CSEF Winners Head to 2018 Intel International Science & Engineering Fair

Hello Science Fair Friends, Sponsors, and Alumni,

The eight top high school winners of the 2018 Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair head to Pittsburgh, Sunday, May 13, to compete in the Intel International isef2016Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), the world’s largest precollege science and engineering competition. Once again, sorry to say leaving on Mother’s Day!

Intel ISEF takes place Sunday through Friday, May 13-18. We are continuing our tradition of providing newsletters of our students’ adventures for our sponsors and friends. The newsletters will be emailed to you and will be posted on the Fair’s website.

A limited number of photos will be attached to the emails but a great many more will be available through the CSEF website. See Photos There will be approximately six email newsletters, one for each major event, and each written by one or several of the CSEF competitors.

Get the ISEF Week Program and follow along with us.

Throughout the week ISEF hosts a rich number of Symposia. Get Symposia Schedule Check them out– Never a dull moment!

    • Sunday – Meet at Bradley Airport at 4:00 am (Ouch!) for breakfast, then fly out at 6:00 am and change planes in Philadelphia. Arrive Pittsburgh 10:30 am, check into hotel, have lunch, go through the registration process and in the evening the students are off to the Student Pin Exchange
    • Monday –  If need be, finish setting up projects and having them inspected by Display Rules & Safety Committee. If we manage to finish setup on Sunday, there will be a a visit to Duquesne Incline. (Cancelled due to weather) Early evening is the Opening Ceremony Dinner. The evening concludes with the Opening Ceremony.
    • Tuesday – Clear any Project Violations, go on a Ducky Boat tour (cancelled due high river water), lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, and attend Innovation & Entrepreneurship Panel and  the Excellence in Science and Technology Panel with Nobel Laureates. Striker gets to have lunch with Nobels and ask a question during the panel discussions. One of the Entrepreneurs speaking  is CSEF’s Anna-Katrina Shedletsky, ISEF 2003 – 2004. Anna-Katrina is Founder & CEO of Instrumental, Inc.  Evening features Welcome Event for students at Stage AE and Heinz Field.
    • Wednesday – Judging from 8 am to 4 pm and then it’s off to the Welcome Event at Heinz Field and Carnegie Science Center.
    • Thursday – Public Viewing with students at their displays to explain their research to visiting school groups. Symposia sessions and After dinner, the first of the awards programs, the Special Awards Ceremony,  7:00 – 10:00 pm.
  • Friday – Grand Awards Ceremony, 9:30 – 11:30 am, Pack up projects, and have lunch and head to the airport for flight home arriving Bradley 8:50 pm

CSEF Competitors – Get Biographies and Project Abstracts Here

l-t-r: Hiba, Raina Jain, Maya Geradi, Shobhita Sundaram, Emily Philippides, Keshav Vedula, Srikar Godilla, Cristian Rodriguez

Meet the 2018 competitors and the adult chaperones.  Get pdf 

Students

  • Maya Geradi, Senior, Wilbur Cross High School, New Haven
    Synthesis and Separation of Chiral Compounds in the Preparation of a PET Radiotracer Targeting Synaptic Vesicle Glycoprotein 2A
    Competing in “Chemistry” • See Maya’s Poster
  • Srikar Godilla & Cristian Rodriguez, Juniors, CREC Academy of Aerospace and Engineering, Windsor,
    Effect of Experimental Parameters on Forming Prince Rupert’s Drops for Maximum Strength and Toughness
    Competing In “Materials Science” • See Srikar’s and Cristian’s’s Poster
  • Hiba Hussain, Sophomore, Greenwich High School
    Non-Invasive, Low-Cost Detection of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) via Smartphone Breath Analysis
    Competing in “Biomedical Engineering” • See Hiba’s Poster
  • Raina Jain, Sophomore, Greenwich High School
    Magnetically Induced, Visual Detection of Trace Arsenic Contaminants in Water Using Fe3O4 Photonic Crystal Structures
    Competing in “Environmental Engineering” • See Raina’s Poster
  • Emily Philippides,  Senior, Greenwich High School
    Controlled-Release Delivery of Ovarian Anticancer Paclitaxel via Vortex Ring, Donut-Shaped Hydrogels
    Competing in “Translational Medical Science” • “See Emily’s Poster
  • Shobhita Sundaram, Senior, Greenwich High School
    Detection of Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease via Hierarchical Classification of Proteomic and Clinical Profiles
    Competing in “Translational Medical Science” • See Shobhita’s Poster
  • Keshav Vedula, Senior, CREC Academy of Aerospace and Engineering, Windsor
    Undulated Leading-Edge Airfoils in Low to Medium Reynolds Number Regime
    Competing in “Engineering Mechanics” • Effect of Experimental Parameters on Forming Prince Rupert’s Drops for Maximum Strength and Toughness

Accompanying Adults

  • Ann Frattalone, ISEF Week Coordinator, Regular Awards Chair, Connecticut Technical High School System (retired)
  • Jacqueline DiNuccio, CSEF Vice-President, ISEF Week Associate Coordinator, Sikorsky- A Lockheed Martin Company
  • Bob Wisner, CSEF Fair Board Chair, United Technologies Research Center and Otis Elevator (retired)

See the ISEF Finalists

Review the project titles in the Finalist Directory and judge for yourself. There is much to be learned from even a project title. See if you can pick the top placing projects in a category just from the title.

CSEF students’ project numbers and categories:

  • Maya Geradi – CHEM029 – Chemistry
  • Srikar Godilla & Cristain Rodriguez – MATS014T – Materials Science
  • Hiba Hussain – ENBM022 – Biomedical Engineering
  • Raina Jain – ENEV026 – Environmental Engineering
  • Emily Philippides – TMED015 – Translational Medical Sciences
  • Shobhita Sundaram – TMED020 – Translational Medical Sciences
  • Keshav Vedula – ENMC033 – Engineering Mechanics

On behalf of our Board, Officers, and Executive Committee, thank you for your continuing support of the Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair. We hope that you enjoy following the week’s activities.

To receive our posts and newsletters (published occasionally throughout the year), subscribe below.

For the Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair

Bob Wisner
Board Chairman