The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts recognized winners of the 27th annual West Central Regional Science Fair during an awards ceremony on Feb. 27.
Tanvi Marupally, a senior from Conway, won first place overall for her project in the Biomedical and Health Sciences category. The team of seniors Nathan Grady of Blytheville, Emily Lin of Little Rock and Kaitleen Toh of Little Rock won second place for their Translational Medical Science project. Third-place overall went to senior Miranda Lee of Conway for her Materials Science project.
The overall winners were awarded a trip to participate in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, which will be held May 9-15 in Phoenix, Ariz. The event is the world’s largest pre-college STEM competition. Students from around the world are expected to compete for awards, prizes and scholarships.
The science fair featured 54 projects, 37 by individuals and 17 by teams. The projects were completed by 73 ASMSA students representing 55 different high schools from around the state.
Individual awards were also announced in various categories. The top three projects and some high-placing honorable mentions in each category earned entry into the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair that will be held at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway on April 3-4.
Individual category winners included:
Animal Science: 1. Team of Paola Sustaita of Sheridan and Nora Medlock of Dyer 2. Team of Paisley Hillman of Hot Springs and Ayda Coleman of Texarkana 3. Cael Arnold of Mountain View
Behavioral and Social Science: 1. Isabella Zhang of Jonesboro 2. Sophie Lee of Russellville 3. Team of Claira Hartig of Greenbrier and Lydia Robertson of Pea Ridge Honorable Mention: Team of Alexander Cox of Russellville and Errol Nagy of Little Rock
Biomedical and Health Sciences: 1. Tanvi Marupally of Conway 2. Jack Ghotra of Little Rock
Cellular and Molecular Biology: 1. Luis Vidal of Fort Smith 2. Team of Graydon Anderson of Little Rock and Rasikh Imam of Little Rock
Chemistry (Sponsored by Evonic Inc. and presented by Megan Tustison Alvardo of the ASMSA Class of 2017): 1. Subi Shakya of Russellville 2. Sophie Milton of Jonesboro 3. Jacob Clingan of Benton 4. Colten Ward of De Queen
Earth Science: 1. Team of Riley Richardson of Belleville and Dray Makepeace of Hagarville 2. Zoey Terry of Malvern 3. Blue Smith of Searcy
Engineering Technology: Honorable Mention: Bridger Foyt of Blytheville and Grey Ivy of Paragould
Environmental Engineering: 1. Catherine Van Dorple of Cabot 2. Rose Patella of Little Rock
Environmental Sciences: 1. Aarush Goyal of Bentonville 2. Team of Addie Nance of Delight and Jade Espinoza of Corning 3. Team of Spencer Schaaf of Prairie Grove and Lydia Gray of Melbourne
Materials Science: 1. Miranda Lee of Conway 2. Team of Derek Ramey of Dardanelle and Gavin Rion of Pottsville Honorable Mention: Team of Afton Krebs of Alexander and Montgomery Wines of Vilonia
Mathematics: 1. Anna Le of Fort Smith 2. Nathan Harbut of Hot Springs 3. Jacob Lewis of Clinton
Microbiology: 1. Isaac Cotton of Stuttgart 2. Team of Beau Goldthorpe of Benton and Stevie Watkins of Perryville 3. Bella Guzman of Benton
Physics/Astronomy: 1. Kaiyan Yu of Benton 2. Team of Michelle Li of Sherwood and Mason Sims of Compton Honorable Mention: Team of Yun Park of Maumelle and Paul Boerwinkle of El Dorado
Plant Science: 1. Jeremiah Chen of North Little Rock 2. Pilar Johnson of Hensley 3. Raegan Smith of Jonesboro Honorable Mention: Elijah Antonacci of Greers Ferry
Software Development: 1. Kian Shojaei of Russellville 2. D’Kirrah Ragland of North Little Rock 3. Mason Vaden of Dardanelle Honorable Mentions: Benjamin Dong of Arkadelphia, Caleb Keeling of Arkadelphia
Translational Medical Science: 1. Team of Emily Lin of Little Rock, Nathan Grady of Blytheville and Kaitleen Toh of Little Rock 2. Kemdi Ekeanyanwu of Little Rock 3. Elijah Stanton of Eudora
Several special awards and recognition were also announced during the awards ceremony. They include:
Regeneron Science Talent Search Recognition: Luis Vidal of Fort Smith
Soybean Science Challenge award recognizes a student for their project as well as their project adviser for an outstanding project in soybean science or agriculture: Raegan Smith of Jonesboro, advised by Dr. Burt Hollandsworth
Missouri University of Science and Technology Kummer Center for STEM Education award for outstanding junior research students: Isabella Zhang of Jonesboro, Zoey Terry of Malvern, and the team of Paisley Hillman of Hot Springs and Ayda Coleman of Texarkana
Trinity Environmental Consultants award recognizes a project that best develops a solution for an environmental problem with a preference given to an outstanding junior: Team of Spencer Schaaf of Prairie Grove and Lydia Gray of Melbourne
Association of Women Geoscientists for outstanding geoscience project by female or non-binary student(s): Zoey Terry of Malvern
NASA Earth System Science Award for outstanding earth science project: Blue Smith of Searcy
NOAA Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award for a project that emphasizes science, service and stewardship in addressing issues related to climate, weather, oceans and coasts: Team of Riley Richardson of Belleville and Drayton Makepeace of Hagarville
Ricoh USA, Inc. for Sustainable Development award: Aarush Goyal of Bentonville
Stockholm Junior Water Prize to the top project related to water quality and water resource management: Team of Riley Richardson of Belleville and Drayton Makepeace of Hagarville
United States Air Force award: Miranda Lee of Conway, Subi Shakya of Russellville, Tanvi Marupally of Conway, Kian Shojaei of Russellville, Nathan Harbut of Hot Springs, Grey Ivy of Paragould, Bridger Foyt of Blytheville, Sophie Milton of Jonesboro
U.S. Navy: Catherine Van Dorple of Cabot, D’Kirrah Ragland of North Little Rock
U.S. Metric Association award for best use of the International System of Units: Miranda Lee of Conway
Yale Science and Engineering Association award for best 11th-grade exhibit in computer science, physics, chemistry or engineering: Jacob Clingan of Benton
Citadel Securities Innovation Prize for an outstanding project demonstrating data-driven decision making: Team of Emily Lin of Little Rock, Nathan Grady of Blytheville and Kaitleen Toh of Little Rock
Regeneron Biomedical Science Award for an outstanding project in translational medical science, microbiology or medical science: Kaiyan Yu of Benton