twas my privilege, once more, to judge some engineering projects for this year's science fairs

At the NoVa Regional Science Fair I was hard-pressed to find three projects that I felt deserved a prize. I gave a 1st prize to Lemlem Mehari for project 11 PH 1253 on the most efficient light bulbs, i.e.

Fluorescent bulbs cost $ 908 per year, yield 420 foot candles and use 13.7 watts of energy. Incandescent bulbs cost $ 4233 per year, yield 346 foot candles and use 64 watts of energy. Halogen bulbs cost $ 2782 per year, yield 302 foot candles and use 42 watts of energy.

2nd prize was for project 7 CH 402 – a study of heat generated by the power tablets in a model steam engine.

3rd prize went to Shahenda Helmy for project 10 BE 110, the effect of bias on preferences in chosing colors. Granted, the last two were far afield, but, as I said, we didn’t have much to chose from.

At the DC Mathematics, Science & Technology Fair, I got yanked off the floor (which, as usual, was terribly crowded, with exhibitors having barely elbow room) to serve as a “special judge.” Regrettably, none of the projects selected by judges on the floor, related to engineering. Nevertheless, we saw fit to award “Handy Science Answer Books” to some very articulate, bright young people, who just deserved a prize for their work.

Robert Jones, an 11th grader from Banneker HS did a brilliant job on estimating the volume of the galaxy, the mass of the universe and the number of stars.

2nd prize went to Katherine Nabel, a summer intern at NIMH, who measured the effect of brain derived neurotropic factor on the hippocampus to improve learning and memory. She works at NIMH in the Clinical Brain Disorder Branch.

3rd prize was for a very practical project by James Harrison, an 11th grader on the best way to clean bacteria from keyboards, door knobs and water fountains.

I also awarded another 3rd prize to Esohe Irabor, for project CH 0023 on Bubble Duration affect by composition, and a Team award (2 books) to project TM 0047 for measuring the smoke in the hair of smokers, their children and non-smokers,

At the Fairfax County Regional Science & Engineering Fair at Robinson HS, we awarded only 3 books for some rather innovative projects.

A shared 1st prize to clever twins, Meredith & Jonathan Pilcher, for their project TM-I-12, on harnessing walking energy to create electricity.

2nd prize went to Molly Patterson for her project 12-J-2 on developing an auto speed indicator using the GPS in the car. It seems that existing technology now permits adding the local speed limit to location sensing, and her project could alert parents when a teen driver is exceeding the speed limit. (under new international guidelines, category “H” Engineering: Materials & Bioengineering; “I” is for Engineering: Electrical & Mechanical; and “J” for Energy & Transportation.

Some clever projects, unrelated to engineering, Rebecca Goldstein (9-C-2) found that burgers from Burger King had the least fat (6.17 ml,) McDonald had 9.67 ml; home-fried had 10.5; and frozen burgers 19.33!

Project TM-E-4 found that the cheapest, off-brand antacids are as effective as more expensive brand ones.

Respectfully submitted,

John Baer
4206 Elizabeth Lane, Annandale, VA 22003-3652
Tel. 703-323-6952
SRB cell 571-235-0809
JLB cell 571-214-2660