2024 Plano Science and Engineering Fair Results
January 29, 2024
The 2024 Plano ISD Science and Engineer Fair (PSEF) took place on Saturday, January 27, 2024, at McMillen High School in Plano, Texas. 363 students representing 300 projects from 23 campuses were advanced from their individual campus fairs in fall 2023. Over 120 community members volunteered to judge the student’s projects and provide them with feedback as they move forward to the Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair, which will take place on Saturday, February 17, 2024, at the Automotive Building in Fair Park, Dallas. Regional winners in first & second places will advance to the Texas Science and Engineering Fair (TXSEF) at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX on March 22-23, 2024. Winning TXSEF projects advance to additional state and international competitions.
Junior Division
Grand Prize Winners
- Daniel Rutnam, Rice Middle School; Life Sciences: The Coyote - Coyote Vocalization Classifier to Avert Negative Human-Coyote Interaction.
- Matthew Kuo, Renner Middle School; Physical Science: How Wind Turbine Blade Design Affects Energy Output.
Category Winners
Animal Sciences
1st: Daniel Rutnam, Rice Middle School
2nd: Gavin Keith & William Triplett, Renner Middle School
3rd: Emily Stanford, Murphy Middle School
Behavioral Sciences
1st: Ryleigh Diggs, Murphy Middle School
2nd: Samuel Hammond, Ethan Marzden, & Ava Zemanski, Otto Middle School
3rd: Ruby Jaeckel, Haggard Middle School
Biochemistry
1st: Annika Wong, Otto Middle School
2nd: Sohan Patel, Robinson Middle School
3rd: Shreyas Kolan, Rice Middle School
HM: Elvira Ansari, Robinson Middle School
Medical Science & Engineering
1st: Alisa Compton, Haggard Middle School
2nd: Ella Dry Wilson, Middle School
3rd: Abigail Siswanto, Rice Middle School
Chemistry
1st: Winner name and school withheld
2nd: Meenakshi Puttagunta, Otto Middle School
3rd: Isabella Devasia Murphy, Middle School
HM:Catherine Wright, Hendrick Middle School; Bryn Reicht, Haggard Middle School; Tashvika Singh, Robinson Middle School
Earth & Environmental
1st: Nidhi Ajmera, Otto Middle School
2nd: Violet Whittenberg, Renner Middle School
3rd: Chloe Holder & Morgan Lockridge, Wilson Middle School
HM: Lillian Chen, Otto Middle School
Embedded Systems
1st: Prakrithi Karthik, Rice Middle School
2nd: Jason Pi Rice, Middle School
3rd: Aaron Castro, Rice Middle School
HM: Student name and campus withheld
Energy
1st: Matthew Kuo, Renner Middle School
2nd: Raley Acklin, Schimelpfenig Middle School
HM: Student name and campus withheld
Engineering Technology
1st: Student name and campus withheld
2nd: Arshmita Siva, Otto Middle School
3rd: Keira Kay, Haggard Middle School
HM: Jianing Liu, Renner Middle School
Environmental Engineering
1st: Adhav Swaminathan, Rice Middle School
2nd: Hiruni Wansapura, Robinson Middle School
3rd: David Liang, Rice Middle School
Material Science
1st: Avanti Sathe, Frankford Middle School
2nd: James Davis, Otto Middle School
3rd: Arya Devasia, Murphy Middle School
HM: Brandon Tang, Frankford Middle School; Saanvi Agarwal & Riley Akolkar, Renner Middle School; Kazimier Pareigis, Murphy Middle School; Brynley Reeves, Robinson Middle School; Eshaan Shah, Murphy Middle School
Math, Physics & Comp Bio
1st: Student name and campus withheld
2nd: Akansh Karthik, Rice Middle School
3rd: Samvarth Seegehalli, Rice Middle School
HM: Gabrielle Archer, Murphy Middle School
Plant Sciences
1st: Student name and campus withheld
2nd: Abhiram Jetty, Otto Middle School
3rd: Bethany Xu, Robinson Middle School
Robotics
1st: Aarush Karnik, Murphy Middle School
2nd: Shotaro Takagi & Daniel Xie, Rice Middle School
Systems Software
1st: Riya Nagaraddi, Otto Middle School
2nd: Mason Lien, Murphy Middle School
3rd: Adhiti Murthy, Robinson Middle School
HM: Sanvi Joshi, Otto Middle School; Ryan Nam, Rice Middle School
Senior Division
Grand Prize Winners
- Alanna Polyak, Plano West Senior High School; Life Science: Utilizing Planarian Neoblast Stem Cells and Starfish Neural Networks on Lumbricus Terrestris as a Model Organism to Investigate Possible Cures and Preventative Measures for Central Nervous System (CNS) Disorders.
- Natalie Daleo, Imanol Gomez & Cyrus Lauderdale, Plano ISD Academy High School; Physical Science: Multi-axis articulating arm with minimal rigid points.
Plano Garden Club Special Award
- Prisha Bhat, Plano East Senior High School: Aqua-Arsenic Remediation: Analysis of the Oryza sativa metagenome and Wet-Lab Approach to Increase O. sativa Tolerance to Drought and Arsenic through Hyperexpression of Aquaporin genes OsNIP2;1, OsNIP3;2 and OsPIP2;2 (Year IV).
