Minnesota State Science & Engineering Fair
2022 Awards

On behalf of our Sponsors, Board, and Staff, the Minnesota Academy of Science congratulates all student presenters for their excellent research and presentations in the 2022 state competition!

This year, dozens of companies and organizations, including Seagate, Ecolab, and the Broadcom Foundation awarded more than $15,000 in cash prizes and other awards, gifts, and opportunities. The most prestigious prize remains the Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair Award. See below for more information about each award and the 2022 award winners.

Scroll down to learn more about this year’s awards, award winners, and winning projects.
Winning projects for awards with multiple winners are in order by project number.

Minnesota Academy of Science Awards

Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) Award 

The Regeneron ISEF Award recognizes up to five of the fair’s top high school projects. ISEF is the world’s lacrgest international pre-college science competition. More than 1,700 high school students from 70+ countries and territories showcase their research at ISEF.

2022 Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair ISEF Finalists

HS-ANIM-028 - Caleb Smith (Bloomington), Harms and benefits of oral sucrose provided to reduce domestic rabbit’s distress during needle prick procedures: Random Controlled Trial

“This was a great presentation, and a very good understanding of the work and its applications.” —Judge

HS-BCHM-009 - Josiah Butler (Edina), Synthesizing Ethanol from Recycled Cardboard Sludge using a Cellulase Enzyme Blend and Yeast

“I thoroughly enjoyed learning about your project. You picked an area of research that is very important for the future of humanity” —Judge

HS-BMED-051 - Jeffrey Wang (Rochester), Automatic Classification of Peripheral Neutrophils on Digital Images Analyzed by Artificial Intelligence

“Great job explaining your research, you have a great understanding of the principles of AI.” —Judge

HS-BMED-239 - Adhvaith Sridhar (Plymouth), Immune System Innovation: Ushering in a new era of immunology research by characterizing cell populations most impacted by normal microbial exposure for preclinical research and healthcare treatment development success

“I am impressed with the amount of systematic data collected on a relevant topic with definitive results.” —Judge

HS-CELL-046 - Isha Kapoor (Rochester), Overcoming melphalan resistance in the treatment of multiple myeloma

“Very excellent research that can contribute to existing body of knowledge on how to combat cancer.” —Judge

HS-CBIO-242 - Mohit Agarwal (Eden Prairie) and Aedin Yu (Eden Prairie), A two-part approach and implementation of early-stage skin cancer diagnosis using a novel dense convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture and affordable computing hardware

“This was an enormously impressive project and has the potential to lead to serious real world solutions.” —Judge

2022 ISEF Alternates

First ISEF alternate: HS-BCHM-220 - Romy Peterson (Plymouth), Don’t Forget About Caspase-2: Analyzing the Binding Site Specificity of a Protein Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease

Second ISEF alternate: HS-BMED-230 - Isabelle Stroh (Minnetonka), Using Artificial Intelligence to Detect and Localize Brain Tumors

Third ISEF alternate: HS-SOFT-288 - Mahmoud Said (Hopkins), Controlling a computer cursor with basic webcam input

Fourth ISEF alternate: HS-MATH-224 - Leon Luo (Maple Grove), Does ESG investing affect international capital flows? Evidence from statistical and machine learning methods

Fifth ISEF alternate: HS-ENEV-254 - Kyla Fung (Eden Prairie), Sustainable Bioplastics: Seaweed and Hemp-based Alternatives to Fossil Fuel-based Plastics

Sixth ISEF alternate: HS-BEHA-166 - Spencer Burris-Brown (Minneapolis), Assessing the Influence of Personality on Active and Passive Procrastination among Adolescents

Grand Awards

The Grand Awards recognize excellence in STEM research at the middle school and high school level. The top 5% of projects presented at SSEF receive the Gold Award. The next 10% of projects receive the Silver Award and the next 15% of projects receive the Bronze Award. Projects are ranked according to judge scores and the competitiveness of the category in which students present. 

Gold Award

MS-BEHA-295 - Sanjana Kollipara (Plymouth), Malleable Memory: Studying the role of false memory, demographics, and suggestion in witness testimony

MS-CBIO-075 - Rathan Duggirala (Rochester), Determining the Precision and Accuracy of Various Colony Counting Apps

MS-CHEM-303 - Indira Sivaraj (Elk River), Sneaky Solutes: Can we trap them?

MS-CHEM-314 - Ava Kallunki (Elk River), The Sweet Reward of Baking: How Flour Type Impacts the Density of a Cupcake

MS-ETSD-078 - Ivianna Duquaine (Rochester), Is it Ripe Yet? Designing a Smart Circuit to Sort Produce

MS-PHYS-082 - Bergen Jacob (Rochester), Tennis at Temperature: but this time, there's tension so adjust your altitude

MS-TMED-345 - Milan Darji (Eden Prairie), There’s Not An App For That! A Novel Clinical Assessment Tool To Predict Heart Failure Patient Outcomes

HS-BCHM-009 - Josiah Butler (Edina), Synthesizing Ethanol from Recycled Cardboard Sludge using a Cellulase Enzyme Blend and Yeast

HS-BMED-048 - Christine Song (Rochester), Cure of Breast Cancer - Year 5: A Novel Approach to Treating Hormonal Breast Cancer using Diabetes Medication through Clinical Database and 3D ex vivo Model

HS-EAEV-021 - Jack Gootzeit (Waconia), Organic Acids with Standard Road Salts: An Eco-friendly Solution

HS-ENEV-254 - Kyla Fung (Eden Prairie), Sustainable Bioplastics: Seaweed and Hemp-based Alternatives to Fossil Fuel-based Plastics

HS-ETSD-257 - Trisha Samba (Edina) and Amira Sinclair (Minneapolis), Water You Risking? Developing a Novel Maze to Assess the Effects of Thirst. on Risk-Taking Behavior in Mice

HS-MCRO-233 - Elizabeth Levinshteyn (Blaine),  A Look Into the TINY Earth: Finding Antibiotic Producing Bacteria in Yellowstone Soil

HS-MCRO-269 - Ethan Chen (Eden Prairie), Examination of various essential oils on Candida albicans model organism growth as an indicator of anti-dandruff properties on Malassezia

HS-PLNT-277 - Quinn Hughes (Mound) and Tyler Clair (Excelsior), Using Monte Carlo Simulation to Optimize Vitamin C Production in Brassica oleracea using Abiotic Plant Stress

Silver Award

MS-ANIM-131 - Aiden Korby (Cloquet), Busy Beaver: What effect does a homemade beaver poplar tree repellent have on if there is beaver evidence on the side of the tree?

