Earlier this month, more than 300 6th- through 12th-grade students from around Colorado arrived at Colorado State University with posters, research results, and big ideas. They were the winners of their regional science and engineering fairs, here to compete for prizes, scholarships, and glory at the Colorado Science and Engineering Fair[1] (CSEF).

The event, now in its 62nd year, was held at the CSU Lory Student Center and hosted by the College of Natural Sciences Education & Outreach Center[2]. This year’s keynote speaker was David Aucsmith, an applied physicist at the University of Washington, who spoke about cyber warfare.

Grand award judges from around the state, including 80 experts from CSU, named top performers in a dozen categories – from animal sciences to physics – as well as the top overall projects for the junior and senior divisions.

In the senior division, the top five prizes went to:

• First Place: Isani Singh, Cherry Creek High School, Englewood, Colo., 11th grade: “Worse Outcomes in Turner Syndrome Women Compared to Women Without Turner Syndrome”
• Second Place: Elliot Gorokhovsky, Fairview High School, Boulder, Colo., 12th grade: “Adding Data-Aware Sort Optimizations to C-Python”
• Third Place: Molly Nehring, Monte Vista High School, Monte Vista, Colo., 10th grade: “Dancing with the Stars: Simulating Multi-Star Solar Systems & the Probability of Planetary Ejection”
• Fourth Place: Seth Young, The Classical Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo., 12th grade: “Applied Biomineralization: Increasing Magnetosome Formation in AMB-1 for Industrial Purposes Through Genetic Recombination of Genes Essential to Magnetosome Formation and Mutation Mediated by UV Radiation”
• Fifth Place: Aubrey Berger, Eagle Crest High School, Centennial, Colo., 11th grade: “Mechanized Collection of Organic Spider Silk”

These top five senior division CSEF winners, along with 17 other top-performing students will represent the state of Colorado at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair[3], being held May 14-19 in Los Angeles, Calif.

Scholarships

Colorado State University awards thousands of dollars in scholarships, including five renewable $1,000 scholarships from the College of Natural Sciences, as well as numerous cash prizes. The cash prizes include two $500 awards from the College of Agricultural Sciences, four $125 awards from the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, a $100 award from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, a $250 award from the Energy Institute, and multiple awards from student organizations such as SACNAS, Little Shop of Physics, Women in Physics and the Biomedical Engineering Society.

Next year’s CSEF will be held again at Colorado State University, April 5-7th.