Prince William-Manassas Regional Science and Engineering Fair

Congratulations to the 143 middle and 74 high school students whose projects were selected to compete at the 2023 Prince William-Manassas Regional Science and Engineering Fair. This year’s competition was a hybrid event. Virtual judging was held from March 8-15, and the top six projects in each category were invited for in-person judging on March 18. Student presentations were evaluated by 57 category judges and 25 organizations.

The following five projects in the senior division were awarded a grand prize and these students are eligible to present their projects at the International Science and Engineering Fair in May.

  • “Food for Thought: Can Intermittent Fasting and Ketosis Ameliorate Dementia by Decreasing Tau Hyperphosphorylation and Neuroinflammation in Drosophila melanogaster?” by Rania Lateef, a sophomore at Charles J. Colgan Sr. High School.
  • “NephroNet: A Novel Program for Identifying Renal Cell Carcinoma and Generating Synthetic Training Images with Convolutional Neural Networks and Diffusion Models” by Yashvir Sabharwal, a sophomore at Battlefield High School.
  • “The Effect of Propeller Design on Underwater Remotely-Operated Vehicle Speed” by Hannah Jansen, a sophomore at Patriot High School.
  • “The Creation of Longer-Lasting Concrete: An Analysis on the Infusion of Bacteria and Aggregates into Cement Concrete to Increase Durability at Varying Temperatures by Examining Substances Following Water Absorption” by Hanna Aklil, a junior at Woodbridge High School and The Governor’s School @ Innovation Park, and Lani Lin-Kissick, a junior at Colgan High School and The Governor's School @ Innovation Park.
  • “Modeling the Effect of Hyperglycemia on Fertility of Caenorhabditis elegans” by Lyla Browne, a junior at The Governor's School @ Innovation Park, Raeanne Ferrer a junior at Brentsville District High School and The Governor's School @ Innovation Park, and Layla Moussavi, a junior at Colgan High School and The Governor's School @ Innovation Park.

The division will also sponsor first and second place finalists from the senior division to compete in the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair in April.

A full list of winners is posted on the Prince William-Manassas Regional Science and Engineering Fair webpage.