WISE co-sponsors Southeast Michigan Science Fair

Along with Washtenaw Community College, WISE co-sponsored the tenth annual Southeast Michigan Science fair for students in grades 6-12 from Livingston, Washtenaw, Monroe, Hillsdale and Lenawee counties.

This regional fair included just over 200 participants, with the top two individual high school winners advancing to the International Science and Engineering Fair, and the top 10 individual high school winners advancing to the state science fair, the Michigan Science and Engineering Fair.

Ann Arbor Huron high school senior Ben Thompson won first place for his computer-science project, "Catch it Early: Web-Based Screen for Melanoma," which is a program designed to assess images of moles for melanoma. This project also earned him grand champion award in the state's Michigan Science and Engineering Fair.

Senior Kathy Fang from Ann Arbor's Pioneer High School won second place for her physics-based project, "Stability of Gold-Thiolate Nanoparticle Vapor Sensors at Elevated Temperatures", which may have an application in explosive detection systems. Both Ben and Kathy will travel to the ISEF in Reno for a week in May.

Other projects in the fair included, "Harmonic Discord," "Arrange Your Brain: The Relationship Between the Arrangement of Information and Memory." "The Effects of Building Design on Wind Energy," and "The Effects of Concrete Composition on Bridge Flexibility."

More than 80 middle- and high-school students from received awards ranging from cash prizes of $3-$500, as well as additional awards and prizes from local professional societies, student organizations, university labs and businesses.

The projects were judged by faculty members, researcher scientists and graduate students from the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University and Washtenaw Community College, along with scientists and engineers from industry.

Additional support for the Southeast Michigan Science Fair include comes from the University of Michigan Office of the Vice President for Research.

April 2009 eNews

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