Category Winners
Animal & Plant Sciences
1st: Prisha Bhat, Plano East Senior High School
2nd: Jessica Zhang, Jasper High School
3rd: Zaina Aalia, Plano East Senior High School
HM: Anabella Gupta, Plano West Senior High School
Behavioral Sciences
1st: Siri Peddinti, Plano East Senior High School
2nd: Grace Jobe & Natalia Wozniak, McMillen High School
3rd: Crystal Phung, McMillen High School
HM: Brianna Hartfield, McMillen High School; Sahana Ramasamy, Williams High School; Anna Du, Plano East Senior High School; Mahajabin Mahabub & Keira Sidloski, Clark High School
Biochemistry
1st: Funmilayo Lasekan, Plano West Senior High School
2nd: Shivani Nathan, Plano West Senior High School
Biomedical & Health Sciences
1st: Artina Belvan, Shepton High School
2nd: Elizabeth Grandinetti, Vines High School
3rd: Anushka Hande, Plano East Senior High School
Biomedical Engineering
1st: Varun Sridhar, Plano East Senior High School
2nd: David Liu & Samuel So, Jasper High School
3rd: Shirley Bracewell, Plano East Senior High School
HM: Sravya Pilla, Jasper High School; Shriya Viswanathan, Shepton High School; Hrishikesh Harish, Plano East Senior High School; Ananya Javali, Plano East Senior High School
Cellular & Microbiology
1st: Manya Gummaraju, Plano East Senior High School
2nd: Elgin Tawiah, Plano East Senior High School
3rd: Zehra Jaffery, Plano West Senior High School
HM: Zaynab Abbas & Yizhen Zhang, Plano West Senior High School
Chemistry
1st: Chloe Lee, Plano East Senior High
2nd: Jerusha Abraham & Raina Hassan, Plano West Senior High School
3rd: Yen-Nhi Tran, McMIllen High School
Computational Biology
1st: Vaani Chellamuthu, Plano East Senior High School
2nd: Nakshatra Piduri, Plano Senior High School
3rd: Alexandria Pinto, Plano West Senior High School
HM: Isabella Wang, Jasper High School; Arnav Bhute, Williams High School
Earth & Environmental
1st: Aditi Srivastava, Jasper High School
2nd: Chad Martin, Plano ISD Academy High School
3rd: Ekansh Ahuja, Bipul Padhy & Haren Thorat, Plano East Senior High School
HM: Isabelle Hou, Clark High School; Riya Shah, Clark High School; Veda Kumar & Emily Pekari, Shepton High School; Gayathri Amruta Hasini Boddapati & Sravanthi Veerisetty, Plano East Senior High School
Embedded Systems
1st: Anuska Sridhar, Plano East Senior High School
2nd: Trisha Desai, Jasper High School
3rd: Adithya Karthik, Plano West Senior High School
HM: Ana Spiride, Plano East Senior High School; Victor Xu, Jasper High School
Energy
1st: Arya Gurumukhi, Plano East Senior High School
2nd: Nanditha Sharath & Nehal Sharma, Plano East Senior High School
3rd: Neal Acharya, Jasper High School
HM: Kritika Kumar, Archika Shukla & Audrey Yost, Plano East Senior High School; Amanda Belo & Shandy Huynh, McMillen High School; Julia Abraham, McMillen High School
Engineering Technology
1st: Yoav Cisneros, Plano East Senior High School
2nd: Kade Reich, Vines High School
3rd: Abhinav Ajish, Plano ISD Academy High School
HM: William Zhou, Jasper High School; Jacob Castro, Joseph Goh, Nawal Siddiqui, Plano ISD Academy High School; Madeline Lopez, Vines High School
Environmental Engineering
1st: Kamran Nag, Aren Nag & Saachit Rathi, Plano East Senior High School
2nd: Piyush Budagavi, Plano West Senior High School
3rd: Micah Alter-Meeker, Matthew Huang & Jacob Phan, Plano ISD Academy High School
Materials Science
1st: Neo Cheshkov-Drandov & Graeham Cheskov-Drandov, Shepton High School
2nd: Abhinav Civi, Jasper High School
3rd: Meera Chugh & Iyanuoluwa Shosanya, Plano East Senior High School
HM: Anaya Aamir & Simoni Raybarman, McMillen High School; Zachary Mukundan, Clark High School; Aika Saadiq, Vines High School; Sanabhi Gauraw, Plano East Senior High School; Eric Phung, McMillen High School
Math, Physics & Astronomy
1st: Ananya Chakravarthi, Plano East Senior High School
2nd: Meryl Zhang, Plano Senior High School
3rd: Amitha Mandava, Plano East Senior High School
HM: Neel Marripalapu, Jasper High School
Robotics & Intelligent Machines
1st: Natalie Daleo, Imanol Gomez & Cyrus Lauderdale, Plano ISD Academy High School
2nd: Sahil Mehta, Plano East Senior High School
3rd: Syed Husain, Jasper High School
HM: Eric Nie, Plano West Senior High School
Systems Software
1st: Andy Qin, Plano West Senior High School
2nd: Ishaan Nirmal, Jasper High School
3rd: Smeeth Talasila, Jasper High School
HM: Aarini Sen, Jasper High School
Translational Medical Science
1st: Alanna Polyak, Plano West Senior High
2nd: Shashank Gangaram, Plano East Senior High School
3rd: Rithvik Sabnekar, Plano East Senior High School
HM: Parijat Majumdar, Jasper High School