Schools

Local Students Wow at State Science Fair

Eight students from Alameda County were selected to participate in the California State Science Fair this past week, including one from Union City. Of the eight, six brought home major awards.

A number of students from the Tri-Cities are celebrating a job well done this week, as they just returned from participating in the California State Science Fair last week.

Eight students from throughout the area competed in the Alameda County Science and Engineering Fair (ACSEF) in March, and advanced to the state competition this past week.

The students competed with close to 1,000 others with winning projects from their own counties from all over California. Impressively, six out of the eight Alameda County students who participated took home awards from the state fair.

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"One one award is given out for each category, making the chance of winning one of these awards exceptional," said Claudia Medina of the Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE) and Patti Carothers of the ACSEF. "Only 24 special recognition awards are available to all participants."

The ACOE congratulated the following students for taking home awards:

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  • Mahima S. Chilakanti, a 6th grader from Challenger School in Newark, won Fourth Place in the Junior Division of Applied Mechanics and Structures for her project Tension on Knee Joint and Quadriceps Muscle.
  • Jessika Baral, a 7th grader from Hopkins (William) Junior High in Fremont won First Place in the Junior Division of Mammalian Biology for her project A Novel Way to Strengthen Eye Muscles and Enhance Peripheral Vision.
  • Winnie Chen, an 8th grader from Sunol Glen School in Sunol won First Place in the Junior Division of Product Science (Physical) for her project Lead in Makeup. 
  • Moniyka Sachar, an 11th grader from Irington High School in Fremont won Second Place in the Senior Division of Plant Science for her project DNA-Binding Protein in Xcv Bacteria Alters Plant bHLH Gene to Promote Pathogen Growth during Infection: A Genetic Study. Moniyka was also awarded a $1,000 CAPCA Agricultural Award from the California Association of Pest Control Advisors, who recognized the future application of her project to the agricultural industry in California.
  • Kelly X. Zhang, 11th grader from the College Prepatory School in Oakland received an Honorable Mention in the Senior Division of Biochemistry/Molecular Biology for her project Florescent Imaging for Nano-Detection (FIND) of Cancer Cells.

The other participants from ACSEF included Aniruddh Mandalapu, a 6th grader from Challenger School in Union City; William Du, an 11th grader from Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland; and Alice Chu, and 11th grader from Mission San Jose High School in Fremont.

Honorable recognition was also bestowed on Moniyka Sachar from Irvington High School in Fremont and Aditya Sinha from Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton. The two students won the ACSEF Senior Division grand prize titles and will represent Alameda County at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, May 12-18 in Pittsburgh, Penn. They will compete with more than 1,600 of the best science and engineering students from all over the world.

Planning for ACSEF 2013 is already underway, with a Science Fair 101 series of workshops for students, teachers and parents starting May 20. Those interested can contact fair director Patti Carothers for more details at 925-426-7879 or alamedacountysef@gmail.com.

For information on other science and engineering initiatives throughout Alameda County, as well as ACOE's Integrated Middle School Science partnership and its Summer Science Institute, to take place July 16-27, visit the website.


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