MS-ANIM-292 - Ainsley Mick (Coon Rapids), Saddle Pad Science

MS-ANIM-203 - Shreya Sekar (Lakeville), Turtle Tracks: Characterizing and quantifying the relationship between habitat, environmental, temporal, and climate data with turtle sightings

MS-BEHA-064 - Sarah Dingli (Rochester), Happiness in middle school students in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic

MS-BEHA-065 - Jack Wagner (Rochester), How does color and color intensity affect the way we interpret taste in our drinks

MS-BMED-073 - Dylan A. Murphy (Rochester), The brain and motion aftereffect

MS-EGSD-101 - Adam Jacobson (Grand Rapids), HYDROGEN is #1 Periodically  Leaves no Carbon Behind

MS-EGSD-322 - Ayeza Moheet (Plymouth), Manufacturing and Testing Environmentally Friendly Packaging Materials

MS-ENEV-215 - John Liu (St. Paul), The Use of Controlled-releasing Technology in Winter Deicing to Reduce Salt Contamination in Minnesota Water

MS-ENEV-325 - Shagun Shrivastava (Eden Prairie), 100% Biodegradable Plastics!!! Is it true? (Year 2)

MS-ETSD-183 - Josie Lee (St. Paul), Which Formula 1 Rear Wing Has the Lowest Level of Downforce

MS-MATS-381 - Kellen Groth, What Insulation Retains Heat The Best

MS-PHYS-334 - Amina Zahid (Blaine), Hyperloop 2.0

MS-PLNT-342 - Josie Dederichs (Edina), Its Grow Time: The effect ribosomal bacteria has on plant growth rates

HS-BMED-128 - Johanna Bernu (Cloquet), Disinfectant Properties of Nuphar advena: An Ethno-pharmaceutical Approach

HS-BMED-192 - Karen Nakamura (Woodbury), The Electromyographic Evaluation of the Bilateral Muscle Asymmetry of the Latissimus Dorsi in Martial Arts and the Effect of Real-Time Biofeedback on Technique Improvement

HS-BMED-232 - Ava Chen (Eden Prairie), A new potential antidepressant? The effects of L-tryptophan on serotonin levels, behavior, and alcohol aversion in Faxonius virilis model organisms

HS-CELL-046 - Isha Kapoor (Rochester), Overcoming melphalan resistance in the treatment of multiple myeloma

HS-EAEV-168 - Linnea Cooley (St. Paul), Effect of Ethanol and Octocrylene on the Cell Growth and Chlorophyll-a Levels of Cyclotella meneghiniana

HS-EGSD-169 - Maggie Banks (Woodbury), A Plant With Promise: Using Engineering Principles to Create an Eco-Friendly Manufacturing Process for a Biodegradable Piezoelectric Transducer

HS-ENEV-200 - Ellen Guo (Shoreview), Novel Cellulose Carbon Fiber Based Biofilm for Airborne VOC Filtration

HS-MATS-171 - Benjamin Chen (St. Paul), Recycled Plastic for Resilient Infrastructure

HS-MATS-267 - Jared Geppert (Blaine), 3D Printing Layer Angles

HS-MCRO-047 - Danielle Wang (Rochester), The Identification of Long-COVID Prognostic Biomarkers via Upper Respiratory Microbiome Genome

HS-PLNT-275 - Maxwell Maveus (Minnetonka), Sporophytic abortion rates under desiccation stress and the potential of sporophytic autonomy in the mosses Leucobryum glaucum and Bryum caespiticium

HS-PLNT-279 - Abirami Rajasekaran (Eden Prairie) and Harini Senthilkumar (Eden Prairie), Secure the Manure: Utilizing sequential fiber methods to assess the effect of manure on forage nutritive value of Medicago Sativa plants

HS-PLNT-349 - Grace Finnerty (Winona),  A Chemical-Free Apple Tree Cultivation Technique

HS-ROBO-173 - Ruth Mellin (St. Paul) and Alexander Moore (St. Paul), Project SERSI: Smartphone Enabled Robotic Sign-Language Interpreter

Bronze Award

MS-ANIM-040 - Aidan Moeller (Lake Crystal), The amount of Calcium in Poultry Eggs

MS-BEHA-059 - Karthik Anand (Rochester), COVID-Apathy: How has lifestyle affected mental health during the pandemic?

MS-BEHA-133 - Ethan Lavan (Cloquet), Effects of the Pandemic/Food Supply Chain, City Populations, and time on Minnesota Urban Chicken Keeping

MS-BEHA-176 - Margaret Bergeron (Eagan), Can people tell the difference between gluten-free and non-gluten-free foods?

MS-BEHA-294 - Adelaide Stern (Minneapolis), How Does Art Effect/Lower Levels of Stress in People Ages 10-16?

MS-BMED-074 - Ella Brinkman (Rochester), Lung Capacity and Aging

MS-BMED-211 - Riddhi P Singhvi (Woodbury), Development of Artificial Pancreas Model to Optimize Insulin Dosage

MS-CELL-067 - Srinidhi Babu (Rochester), Hand Sanitizer Everywhere, Do They Work The Same?; How Much Hand Sanitizer You Need To Kill The Germs

MS-CELL-069 - Samuel Razidlo (Rochester) and Carson Herr (Rochester), Alcohol's Effect on Cells

MS-CELL-071 - Zoe Zhang (Rochester), The Effect of Activated Sirt-1in Zebrafish Embryos Using Resveratrol

MS-CHEM-300 - Makena Mbuba (Otsego), Bubble Trouble: How potassium iodide affects the height, strength, and speed it takes foam to rise

MS-CHEM-366 - Erica Beckman (Winona), Super Suds!

MS-EAEV-013 - Liam Beyer (Marshall), Hydroponic V.S. Soil Growth

MS-EAEV-357 - Jake Pellowski (Minnesota City), Saving The Ocean

MS-ETSD-184 - Lynne Hu (Woodbury), What Effect Does Anti-Slip Material Have On Preventing Tools From Falling?

MS-PLNT-219 - Ethan Finch (Afton), How Do Daily Temperatures Affect Sap Production in Maple Trees?

MS-PLNT-359 - Alexis Scheid (Fargo), Rock n’ Grow

MS-PLNT-364 - Jack Willman (Moorhead), Enlighten Me (The Effects of Different LED Colors on the Growth Rate of Lettuce)

MS-ROBO-088 - Michael McCright (Rochester) and Timothy Schroeder (Rochester), Detecting potential cyberbullying using keywords

HS-ANIM-028 - Caleb Smith (Bloomington), Harms and benefits of oral sucrose provided to reduce domestic rabbit’s distress during needle prick procedures: Random Controlled Trial

HS-ANIM-163 - Nina Chafee (Minneapolis), The Effect of Adolescent Temperature Variation on Development and Adult Performance in V. cardui

HS-BEHA-114 - Stella Harbson (Duluth), Does Awareness of Misleading Questions Reduce Memory Inaccuracy?

