Blazers win awards at Montgomery Area Science Fair

After submitting reports of their own scientific research over the past year, 10 Blazers were awarded at the science fair this weekend. Projects were judged on March 15, and the awards ceremony was held on March 16 at Gaithersburg high school. Most of the awards were issued by ScienceMONTGOMERY, an Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) affiliated regional fair; other awards were given by community and corporate sponsors.

Awards from ScienceMONTGOMERY were given to the top students in 12 different categories, ranging from Biochemistry to Physics. Winners in each category received $50 for third place, $100 for second place and $200 for first place. Team and group projects were judged against each other within each category, based on several judging criteria by professionals in each field. A final evaluation of all participants in all categories was made to select the top projects of the entire Science Fair. Senior Louis Wasserman, previously a finalist in both the Intel Science Talent Search (STS) and the Siemens Westinghouse competition was named a runner up for the ISEF fair, to be held in Atlanta later this year, according to the fair web site.

Community sponsors also issued awards to outstanding students based on their own criteria. Depending on the sponsor, prizes varied from certificates to cash.

Blazer who was Runner-Up/Alternate for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair ($100) - Louis Wasserman

Blazers who won category awards:

Biochemistry
3rd Place - Milano Tesfaye, Betelhem Taye

Computer Science
3rd Place - William Paintsil
2nd Place - Jacob Hurwitz
1st Place - Louis Wasserman

Engineering
Honorable Mention - Olivia Bozik, Areeb Quasem

Environmental Science
3rd Place - Simthana Islam and Eden Yilma

Medicine and Health
2nd Place - Yang Yang

Microbiology
2nd Place - David Tao, Alisa Lu

Physics
3rd Place - Boris Vassilev

Sponsored awards:

Association for Computing Machinery - Louis Wasserman, Jacob Hurwitz, William Paintsil
Central Intelligence Agency - Louis Wasserman, Jacob Hurwitz, Boris Vassilev
Graduate Women in Science - Jacob Hurwitz, Yang Yang
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1st Place ($300) - Louis Wasserman
Intel Excellence in Computer Science Award ($200) - Louis Wasserman
Optical Society of America - Boris Vassilev
Sigma Xi 1st Place - Yang Yang
U.S. Army Honorable Mention - Louis Wasserman, Jacob Hurwitz, Melissa Truong, Alisa Lu; 2nd Place - David Tao

Note: Alisa Lu is a SCO staff writer, Boris Vassilev is a SCO Entertainment Editor and Online/Print Coordinator, and Louis Wasserman is a SCO Senior Technical Staff and Chief Copy Editor