#CSEF2016

Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair Media Advisory
Contact: Harrison Potter, Media Director – 978 460 4358 – media@ctsciencefair.org

March 19, 2015
Top Prizes Awarded to Students From Bethany, Bozrah, Danbury, Greenwich, Hamden, New Fairfield, New Haven, Southington, Stratford, Trumbull, Westport, and Woodbridge

HAMDEN, Conn., Mar. 19, 2016 – Students from across the Nutmeg state won awards at the Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair (CSEF) during Saturday’s ceremony at Quinnipiac University. The individual high school physical and life science winners, as well as the Urban School Challenge and Alexion Biotechnology winners, listed below, will all go to the prestigious Intel International Science & Engineering Fair, to be held this May in Phoenix, Arizona. New this year is the CSEF Board of Directors award, the winner of which also gets the chance to compete at Intel ISEF.

Other winners from CSEF will represent Connecticut and compete for millions more in cash and scholarships at competitions including the International Sustainable World Engineering, Energy & Environment Project Olympiad (I-SWEEEP), GENIUS Olympiad, and the Broadcom MASTERS competition.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal joined the ceremony, and thanked all of the parents and volunteers who made the Fair possible, and especially the students, for “restoring his faith” in what is possible in America.

Click HERE for all Fair results, including Special Award winners. All students listed below live in the same town as their school, unless otherwise noted.

Physical Science Winners
Grades 9-12 (headed to Intel ISEF)
1^st Place: Christopher Popham of Greenwich High School
Increased Charge Rate and Capacity for Olivine Lithium-Ion Batteries Using Efficient, Upcycled Nanoscale Electrodes

2^nd Place: Martha Haddad of Immaculate High School (Danbury)
Novel Glycerol-Free Biodiesel Production Using Enzyme Catalysis

Grades 9-12 Team
1^st Place: Xiaotian Zhang and Arun Soni of Staples High School (Westport)
Synthesis, Characterization, and Application of Noble Metal and Noble Metal Alloy Nanoparticles to Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells for Enhanced Catalytic Activity

Grade 8
1^st Place: Dravyn Okoney of Fields Memorial School (Bozrah)
Producing Renewable Energy Using Piezoelectric Walking Surfaces

Grade 7
1^st Place: Faith Kosior of J.A. DePaolo Middle School (Southington)
Battle of the Loops

Grades 7+8 Team
1^st Place: Ana Boccanfuso, a Woodbridge resident, and Saunder Saffran of Amity Regional Middle School (Bethany)
The TempBot

Life Science Winners
Grades 9-12 (headed to Intel ISEF)

1^st Place: Aakshi Agarwal of Hamden High School
CRISPR Based Gene Editing Confers Resistance to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

2^nd Place: Sanju Sathish of Greenwich High School
The Optimization of Nanoparticle-based Drug Delivery of Melittin in A Selective, Biocompatible Method to Target HIV Structural Antigen p24

Grades 9-12 Team
1^st Place: Alexander Wada and Colin MacFaddin of Brunswick School (Greenwich)
Investigating the feasibility of a cooperative yeast-algae biofuel production system and its effects on biomass and resulting impurities

Grade 8
1^st Place: Analiese Seaman, a New Fairfield resident, of St. Gregory the Great School (Danbury)
An Egg-cellent Experiment

Grade 7
1^st Place: Lasya Josyula of Westside Middle School Academy (Danbury)
Study of Various Starch-based Biopolymers

Grades 7+8 Team
1^st Place: Ashlinn Derleth, a Trumbull resident, and Christina diBenedetto of St. Mark School (Stratford)
Music and Memory Does Music have a Positive Impact on Alzheimer’s Patients

Alexion Biotechnology (headed to Intel ISEF)
1^st Place: William Yin of Greenwich High School
Development of a Portable, Tattoo-Based Biosensor for the Non-Invasive, Low-Cost Diagnosis of Atherosclerosis via Iontophoresis of Macrophage-Targeting Silver Nanoparticles

Urban School Challenge (headed to Intel ISEF)
1^st Place: Maya Geradi of Wilbur Cross High School (New Haven)
Exploring conditions for Struvite precipitation and crystal growth

CSEF Board of Directors (headed to Intel ISEF)
1^st Place: Sophie Edelstein of Wilbur Cross High School (New Haven)
Polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) Surgical Implant: An alternative cure for Internal Coxa Saltans in Female Adolescents

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