Several students from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts earned recognition at the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair, including taking top honors in various categories as well as qualifying for the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.
Miranda Lee, a senior from Conway, won the George Scheffer Best in State Award for placing first in the Best in State Individual Awards category. The team of seniors Nathan Grady of Blytheville, Emily Lin of Little Rock and Kaitleen Toh of Little Rock placed third in the Best in State Individual category. The category features all projects in the competition that includes all category competitors as well as competitors in the ISEF Finalist category.
Lee and the team of Grady, Lin and Toh competed in the ISEF Finalist category at the state event. Each of them had already earned a trip to ISEF by placing in the top three overall projects at the West Central Regional Science Fair held at ASMSA in February.
Five other students earned trips to ISEF through the state competition held at the University of Central Arkansas on April 3. Aarush Goyal, a senior from Bentonville; Nathan Harbut, a senior from Hot Springs; Isaac Cotton, a senior from Stuttgart; and the team of seniors Beau Goldthorpe of Benton and Stevie Watkins of Perryville qualified for the international competition that will be held in Phoenix, Ariz., on May 9-15.
Through qualification at either the state science fair or the West Central Regional Science Fair, ASMSA is set to send 10 students to this year’s ISEF competition, matching the single-most students in a year since 10 qualified for the 2020 ISEF competition. Senior Tanvi Marupally of Conway is the 10th student who earned an ISEF slot by winning first-place overall at this year’s West Central Regional Science Fair.
ASMSA students also earned recognition in individual categories including:
Animal Science: 2. Team of Nora Medlock of Dyer and Paola Sustaita of Sheridan 3. Team of Paisley Hillman of Hot Springs and Ayda Coleman of Texarkana
Behavior and Social Sciences: 2. Kemdi Ekeanyanwu of Little Rock 3. Team of Claira Hartig of Greenbrier and Lydia Robertson of Pea Ridge
Biomedical and Health Science: Honorable Mention – Jack Ghostra of Little Rock
Chemistry: 1. Subi Shakya of Russellville 2. Jacob Clingan of Benton
Earth and Environmental Sciences: 1. Aarush Goyal of Bentonville 2. Team of Dray Makepeace of Hagarville and Riley Richardson of Belleville
Environmental Engineering: Honorable Mentions – Rose Patella of Little Rock and Catherine Van Dorple of Cabot
Materials Science: Honorable Mention – Derek Ramey of Dardanelle and Gavin Rion of Pottsville
Mathematics: 1. Nathan Harbut of Hot Springs Honorable Mention – Anna Le of Fort Smith
Microbiology: 1. Issac Cotton of Stuttgart 2. Team of Beau Goldthorpe of Benton and Stevie Watkins of Perryville
Physics and Astronomy: Honorable Mention – Kaiyan Yu of Benton
Plant Sciences: 2. Team of Lydia Gray of Melbourne and Spencer Schaff of Prairie Grove 3. Raegan Smith of Jonesboro Honorable Mentions – Jeremiah Chen of North Little Rock and Pilar Johnson of Hensley
Systems Software: 2. D’Kirrah Ragland of North Little Rock
Several Special Awards were also announced. They include:
U.S. Air Force Award, awarded for a project that embodies the U.S. Air Force spirit: Subi Shakya of Russellville
Arkansas American Fisheries Society Award, which recognizes projects that promote the society’s objectives: Team of Addie Nance of Delight and Jade Espinoza of Corning as well as Dr. Allyn Dodd, their advisor. Honorable Mention – Team of Graydon Anderson of Little Rock and Rasikh Imam of Little Rock
Arkansas Environmental Education Association Award, awarded to projects that promote environmental literacy in Arkansas: Aarush Goyal of Bentonville
Association for Women Geoscientists Award, awarded for a top project by a female student in a project related to geoscience: Zoey Terry of Malvern
Mark Welch Excellence in Animal Science Award for the project that demonstrates student initiative in Animal Sciences: Team of Graydon Anderson of Little Rock and Rasikh Imam of Little Rock
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Award for a project related to ecosystems, climate, weather and transportation: Team of Graydon Anderson of Little Rock and Rasikh Imam of Little Rock
Naval Science Award from The Office of the Navy for excellent student research: Nathan Harbut of Hot Springs
Society for In Vitro Biology Award for an outstanding project in In Vitro Biology: Team of Nathan Grady of Blytheville, Emily Lin of Little Rock and Kaitleen Toh of Little Rock
Stockholm Water Prize for an excellent project in Water Science: Team of Beau Goldthorpe of Benton and Stevie Watkins of Perryville
UAMS Outstanding Cancer Research Award for outstanding projects in cancer research: Tanvi Marupally of Conway
U.S. Metric Association Award for top project utilizing metric units: Pilar Johnson of Hensley
Trophies are also awarded to individual schools. Placement for the awards are determined by the number of points each school accumulates based on their place award winners divided by the total number of projects entered in the fair. ASMSA placed fifth in the School Trophy category.