
Congratulations
to
these
PWCS
students,
who
made
an
outstanding
showing
at
the
2021
Virginia
State
Science
and
Engineering
Fair
(VSSEF),
held
virtually
on
Saturday,
April
10.
The
fair
offers
four
awards
by
category
(first,
second,
third,
and
honorable
mention)
and
student
exhibits
may
also
receive
one
of
several
"special
category"
awards.
Tony
Bright,
Hamza
Lateef,
and
Gabriel
Ralston,
(Charles
J.
Colgan
Sr.
High
School,
grade
10),
earned
first
place
in
the
biomedical
and
health
sciences
category
for
the
project
"SeizureSeeker:
A
Novel
Approach
to
Epileptic
Seizure
Detection
Using
Machine
Learning."
The
group
also
received
the
following
special
awards:
third
place,
the
Mark
Licata
Award
for
Biotechnology,
from
the
Virginia
Bioscience
Foundation;
and
third
place
and
$300
in
the
computational
sciences
category
from
Leidos.
Vongdara
De
Lopez
(Forest
Park
High
School),
Jayson
De
La
Vega
(Osbourn
Park
High
School),
and
Trevor
White
(Battlefield
High
School),
(grade
12),
who
also
attend
the
Governors
School
@
Innovation
Park,
earned
first
place
in
the
embedded
systems
category
for
the
project
"Backpack
Acceleration
Sensor:
A
Novel
Approach
to
Mitigating
Back
Pain
in
First
Responders."
Naman
Agarwal,
(Patriot
High
School,
grade
10),
earned
first
place
in
the
plant
sciences
category
for
the
project
"An
Indoor
Farm
Scouter
Through
Time-Based
Imaging."
Aatish
Sethi
(Battlefield
High
School)
and
Jasmine
Agyepong
(Patriot
High
School),
(grade
11),
who
also
attend
the
Governors
School
@
Innovation
Park,
earned
second
place
in
the
biochemistry
category
for
the
project
"A
New
Treatment?
An
Analysis
of
the
Effect
of
Known
Phytochemicals
on
SARS-CoV-2
Pathogenesis."
Michael
Suadwa
(Potomac
High
School,
grade
12),
Raj
Joshi
(Battlefield
High
School,
grade
11),
and
Laaibah
Tayyeb
(Osbourn
Park
High
School,
grade
11),
who
also
attend
the
Governors
School
@
Innovation
Park,
earned
second
place
in
the
materials
science
category
for
the
project
"A
Novel
Development
of
a
Biodegradable
Facemask
Using
Gelatin-Based
Bioplastics."
Khoi
Nguyen,
Anish
Pothireddy,
and
Ashish
Pothireddy,
(Osbourn
Park
High
School,
grade
12,
who
also
attend
the
Governors
School
@
Innovation
Park,
earned
third
place
in
the
computational
biology
and
bioinformatics
category
for
the
project
"Augmenting
3D,
T1-Weighted,
Magnetization-Prepared
Rapid
Acquisition
with
Gradient-Echo
(MP-RAGE)
Sequenced
MRIs
Through
Gaussian
Filters
and
Skull
Stripping
for
Alzheimer¿s
Disease
Diagnosis
via
3D
CNNs."
Samyak
Thapa
(Charles
J.
Colgan
Sr.
High
School),
Aditi
Shastri
(Battlefield
High
School),
and
Vishnu
Lakshmanan
(Osbourn
Park
High
School),
(grade
12),
who
also
attend
the
Governors
School
@
Innovation
Park,
earned
third
place
in
the
mathematics
category
for
the
project
"Forecasting
Stock
Prices
by
Utilizing
Recurrent
Neural
Networks
and
Probabilistic
Statistical
Risk
Analysis."
Ebru
Ayyorgun,
(Battlefield
High
School,
grade
10),
earned
third
place
in
the
microbiology
category
for
the
project
"Agent-Based
Modelling,
Simulation
and
Analysis
of
the
Effect
of
Surface
Texture
on
Biofilm
Formation."
Anika
Mukul
and
Aditi
Mukul,
(Battlefield
High
School,
grade
11),
earned
third
place
in
the
physics
and
astronomy
category
for
the
project
"Quantum
Dot
Supercapacitors
-
The
Impact
of
Variation
of
Supercapacitor
Electrolyte
Base
Material
on
Capacitance
and
Supercapacitor
Discharge
Time."
Special
awards:
Trinity
Chamblin,
(Charles
J
Colgan
Sr.
High
School,
grade
11),
earned
second
place,
the
Mark
Licata
Award
for
Biotechnology
from
the
Virginia
Bioscience
Foundation
for
the
biochemistry
project
"The
Battle
of
the
Agents:
The
Effect
of
Different
EDTA
Chelating
Agents
on
the
Antimicrobial
Activity
present
within
a
Bacterial
Growth
Medium."
Dailly
Cassidy,
(Osbourn
Park
High
School,
grade
9),
earned
third
place
and
$100
in
the
Virginia
Section
of
American
Water
Works
Association
for
the
Earth
and
environmental
sciences
project
"The
Effect
of
Different
Flocculants
and
Coagulants
on
the
Filtration
and
Turbidity
of
Water."
The
fair
is
coordinated
by
the
Virginia
Tech
Carilion
School
of
Medicine
and
Fralin
Biomedical
Research
Institute.