HS-BEHA-164 - Per Johnson (St. Paul), The Effects of Temperature on Learning Complex Tasks in Red Harvester Ants

HS-BEHA-165 - Kishori Patel (St. Paul), The Effect of the Amount of Beef Food Source and Exposure Time on Calliphora vomitoria Pupation

HS-BEHA-222 - Sarah Feng (Maple Grove) and Sydney McDaniel (Champlin), Finding Functionality: A Rasch Analysis of a Body Functionality Appreciation Scale

HS-BEHA-225 - Ziyi (Rick) Qian (Plymouth), Defeating Dyslexia: A robust meta-analysis of the relationship between hearing and Dyslexia to achieve early diagnosis and treatment

HS-BMED-229 - Ayres Warren (Eden Prairie) and Mina Adabag (Minneapolis), Piecing the Heart Together: Optimizing Procedures to Identify Cell Types in Murine Cardiac Tissue

HS-CBIO-194 - Srinath Hariharan (Woodbury), Tumor targeting: Utilizing spatial data science techniques to decode the enigmatic immune response with the goal of informing further efforts to develop immunotherapies for tumor treatment

HS-CELL-352 - Willa Krase (Winona), The Effect of Iron on Carbon Dioxide Consumption in Algae: Could Iron be the solution to global warming?

HS-EAEV-126 - Rowan Rock (Cloquet), The Use of Mealworm Microbes to Isolate and Identify Bacteria that can Biodegrade Polystyrene

HS-EAEV-348 - Evan Knoll (Fargo), The Phytoremediation of Brine Contaminated Soil: Phase IV: An In-Depth Analysis of the Effects of Phytoremediation Using Hordeum vulgare and Secale cereale

HS-EBED-252 - Alia Peterson (Maple Grove), Designing and building a technologically enhanced toy

HS-ROBO-282 - Ross Volkov (Eden Prairie), Diagnosing Parkinson's disease with machine learning voice analysis

HS-ROBO-283 - Krish Inba Rajashankar (Minnetonka), Medical device recall prediction using MAUDE reports

HS-ROBO-284 - Stavya Arora (Maple Grove), Overcoming Opioids: Analyzing, characterizing, and quantifying the sentiment of Reddit posts’ tone and language prior to a relapse to allow for early intervention

HS-SOFT-287 - Amrita Pal (Maple Grove), Pollution and Prejudice: Building a computer-based algorithm to assess pollution exposure levels by Asian American subgroup

HS-SOFT-289 - Saloni Somia (Plymouth), Increasing Access to Epinephrine Injectors during Allergic Reactions through a Location Tracking Mobile Application

HS-SOFT-290 - Kiefer Miskiw (Plymouth), Realtime 3D Collaboration

HS-TMED-227 - Ava Jaffe (Wayzata), Amrit Menon (Eden Prairie), Essential Protection: Using UV-sensitive yeast to evaluate essential oils as an alternative to sunscreen

Minnesota Junior Academy of Science

Gold Award winners in high school as well as top ISEF finalists and JSHS presenters will be invited to join the Minnesota Junior Academy of Science (MJAS). MJAS is an honorary society and leadership group of high school and college students from Minnesota who have demonstrated excellence in scientific research. Minnesota’s “Junior Academy” has roots that go back a century or more, although it has not operated for several years. Minnesota’s “Senior Academy” (the Minnesota Academy of Science) is bringing back the Junior Academy in 2022.

SEAGATE AWARDS

The premier sponsor of the Minnesota State Science & Engineering Fair, Seagate Technology, is the global leader in data storage solutions. Seagate develops products that enable people and businesses around the world to create, share, and preserve their most critical memories and business data.

Seagate Excellence in Science Mentoring Awards

These awards recognize two outstanding STEM teachers who find creative ways to nurture students’ interest in scientific research and discovery. These teachers go above and beyond the classroom to promote STEM education in their schools, inspire students to pursue their interests in STEM, and encourage students to engage in hands-on research and exploration. Teachers are nominated by students, parents, and school staff.

Seagate gives two awards – one for a teacher with 1-10 years of experience and another for a teacher with more than 10 years of experience. Award recipients receive a $1,000, a trophy and a Seagate hard drive. Each teacher’s school or science program also receives $1,000. 

Mentoring Award (1 - 10 Years of Experience):
Kristen Piehl, Visitation School, Mendota Heights

Mentoring Award (10+ Years of Experience):
Hala Bazzi, Al-Amal School, Fridley

Seagate Rising Star AwardS

These awards recognize two emerging student scientists whose projects not only exemplify excellence in their category but also demonstrate high degrees of difficulty, thoroughness, complexity, creativity, innovation, and effective communication. In addition to monetary awards, students will receive trophies and Seagate portable hard drives.  

High School Rising Star ($2,000): HS-MCRO-233 - Elizabeth Levinshteyn (Blaine), A Look Into the TINY Earth: Finding Antibiotic Producing Bacteria in Yellowstone Soil

Middle School Rising Star ($1,500): MS-TMED-345 - Milan Darji (Eden Prairie), There’s Not An App For That! A Novel Clinical Assessment Tool To Predict Heart Failure Patient Outcomes

Seagate Emerging Scientist Awards

These awards recognize excellent STEM research conducted by students competing for the first time. The top 10% of first-year students receive trophies.

MS-ANIM-131 - Aiden Korby (Cloquet), Busy Beaver: What effect does a homemade beaver poplar tree repellent have on if there is beaver evidence on the side of the tree?

MS-ANIM-292 - Ainsley Mick (Coon Rapids), Saddle Pad Science

MS-BEHA-064 - Sarah Dingli (Rochester), Happiness in middle school students in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic

MS-BEHA-065 - Jack Wagner (Rochester), How does color and color intensity affect the way we interpret taste in our drinks

MS-BEHA-297 - Gabriella Olson (Minneapolis), The Nonexistent Word

MS-CHEM-025 - Asher O'Brien (Mankato), Which common deicer melts snow the fastest?

MS-CHEM-300 - Makena Mbuba (Otsego), Bubble Trouble: How potassium iodide affects the height, strength, and speed it takes foam to rise

MS-CHEM-303 - Indira Sivaraj (Elk River), Sneaky Solutes: Can we trap them?

