WESTFIELD – Judging for the Westfield High School Science & Engineering Fair took place over two days, Feb. 12 – 13. Of the top 30 projects, which were indicated with a balloon at the fair, 17 will move onto the regionals that will be hosted this year at Smith College on March 7, including 15 from Westfield High School and two from Westfield Technical Academy.
Science and Technology Supervisor Lauren Figy said slots were limited on the number of projects they could send this year because of the new venue.
Altogether, 243 students participated with 168 exhibits, including 36 students from Westfield Technical Academy.
Moving on to the regionals:
First place: Suvin Sundararajan, WHS: Functionalized Polylactide Filament for Additive Manufacturing, Suvin Sundararajan, , 1st, WHS
Second place: Mackenzie Rae, WHS: The Effect of Vaping on the Exhalation Output of the Human Lungs, Mackenzie Rae, , 2nd, WHS
Third place: Charles Przechocki, WHS: Can Bubble Gum and Other Such Home-Made Threadlockers Binding Agent Be Used in a Pinch
Other finalists moving forward to the Regionals at Smith College on March 7. Please note, these are arranged in alphabetical order, not by score:
Aaron Muldrew, WHS: Maximizing the Space Efficiency of a Solar Grid.
Alec Smith, Dacota Durkee, WTA: Making Cell Phones Safe on Airplanes.
Alexis Reyes, WHS: The Effect of Temperature on Magnetic Field Strength.
Anthony Suhocki, Reid Hannan, WHS: Which cleaning solutions removes the highest percentage of bacteria.
Antoinette Reid, WHS: Plastic Particles.
Elizabeth Regnier, Catherine Morrisey, WHS: Comparing ImageJ to Invasive Tissue Extraction.
Erika Kovalski, WHS: Calling All Bacteria… With a 3-D Printer.
Imma Kayzakian, WHS: The ability of ZnO and TiO2 to mitigate the negative effects of UV radiation on planarian regeneration.
James Coach, WTA: Carbon Fiber in Aviation.
Kaitlin Price, WHS: Natural ant repellent.
Karina Barakhtenova, WHS: The Effect of the Curly Hair Method on Health of Hair Strands.
Samantha Adamtsev, WHS: The Accessible Tuba.
Stefan Goretskiy, WHS: Using Bioinformatics to Find the Most Suitable Microenvironment for Differentiating Stem Cells Into Kidney Cells.
Zachariah Gravel-Blainey, Emma Mazeika, WHS: The Effects of Germicidal Radiation on E. Coli K-12.
