Environments”.
“The judging, awards, exciting special events, and unique opportunities to meet and exchange ideas with their peers all make the competition an event to be remembered,” said Greg Goebel, 6-12 Science Program Planner. “We look forward to another exciting year of Regional, State, and International Science and Engineering Fair competitions in 2014-15.”
For more details, contact Mr. Goebel at 561-357-1128 or email gregory.goebel@
PHOTO:left to right, Anthony Olive, Andrew O’Neill, Haley Asofsky, Jacqueline Chen, Christian Coury, Paul Wassel, Joshua Hellerstein, and Maria Elena Grimmett.