MS-CHEM-314 - Ava Kallunki (Elk River), The Sweet Reward of Baking: How Flour Type Impacts the Density of a Cupcake

MS-ENEV-215 - John Liu (St. Paul), The Use of Controlled-releasing Technology in Winter Deicing to Reduce Salt Contamination in Minnesota Water

MS-ETSD-078 - Ivianna Duquaine (Rochester), Is it Ripe Yet? Designing a Smart Circuit to Sort Produce

MS-ETSD-183 - Josie Lee (St. Paul), Which Formula 1 Rear Wing Has the Lowest Level of Downforce

MS-MATS-381 - Kellen Groth, What Insulation Retains Heat The Best

MS-PHYS-334 - Amina Zahid (Blaine), Hyperloop 2.0

MS-PLNT-342 - Josie Dederichs (Edina), Its Grow Time: The effect ribosomal bacteria has on plant growth rates

HS-BEHA-225 - Ziyi (Rick) Qian (Plymouth), Defeating Dyslexia: A robust meta-analysis of the relationship between hearing and Dyslexia to achieve early diagnosis and treatment

HS-BMED-192 - Karen Nakamura (Woodbury), The Electromyographic Evaluation of the Bilateral Muscle Asymmetry of the Latissimus Dorsi in Martial Arts and the Effect of Real-Time Biofeedback on Technique Improvement

HS-CBIO-242 - Aedin Yu (Eden Prairie) and Mohit Agarwal (Eden Prairie), A two-part approach and implementation of early-stage skin cancer diagnosis using a novel dense convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture and affordable computing hardware

HS-EAEV-168 - Linnea Cooley (St. Paul), Effect of Ethanol and Octocrylene on the Cell Growth and Chlorophyll-a Levels of Cyclotella meneghiniana

HS-MCRO-047 -- Danielle Wang (Rochester), The Identification of Long-COVID Prognostic Biomarkers via Upper Respiratory Microbiome Genome

HS-MATS-267 - Jared Geppert (Blaine), 3D Printing Layer Angles

HS-MCRO-269 - Ethan Chen (Eden Prairie), Examination of various essential oils on Candida albicans model organism growth as an indicator of anti-dandruff properties on Malassezia

HS-ROBO-173 - Ruth Mellin (St. Paul) and Alexander Moore (St. Paul), Project SERSI: Smartphone Enabled Robotic Sign-Language Interpreter

SPECIAL SPONSORED AWARDS

In alphabetical order

3M

3M seeks to recognize projects applied to real-life situations where students are trying to improve the world around them. 3M values resourcefulness, quality, professionalism, creativity, and, of course, innovation. This year’s awards will be in the form of Visa gift cards for the winners.

3M science applied to life award

This award acknowledges students whose projects make a lasting, positive impact on their local or global community through innovation, creativity, and scientific exploration.

First Place High School ($500): HS-ROBO-173 - Ruth Mellin (St. Paul) and Alexander Moore (St. Paul), Project SERSI: Smartphone Enabled Robotic Sign-Language Interpreter

“Very impressive project. Thank you for sharing your results and for your work to help the ASL community.” —Judge

Second Place High School ($300): HS-SOFT-289 - Saloni Somia (Plymouth), Increasing Access to Epinephrine Injectors during Allergic Reactions through a Location Tracking Mobile Application

Third Place High School ($200): HS-BMED-236 - Noor Omar (Fridley) and Muminah Mohammed (Blaine), Hidden Hunger

First Place Middle School ($500): MS-ENEV-325 - Shagun Shrivastava (Eden Prairie), 100% Biodegradable Plastics!!! Is it true? (Year 2)

“There are many realistic applications to this study which makes these results very interesting!” —Judge

Second Place Middle School ($300): MS-TMED-345 - Milan Darji (Eden Prairie), There’s Not An App For That! A Novel Clinical Assessment Tool To Predict Heart Failure Patient Outcomes

Third Place Middle School ($200): MS-CHEM-303 - Indira Sivaraj (Elk River), Sneaky Solutes: Can we trap them?

Honorable Mention (plaque):
MS-BMED-211 - Riddhi Singhvi (Woodbury), Development of Artificial Pancreas Model to Optimize Insulin Dosage

MS-MATH-216 - Daniel Song (St. Paul), Stock Price Movement Prediction Based on Multi-stage Financial Models and Cross-period Comparison

HS-MATS-266 - Nick Carver (Minnetonka),The potential application of Nitinol’s shape memory properties for use in internal muscle repair

3M Consumer Innovation award

This award recognizes students who demonstrate unique resourcefulness in their approach to innovation, finding ways to do more with less, discovering new solutions to difficult problems. Each winner receives a $120 gift card and a plaque.

High School Winners:
HS-BMED-128 - Johanna Bernu (Cloquet), Disinfectant Properties of Nuphar advena: An Ethno-pharmaceutical Approach

HS-CBIO-242 - Mohit Agarwal (Eden Prairie) & Aedin Yu (Eden Prairie), A two-part approach and implementation of early-stage skin cancer diagnosis using a novel dense convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture and affordable computing hardware

HS-EAEV-092 - Paige Jacobson (Grand Rapids), The More we work together, the GREENER our world will be!

HS-ETSD-055 - Tanmay Iyer (Rochester), Improving the Efficiency of Home Hot Water Circulation

HS-MCRO-269 - Ethan Chen (Eden Prairie), Examination of various essential oils on Candida albicans model organism growth as an indicator of anti-dandruff properties on Malassezia

HS-SOFT-288 - Mahmoud Said (Hopkins), Controlling a computer cursor with basic webcam input

Middle School Winners:

MS-BEHA-065 - Jack Wagner (Rochester), How does color and color intensity affect the way we interpret taste in our drinks

MS-BEHA-297 - Gabriella Olson (Minneapolis), The Nonexistent Word

MS-CHEM-212 - Olivia Hamann (Burnsville), How Clean is Clean?

MS-EGSD-101 - Adam Jacobson (Grand Rapids), HYDROGEN is #1 Periodically Leaves no Carbon Behind

MS-ENEV-326 - Liiban Abdi (Fridley), Solar-Powered Water Desalination

MS-MCRO-153 - McKenna Gandhi (Cloquet), How does using scented/colored soap or hand sanitizer effect hygiene?

American Chemical Society, Minnesota Section

Outstanding Experimental Project in CHemistry/Biochemistry

This award recognizes an outstanding high school chemistry/biochemistry project. Honorable mentions will receive a one-year subscription to ChemMatters, the ACS publication for high school students.

High School Outstanding Project ($100): HS-BCHM-009 - Josiah Butler (Edina), Synthesizing Ethanol from Recycled Cardboard Sludge using a Cellulase Enzyme Blend and Yeast

“Really important environmental energy question. Creative approach and experimental design.” —Judge

High School Honorable Mention:

HS-CHEM-351 - Elizabeth Smith (Crookston), You Freeze, I Freeze, We all Freeze for Ice Cream

HS-MATS-171 - Benjamin Chen (St. Paul), Recycled Plastic for Resilient Infrastructure

Middle School Outstanding Project ($50): MS-CHEM-303 - Indira Sivaraj (Elk River), Sneaky Solutes: Can we trap them?

