Published on March 5, 2024
The following students received awards for the evening:
Grand Champion:
Rya McKain, Chemistry, Materials Science, Environmental & Engineering Technology
"Not Mush-Room for Plastic: the Effect of Substrate Types on Plastic Degradation in Mushrooms"
Champion:
Austin Van Grouw, Chemistry, Materials Science, Environmental & Engineering Technology
"The Effects of Wood Ash on Concrete"
Reserve Champion:
Rachel Behringer, Biomedical, Health, Microbiology
"My Bubbles!: Studying the effects of frozen and freeze-dried microbubbles used for drug delivery"
Biomedical, Health, Microbiology Awards:
1st Place: Hannah Rigg, "Sweet Science: The Effect of Sweeteners on Lactobacillus Levels in the Gut Microbiome"
2nd Place: Hayden Eby, "Life Savers! The Effect of Oil-Incorporated Films on Microbial Growth"
Chemistry, Materials Science, Environmental & Engineering Technology Awards:
1st Place: Jenna Jones, "The Effects of an Orange Peel SAP on Soil Moisture"
2nd Place: Lizzy Matthews, "The effect of pH sensitive vegetables on the detection of milk spoilage"
Earth & Environmental Sciences Awards:
1st Place: Emily Stauffer, "Nitrate Mitigation Through the Usage of Aquatic Plants"
2nd Place: Josie Lynch, "How Much Time Does it Take Magnetic Biochar to be Prime?"
3rd Place: Lyla Brenner, "Fluorescent Tagging of Polymer Particles with PBN for the Detection in Environmental Samples"
Honorable Mention: Sarah Trovinger, "The Effect of Different Microbiomes on Latent and Sensible Heat Exchange and CO₂ Levels"
Energy, Physics, Astronomy Awards:
1st Place: Nicholas Rossi, "The Effects of the Turbine Type and Blade Amount on Wind Turbine Efficiency"
2nd Place: Aidan Lamson, "How Catalyst Concentration Affects A Fuel Cell"
3rd Place: Zachary Hoffman, "What's so fire about Joule heating? the examination of Joule heating in resistors"
Honorable Mention: Cian Smith, "Hot Topic: The Heat Content of Different Types of Wood Using a Bomb Calorimeter"
Honorable Mention: Eddy Cordero, "KFC: Kinetics for Coasters; The effect of kinetic energy on the safety of roller coasters"
Punniest/Most Creative Title Award:
Rya McKain, "Not Mush-Room for Plastic: the Effect of Substrate Types on Plastic Degradation in Mushrooms"
The People’s Choice Award:
Emily Stauffer, "Nitrate Mitigation Through the Usage of Aquatic Plants"
Full STEAM Ahead II Precursor Award (for the student with the best second-year project who did it for the love of science and not the college credit):
Kaitlynn Himelright, "The Effects of Preservation on Agricultural Staples"
We’d like to give a special thanks to all of our judges. The awards above would not have been possible without your discerning minds and conversations:
Brian Rice
Dr. Chris Runnels
Diann Trotman
Emma Urena*
Harry Cone
Landon Kurtz
Matthew Kofroth
Rick Balmer
Robert Ulrich
Sallie Gregory
Kaleb Best
Llana Clauss**
*Former science fair participant
**Former science fair student coordinator
Congratulations to the following students who placed:
10th High Achievement
Hannah Rigg
12th High Achievement
Kaitlynn Himelright
Senior Category - BIO
Sarah Trovinger
Senior Category - CHM
Austin Van Grouw
Senior Category - ES
Lyla Brenner
Senior Category - MIC
Rachel Behringer
Congratulations to the following students who placed:
Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories: Achievement in Analytical Chemistry
Earth & Environmental Sciences - Josie Lynch
North Museum of Nature and Science Physical Science Award
Chemistry & Materials Science - Jenna Jones
PSPE - Lincoln Chapter Engineering Excellence Award
Chemistry & Materials Science - Austin Van Grouw
Farm & Home Foundation Award for Agriculture and Family Living Studies
Environmental Science - Lyla Brenner
Chemistry & Materials Science - Lizzy Matthews
Southeastern Pennsylvania Section of the American Chemical Society (SEPSACS)
Energy - Aidan Lamson
Chemistry & Materials Science - Lizzy Matthews
North Museum Science and Engineering Fair Student Choice Award
Environmental & Engineering Technology - Emily Stauffer
Honorable Mention
Earth & Environmental Sciences - Sarah Trovinger
Energy - Aidan Lamson
Microbiology - Rachel Behringer
3rd Place
Biochemistry & Biomedical Science - Kaitlynn Himelright
Chemistry & Materials Science - Lizzy Matthews
Earth & Environmental Sciences - Josie Lynch
Microbiology - Hannah Rigg
Physics & Robotics - Eddy Cordero
2nd Place
Energy - Nicholas Rossi
Environmental & Engineering Technology - Emily Stauffer
1st Place
Chemistry & Materials Science - Jenna Jones
Environmental & Engineering Sciences - Rya McKain
Microbiology - Hayden Eby
Senior Division Champion
Chemistry & Materials Science - Austin Van Grouw
Great job, Warriors!