“This was a super cool and very relevant real-world project!” —Judge

Middle School Honorable Mention:

MS-CHEM-178 - Cece Hennis (St. Paul), Which Vegetable Has the Highest Level of Chlorophyll

MS-CHEM-212 - Olivia Hamann (Burnsville), How Clean is Clean?

MS-CHEM-316 - Cohen Emmick (Savage), Picking the Pepper: The Effects of Ripeness on Vitamin C in Bell Peppers

American Fisheries Society, Minnesota Chapter

Aquatic Sciences Excellence Award

This award recognizes projects focusing on aquatic science.

High School (book & fishing pole): HS-BCHM-120 - Emily Sapyta (Cloquet), The use of different concentrations of tannic acid and Micrococcus luteus on the bioremediation of motor oil contaminated aquatic systems

“This is great work and a REALLY important subject. I loved how detailed and professional the explanation of this work was! “ —Judge

Middle School (book & fishing pole): MS-ENEV-215 - John Liu (St. Paul), The Use of Controlled-releasing Technology in Winter Deicing to Reduce Salt Contamination in Minnesota Water

“The environmental effects of this work is very impactful and relevant to Minnesotans.” —Judge

American Heart Association

American heart association community impact award

This award is given to middle school project that demonstrates an idea or effort to improve the students’ community, a population of people (or animals), or humanity as a whole. The winner will receive a certificate.

MS-TMED-345 - Milan Darji (Eden Prairie), There’s Not An App For That! A Novel Clinical Assessment Tool To Predict Heart Failure Patient Outcomes

“Fantastic work with this project! You saw a unique need in the medical community and found a way to make a meaningful impact.” —Judge

American Institute of Professional Geologists, Minnesota Section & Minnesota Geological Society

Geology, Earth Science, Environmental Science, and Sustainability Excellence Award

This award is given to three student’s whose projects demonstrated excellence in geology, earth science, environmental science or sustainability. Winners receive a geoscience handbook and a fossil specimen kit.

MS-EAEV-013 - Liam Beyer (Marshall), Hydroponic V.S. Soil Growth

MS-EAEV-024 - Rohan Sharma (Mankato), Magnifying Ultra Violet Radiation- The invisible frontier

MS-EAEV-147 - Emilia Nephew (Duluth), What Materials Best Filter Dirty Water?

American Meteorological Society

Outstanding Achievement for Excellence in Atmospheric or Related Science

This award recognizes outstanding achievement for creative scientific endeavor in the areas of atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences at the high school level. This award will include a weather radio.

HS-EAEV-124 - Emelyn Beaster (Duluth), Quantitative analysis of the effects of climate change on wildfire occurrence and severity in NEMN

American Psychological Association

Outstanding Research in Psychological Science

The award recognizes outstanding research in psychological science under the category of behavioral and social sciences or any category related to psychology (e.g., animal sciences, biomedical and health sciences, translational medical science) at the high school level. The winner will receive a certificate.

HS-BEHA-166 - Spencer Burris-Brown (Minneapolis), Assessing the Influence of Personality on Active and Passive Procrastination among Adolescents

American Society of Plumbing Engineers

Best Display of Mechanical Engineering

This award is given to a student at the high school level whose project displays the best use of mechanical engineering. The prize is $500 and a certificate.

HS-ETSD-258 - Nathan Walsh (Chanhassen), Everything you 'Kneed': Development of an adjustable, above-knee prosthetic capable of performing multiple activities.

“I applaud Nathan for taking on a project that is highly relevant to human wellbeing and is also challenging from a science and engineering perspective.” —Judge

ASM Material Education Foundation

Outstanding Exhibit in Materials Science

This award recognizes the best materials engineering project at the high school level. The award is a certificate and a medallion.

HS-MATS-266 - Nick Carver (Minnetonka), The potential application of Nitinol’s shape memory properties for use in internal muscle repair

Association for Women Geoscientists

Student Award for Geoscience Excellence

This award is given to a female student whose project exemplifies high standards of innovation and scientific excellence in the geosciences. Special consideration is given to projects that increase the public awareness of the geosciences, illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of the geosciences, and promote the sensitivity to the earth as a global system. The prize is a certificate.

HS-EAEV-127, Grace Lavan (Cloquet), Effects of the Line 3 Pipeline on Gray Wolves (Canis lupus) on the Fond du Lac Reservation

Beckman Coulter Foundation

In the words of Dr. Arnold Beckman, “There’s no substitute for excellence”. The Beckman Coulter Foundation takes great pride in awarding students at the MSSEF for their excellence in STEM fields related to clinical diagnostics. The scientists and engineers who volunteered as judges were impressed by the skill, knowledge and creativity of all of the award winners. We are sure that the future is very bright for every one of them.

Beckman Coulter Awards FOR EXCELLENCE IN SCIENCE

First Place High School Science Project ($350): HS-MCRO-047 - Danielle Wang (Rochester), The Identification of Long-COVID Prognostic Biomarkers via Upper Respiratory Microbiome Genome

“Absolutely stunning!” —Judge

Second Place High School Project ($200): HS-BCHM-009 - Josiah Butler (Edina), Synthesizing Ethanol from Recycled Cardboard Sludge using a Cellulase Enzyme Blend and Yeast

Third Place High School Science Project ($75): HS-CELL-046 - Isha Kapoor (Rochester), Overcoming melphalan resistance in the treatment of multiple myeloma

First Place Middle School Science Project ($350): MS-CBIO-075 - Rathan Duggirala (Rochester), Determining the Precision and Accuracy of Various Colony Counting Apps

“Great job of working in a popular field of science but finding a gap in knowledge that you could help to fill.” —Judge

Second Place Middle School Science Project ($200): MS-BMED-073 - Dylan Murphy (Rochester), The brain and motion aftereffect

Third Place Middle School Science Project ($75): MS-TMED-346 - Hadley Gott (Minneapolis), Best Mask

Beckman Coulter Awards FOR EXCELLENCE IN ENGINEERING

First Place High School Engineering Project ($350): HS-ROBO-283 - Krish Inba Rajashankar (Minnetonka), Medical device recall prediction using MAUDE reports

“This was an excellent project. The student clearly thought through what they were doing and how they were going to verify their machine learning code.” —Judge

Second Place High School Engineering Project ($200): HS-ETSD-055 - Tanmay Iyer (Rochester), Improving the Efficiency of Home Hot Water Circulation

Third Place High School Engineering Project ($75): HS-EBED-253 - Shreshth Shrivastava (Eden Prairie), Wi-C.A.R.E: Wifi Computer-Assisted Remote Eldercare (Year 3)

First Place Middle School Engineering Project ($350): MS-PHYS-082 - Bergen Jacob (Rochester), Tennis at Temperature: but this time, there's tension so adjust your altitude

“Very innovative and relevant project and great idea!” —Judge

Second Place Middle School Engineering Project ($200): MS-ETSD-078 - Ivianna Duquaine (Rochester), MS-PHYS-334

Third Place Middle School Engineering Project ($75): MS-PHYS-334 - Amina Zahid (Blaine), Hyperloop 2.0

Bolton & Menk Inc.

Bolton & Menk Young Inventor Award

The Bolton & Menk Young Inventor Award was designed to recognize young inventors who demonstrate innovation, creative thinking, and technical skills to support the belief that all people should live in safe, sustainable, and beautiful communities. Winners receive a $500 award, a Bolton & Menk t-shirt, a certificate, and a job shadow at the Bolton & Menk location closest to their hometown.

HS-BCHM-009, Josiah Butler (Edina) - Synthesizing Ethanol from Recycled Cardboard Sludge using a Cellulase Enzyme Blend and Yeast

HS-EAEV-021, Jack Gootzeit (Waconia) - Organic Acids with Standard Road Salts: An Eco-friendly Solution

HS-BMED-236 - Muminah Mohammed (Blaine) and Noor Omar (Fridley), Hidden Hunger

Broadcom Foundation

Broadcom Coding with Commitment Award

This award recognizes a middle school project that demonstrates a remarkable passion to improve a problem or concern in the researcher’s community through coding or computation. The award includes a $250 gift certificate and a Raspberry Pi Foundation Official RP 400 Personal Computer Kit.

MS-TMED-345, Milan Darji (Eden Prairie), There’s Not An App For That! A Novel Clinical Assessment Tool To Predict Heart Failure Patient Outcomes

Broadcom Masters

Broadcom Masters Award

The top 10% of middle school projects are invited to apply for this prestigious national STEM competition for middle school students. Winners must place 1st - 4th in overall judging.

MS-ANIM-131 - Aiden Korby (Cloquet), Busy Beaver: What effect does a homemade beaver poplar tree repellent have on if there is beaver evidence on the side of the tree?    

MS-ANIM-203 - Shreya Sekar (Lakeville), Turtle Tracks: Characterizing and quantifying the relationship between habitat, environmental, temporal, and climate data with turtle sightings    

MS-ANIM-292 - Ainsley Mick (Coon Rapids), Saddle Pad Science    

MS-BEHA-064 - Sarah Dingli (Rochester), Happiness in middle school students in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic    

MS-BEHA-295 - Sanjana Kollipara (Plymouth), Malleable Memory: Studying the role of false memory, demographics, and suggestion in witness testimony    

MS-CBIO-075 - Rathan Duggirala (Rochester), Determining the Precision and Accuracy of Various Colony Counting Apps    

MS-CHEM-025 - Asher O’Brien (Mankato), Which common deicer melts snow the fastest?    

MS-CHEM-303, Indira Sivaraj (Elk River), Sneaky Solutes: Can we trap them?   

MS-CHEM-314 - Ava Kallunki (Elk River), The Sweet Reward of Baking: How Flour Type Impacts the Density of a Cupcake   

MS-EGSD-322 - Ayeza Moheet (Plymouth), Manufacturing and Testing Environmentally Friendly Packaging Materials    

MS-ENEV-325 - Shagun Shrivastava (Eden Prairie), 100% Biodegradable Plastics!!! Is it true? (Year 2)    

MS-ETSD-078 - Ivianna Duquaine (Rochester), Is it Ripe Yet? Designing a Smart Circuit to Sort Produce    

MS-PHYS-082 - Bergen Jacob (Rochester), Tennis at Temperature: but this time, there's tension so adjust your altitude    

MS-PHYS-334 - Amina Zahid (Blaine), Hyperloop 2.0    

MS-PLNT-342 - Josie Dederichs  (Edina), Its Grow Time: The effect ribosomal bacteria has on plant growth rates  

MS-TMED-345 - Milan Darji (Eden Prairie),There’s Not An App For That! A Novel Clinical Assessment Tool To Predict Heart Failure Patient Outcomes

David Braslau Associates, Inc.

excellence in acoustics award

These awards are given to projects displaying excellence in the subject of acoustics.

First Place ($100): HS-ROBO-282 - Ross Volkov (Eden Prairie), Diagnosing Parkinson's disease with machine learning voice analysis

Honorable Mention ($25):

HS-PHYS-038 - Destiny Alberty (Lake Crystal), How is Sound Intensity Affected by Distance

MS-PLNT-086 - Ava Hart (Rochester) & Sylvia Thompson-Jewell (Rochester), How music affects the growth of plants?

DiaSorin, Inc.

DiaSorin is honored to participate in this year’s MSSEF! We know the MSSEF experience is an exceptional means to encourage young STEM scholars and we aim to contribute to the strength and numbers of its participants. These individuals are critical to industries like our own and we recognize them as vital global assets for growth and innovation.

DiaSorin, Inc. MERIT Award

Diasorin Merit Awards recognize students who participate primarily through their own independence and passion, regardless of the resources available to them. Best independent work at the middle school level demonstrating the scientific method ($100):

MS-ANIM-205 - Gabriel Zhina Carpio (Richfield), What Are Cat's Favorite Food?

MS-CELL-067 - Srinidhi Babu (Rochester), Hand Sanitizer Everywhere, Do They Work The Same?; How Much Hand Sanitizer You Need To Kill The Germs

MS-CHEM-300 - Makena Mbuba (Otsego), Bubble Trouble: How potassium iodide affects the height, strength, and speed it takes foam to rise

MS-ETSD-078 - Ivianna Duquaine (Rochester), Is it Ripe Yet? Designing a Smart Circuit to Sort Produce

MS-ETSD-183 - Josie Lee (St. Paul), Which Formula 1 Rear Wing Has the Lowest Level of Downforce

Relativity Award

Diasorin Relativity Awards recognizes a student with the best project involving the use of a family member or pet ($30):

MS-ANIM-205 - Gabriel Zhina Carpio (Richfield), What Are Cat's Favorite Food?

Ecolab

A trusted partner at nearly three million customer locations, Ecolab is the global leader in water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services. With annual sales of $12 billion and more than 44,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions, data-driven insights and personalized service to advance food safety, maintain clean and safe environments, optimize water and energy use, and improve operational efficiencies and sustainability for customers in the food, healthcare, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170 countries around the world.

Ecolab water vision award

Award winning projects are clearly presented, using excellent scientific data gathering and presentations practices, showcasing innovative ideas around the topics of water access, clean water, or water conservation.

First Place High School Project ($700): HS-EAEV-053 - Nick Baker (Rochester), The effects of CuSO4 5H2O contamination on freshwater copepods

“This was a solid piece of work and Nick has demonstrated a strong understanding of the scientific process. I am quite impressed.” —Judge

First Place Middle School Project ($700): MS-CHEM-303 - Indira Sivaraj (Elk River), Sneaky Solutes: Can we trap them?

“This was a super cool and very relevant real-world project!” —Judge

ecolab Food Safety Award

Award winning projects are clearly presented, using excellent scientific data gathering and presentations practices, showcasing innovative ideas around food safety—preserving the quality of food to prevent contamination and foodborne illness.

Emerson Women’s Impact Network

Female in STEM Excellence Award

This award is given to one female high school student and one female middle school student. Winning projects are clearly presented, exemplify excellence in their category, and demonstrate high degree of difficulty, complexity, creativity, and innovation using excellent scientific data gathering and presentation practices.

High School Project ($200): HS-BMED-048 - Christine Song (Rochester), Cure of Breast Cancer - Year 5: A Novel Approach to Treating Hormonal Breast Cancer using Diabetes Medication through Clinical Database and 3D ex vivo Model

“This is an exciting research area, and you are an accomplished scientist. Well done!” —Judge

Middle School Project ($200): MS-ETSD-078 - Ivianna Duquaine (Rochester), Is it Ripe Yet? Designing a Smart Circuit to Sort Produce

“One of my favorite projects. The project had a very clear set-up, procedure and value.” —Judge

Good Chemistry

Good Chemistry Prize for Creativity

This award is given to a female student whose project demonstrates creativity (including use of colors, textures, scents, etc). The winner receives a perfume kit and a framed certificate.

HS-ANIM-113 - Harmony Tracy (Cloquet), Tough Turkeys Year 2: What habitat types do turkeys now associate with in Northeast Minnesota?

Googol Bike Project

STEM the Stigmas Award

This award recognizes outstanding work that explores social stigmas. Winners receive $500.

HS-BEHA-007 - Seungmin Han (Faribault), Investigating the Psychological Determinants of Efficient Behavioral Changes by Community Members to Pursue a Common Interest Using the Drosophila Model

MS-BEHA-135 - Jordan Linder (Cloquet), What effect does age have on a person’s sexual orientation decisions?

MS-BEHA-209 - Ellie Braun (Shakopee), Follow the Leader!

HS-BEHA-222 - Sarah Feng (Maple Grove) and Sydney McDaniel (Champlin), Finding Functionality: A Rasch Analysis of a Body Functionality Appreciation Scale

MS-ROBO-088 - Michael McCright (Rochester) and Timothy Schroeder (Rochester), Detecting potential cyberbullying using keywords

HS-SOFT-287 - Amrita Pal (Maple Grove), Pollution and Prejudice: Building a computer-based algorithm to assess pollution exposure levels by Asian American subgroup

Institute of Food Technologists, Minnesota Section

Institute of technologists Food Science Award

This award recognizes projects related to food science. Learn more about careers in food science.

Land O’ Lakes

Land O’Lakes Award for Food Innovation

For projects that demonstrate creativity, innovation, and excellence in the study of food science.

High School ($500):

HS-EAEV-126 - Rowan Rock (Cloquet), The Use of Mealworm Microbes to Isolate and Identify Bacteria that can Biodegrade Polystyrene

HS-PLNT-277 - Quinn Hughes (Mound) and Tyler Clair (Excelsior), Using Monte Carlo Simulation to Optimize Vitamin C Production in Brassica oleracea using Abiotic Plant Stress

Middle School ($500):

MS-BEHA-133 - Ethan Lavan (Cloquet), Effects of the Pandemic/Food Supply Chain, City Populations, and time on Minnesota Urban Chicken Keeping

MS-PLNT-219 - Ethan Finch (Afton), How Do Daily Temperatures Affect Sap Production in Maple Trees?

Lemelson Foundation

Lemelson Early Inventor Prize

The Lemelson Early Inventor Prize highlights young inventors whose projects exemplify the ideals of inventive thinking by identifying a challenge in their community and creating a solution that will improve the lives of others. The prize is $100 and a certificate.

MS-ETSD-017 - Peyton Demuth (Marshall) and Brianna Foley (Marchall), Skate sharpener

Minnesota Environmental Health Association

Award for Excellence in Environmental Health Science

These awards recognize the best projects investigating environmental factors influencing public health.

First Place High School ($200): HS-SOFT-287 - Amrita Pal (Maple Grove), Pollution and Prejudice: Building a computer-based algorithm to assess pollution exposure levels by Asian American subgroup

“Very interesting and timely project.” —Judge

Second Place High School ($100): HS-BMED-368 - Audrey Tumberg (Perham), Study of Biofilm Prevention with Antibiotic and Organic Substances

Third Place High School ($50): HS-BMED-050 - Albert Hu (Rochester) & Felix Lu (Byron), Investigating the Effect of Human Perspiration on the Deterioration of Single Use Masks

First Place Middle School ($100): MS-CELL-067 - Srinidhi Babu (Rochester), Hand Sanitizer Everywhere, Do They Work The Same?; How Much Hand Sanitizer You Need To Kill The Germs

“I feel confident using the results from your study in my everyday life!” —Judge

Second Place Middle School ($50): MS-EAEV-147 - Emilia Nephew (Duluth), What Materials Best Filter Dirty Water?

Minnesota Women in STEM Chapter at Abbott

The Female in STEM Excellence Award

This award recognizes excellent science fair projects by females in high school and middle school.

High School Project ($100): HS-BMED-048 - Christine Song (Rochester), Cure of Breast Cancer - Year 5: A Novel Approach to Treating Hormonal Breast Cancer using Diabetes Medication through Clinical Database and 3D ex vivo Model

Middle School Project ($100): MS-BMED-211 - Riddhi Singhvi (Woodbury), Development of Artificial Pancreas Model to Optimize Insulin Dosage

Mortenson Environmental

Mortenson Environmental Excellence Award

This award recognizes the top three projects with a focus on Geoscience, Environmental Science or Sustainability as their primary focus. Winners will receive fossils or geological specimens and a certificate.

HS-EAEV-092 - Paige Jacobson (Grand Rapids), The more we work together, the GREENER our world will be!

HS-EAEV-124 - Emelyn Beaster (Duluth), Quantitative analysis of the effects of climate change on wildfire occurrence and severity in NEMN

HS-EAEV-126 - Rowan Rock (Cloquet), The Use of Mealworm Microbes to Isolate and Identify Bacteria that can Biodegrade Polystyrene

Mu Alpha Theta

Mu Alpha Theta Award

This award recognizes the most challenging, original, thorough, and creative investigation of a problem involving mathematics accessible to a high school student (not necessarily in the Mathematics category) with a certificate.

HS-MATH-262 - April Wang (Chanhassen), Predicting COVID-19 cases through high-dimensional data analysis

“Wonderful job defining high dimensional data analysis and framing your project overall!” —Judge

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Earth Systems Science Award

The winning high school project incorporates studies including different spheres of the Earth system, their interactions, and change over time. The award is a certificate.

HS-ETSD-170 - Will Sedo (Minneapolis), Optimizing Waterflow in a Simulated River Environment

National Geographic Society

that’s geography! Cultivating Empathy for the Earth Award

The That’s Geography! Award, sponsored through a partnership of the Society for Science and the National Geographic Society, will provide a $100 award and a certificate to a high school student who is seeking solutions to the Earth’s most pressing challenges, in particular, around oceans, land, wildlife, human history and cultures, and human ingenuity.

HS-EAEV-124 - Emelyn Beaster (Duluth), Quantitative analysis of the effects of climate change on wildfire occurrence and severity in NEMN

“This is a very interesting and well-crafted project!” —Judge

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award

This award recognizes a high school project with research that demonstrates the principles and technical innovations that offer that offer the greatest understanding of the earth's dynamic processes. The award is a certificate and a medal.

HS-EAEV-092 - Paige Jacobson (Grand Rapids), The More we work together, the GREENER our world will be!

Regeneron

Regeneron Biomedical Science Award

This award recognizes an exceptional student scientist who not only demonstrates an impressive command of biomedical science and research but also embodies Regeneron’s core values and behaviors, known as The Regeneron Way. The winner receives $500.

HS-MCRO-047 - Danielle Wang (Rochester), The Identification of Long-COVID Prognostic Biomarkers via Upper Respiratory Microbiome Genome

Ricoh

Sustainable Development Award

The winning project shows outstanding effort in addressing issues of environmental responsibility and sustainable development. The winner receives a certificate.

HS-ETSD-055 - Tanmay Iyer (Rochester), Improving the Efficiency of Home Hot Water Circulation

“This is a very creative idea to solve a common problem and a great application of mechanical/chemical engineering principles.” —Judge

Science Museum of Minnesota

Science Museum of Minnesota - Science Communication Award

These awards recognize persenters who demonstrate exemplary science communication skills including display, conversation, and awareness of the audience. Winners receive twelve passes to the Science Museum of Minnesota.

High School:

HS-ENEV-254 - Kyla Fung (Eden Prairie), Sustainable Bioplastics: Seaweed and Hemp-based Alternatives to Fossil Fuel-based Plastics

HS-PLNT-279 - Abirami Rajasekaran (Eden Prairie) and Harini Senthilkumar (Eden Prairie), Secure the Manure: Utilizing sequential fiber methods to assess the effect of manure on forage nutritive value of Medicago Sativa plants

Middle School:

MS-BEHA-295 - Sanjana Kollipara (Plymouth), Malleable Memory: Studying the role of false memory, demographics, and suggestion in witness testimony

MS-CHEM-382 - Julia Fisher (Moorhead), Flour Power

MS-EAEV-147 - Emilia Nephew (Duluth), What Materials Best Filter Dirty Water?

Society for In Vitro Biology

Outstanding Achievement for Ability and Creativity in In Vitro Biology

This award recognizes the most outstanding 11th grade student exhibiting in the areas of plant or animal in vitro biology or tissue culture.

HS-BMED-048 - Christine Song (Rochester), Cure of Breast Cancer - Year 5: A Novel Approach to Treating Hormonal Breast Cancer using Diabetes Medication through Clinical Database and 3D ex vivo Model

Society for Science

Community Innovation Award

This award recognizes a high school student whose project will better humanity and improve conditions in the local community. The prize is $500 and a certificate.

HS-EBED-252 - Alia Peterson (Maple Grove), Designing and building a technologically enhanced toy

U.S. Air Force

Air Force Achievement Award

This award goes to an outstanding high school project that focuses on science and technology, preferably with Air Force applicability. The award is a framed certificate.

HS-MATS-264 - Kendall White (Maple Grove) and Sarah Peterson (Maple Grove), Knots or Not? Using electricity to study DNA entanglements in nanochannels

U.S. Metric Association

Best Use of the International System of Units

This award recognizes a project that involves a significant amount of quantitative measurement and which best uses the SI metric system for those measurements. The award is a certificate.

HS-MCRO-270 - Jackson Jaffe (Minnetonka), Effects of far-UVC radiation (wavelength 222nm) on pathogens and mammalian cells

U.S. Navy

Naval Science Award

For outstanding individual projects in science & engineering. All winning projects receive a certificate, letter of congratulations and medal.

High School Projects ($75):

HS-BMED-240 - Srijani Datta (Eden Prairie), Sepsis Survivor: Characterizing muscle stem cells using RNA sequencing from a murine surgical model of sepsis for the purpose of preventing sepsis-associated muscle wasting    

HS-EAEV-249 - Grace Kaung (Minnetonka), Creating chitosan hydrogels to promote phytoplankton growth and accelerate carbon sequestration    

HS-MCRO-202 - Caroline Schlehuber (Sunfish Lake), New Research, Old Medicine: Exploring Antibacterial Properties of Plants and Fungi Used in Indigenous Medicine

Middle School Projects:

MS-EAEV-024 - Rohan Sharma (Mankato), Magnifying Ultra Violet Radiation- The invisible frontier

MS-EGSD-145 - Matthew Mangan (Cloquet),Geodesic Domes

MS-PLNT-369 - Jacob Moore (Winona), Which Color of Corn Germinates the Best?

Water Environment Federation

Stockholm Junior Water Prize

These water-related high school science projects win entry into a state competition.

HS-EAEV-021 - Jack Gootzeit (Waconia), Organic Acids with Standard Road Salts: An Eco-friendly Solution

HS-EAEV-029 - Grace Moeller (Lake Crystal), The Effects of Natural and Artificial Dyes on Water Quality

HS-EAEV-054 - Annika Bartucz (Rochester), Reducing Freshwater Acidification

Yale Science & Engineering Association, Inc.

Most Outstanding Exhibit in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, or Chemistry

This award recognizes the most outstanding high school project exhibiting in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The winner receives a certificate and a medallion.

HS-SOFT-289 - Saloni Somia (Plymouth), Increasing Access to Epinephrine Injectors during Allergic Reactions through a Location Tracking Mobile Application

While we value, respect, and thank each of our sponsors, the views and policies of our Science Fair awards sponsors do not necessarily reflect the views of the Minnesota Academy of Science, our Board, or our Staff.