Plano ISD secondary students competed on March 29-30 in the Texas Science and Engineering Fair (TXSEF) at Texas A&M University in College Station at the Ford Hall of Champions. Thirty-six Plano ISD students earned awards at the competition, including first grand prize awards in the Physical Sciences category in both the Senior and Junior Divisions, a Best of Fair and an International Science and Engineering Fair qualifier.

More than 1,200 students participated in this year's event, competing in 22 categories in the life and physical sciences. Six Plano ISD Senior Division winners have earned the opportunity to attend the Governor’s Science and Technology Champions Academy and one student has advanced to the Intel® International Science and Engineering Fair. Five Plano ISD junior division students who placed first or second place at the Texas Science and Engineering Fair have been nominated to apply to Broadcom MASTERS.

Best of Fair and Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) Qualifier

• Kevin Meng, Plano West Senior High School, The Sixth Sense with Artificial Intelligence: An Innovative Solution for Real-Time Retrieval of the Human Figure Behind Visual Obstruction, advances to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona, May 12-17

Kevin Meng, Plano West Senior High School 11th grade, International Science and Engineering Fair Qualifier, Best of Fair and First Place Robotics and Intelligent Machines winner.

Special Award

• Umangi Singh, McMillen High School, Mathematics, Creating a Mathematical Algorithm for Insulin Intake - Mu Alpha Theta Award
  
  

Grand Prize Winners

Senior Division Grand Prize Physical Sciences

• Team: Ashay Shah and Ashna Shah, Plano East Senior High School, Energy: Chemical, Optimizing and Fine-Tuning Electrode Pore Sizes Utilizing Varying Ratios of the Immiscible Polymer Blend PAN-PS for High Energy Density and Wide Temperature Range Supercapacitors

Junior Division Grand Prize Physical Sciences

• Otto Beall, Otto Middle School, Embedded Systems, An Affordable Braille Embosser II
  
  

Physical Sciences Grand Prize Junior Division winner Otto Beall, Otto Middle School 8th grade, with his project titled An Affordable Braille Embosser II.

Senior Division

First Place

• Arshia Elahi, Plano Senior High School, Materials Science, The Development and Engineering of an Affordable, Self-Calibrating Hearing Aid Via Porous Nitinol Compression and a Novel Concave Amplification Technique*
• Kevin Meng, Plano West Senior High School, Robotics and Intelligent Machines, The Sixth Sense with Artificial Intelligence: An Innovative Solution for Real-Time Retrieval of the Human Figure Behind Visual Obstruction*
• Umangi Singh, McMillen High School, Mathematics, Creating a Mathematical Algorithm for Insulin Intake*
• Team: Ashay Shah and Ashna Shah, Plano East Senior High School, Energy: Chemical, Optimizing and Fine-Tuning Electrode Pore Sizes Utilizing Varying Ratios of the Immiscible Polymer Blend PAN-PS for High Energy Density and Wide Temperature Range Supercapacitors*

Second Place

• Mina Phipps, McMillen High School, Chemistry, The Outcomes of Commonly Used Essential Oils As Mosquito Repellent*
• Navya Ramakrishnan, Jasper High School, Systems Software, An Intelligent System for the Prediction of Epileptic Seizures using Machine Learning Algorithms*
• Richard Wille, McMillen High School, Energy: Physical, The Great Harvest: Using Energy Harvesting to Prolong the Battery Life of a Smartphone*
• Annie Zhi, Plano Senior High School, Materials Science, A Bioinspired Multifunctional Liquid-Repellent and Self-cleaning Coating for Sustainable Building Applications*
• Team: Anjali Brown and Taran Gupta, Shepton High School, Biomedical and Health Sciences, The Effects of Curcumin on the Memory Preservation of Aspartame-Treated Dugesia tigrina*
• Team: Rajiv Swamy and Rekha Swamy, Plano East Senior High School, Embedded Systems, See Through the Rubble: A Mobile Ultra-Wideband Life Detection System for Search and Rescue Following Natural Disasters*

Third Place

• Eshan Chhabra, Plano Senior High School, Energy: Physical, Emphatic Static: A New Paradigm for Renewable Energy 
• Rithvik Ganesh, Jasper High School, Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Untangling Alzheimer's: Using Artificial Intelligence to expedite the identification of promising drug candidates for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease 
• Alay Shah, Shepton High School, Systems Software, Computer-Vision Aided Traffic Camera System for Anomalous Driving Detection
• Nicholas Zhong, Plano West Senior High School, Physics and Astronomy, Fine-Tuning Thin-Film Thermoacoustic Speakers For Wearable Electronics
• Team: Rakaan Alhaddad and Rohan Mehta, Plano East Senior High School, Biomedical Engineering, A Cost-Efficient Solution Towards Body Powered Prostheses Through The Use Of Additive Manufacturing
• Team: Rohan Chhaya and Walter Stark, Plano Senior High School, Energy: Chemical, Increasing Solar Efficiency With UV Light
• Team: Pranav Civi and Noah Mathai, Jasper High School, Biochemistry, An in vitro analysis of Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP) of various Bacillus species on the decrease of Soil Porosity to prevent Pesticide Biomagnification
• Team: Sanjana Hiremath and Sriya Teerdhala, Plano East Senior High School, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bioremediation of Tetracycline Polluted Soils: How Antibiotic Resistance can Reduce Antibiotic Pollution

* All first and second place senior division winners qualify for the Texas Governors's Science And Technology Academy

Junior Division

First Place

• Otto Beall, Otto Middle School, Embedded Systems,: An Affordable Braille Embosser II**
• Tess Gagliano, Haggard Middle School, Engineering Mechanics: Magnetic Shake Generator**
  
• Winston Gruver, Renner Middle School, Behavioral and Social Sciences,: Through the Tinted Glass**

Second Place

• Akshay Unnikrishnan, Otto Middle School, Environmental Engineering,: Non-invasive Water Usage Detector**
• Samira Yang, Schimelpfenig Middle School, Engineering Mechanics:, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish - Making a Customizable Automatic Fish Feeder**

Third Place

• Tiffany Chen, Schimelpfenig Middle School, Earth and Environmental Sciences: Oysters, Clams, or Microfibers? Which microfiber filter is the most efficient?
• Adil Husain, Rice Middle School,Robotics and Intelligent Machines: iSight - Artificial Intelligence Brings Vision to Visually Impaired
• Raghav Ramki, Rice Middle School, Embedded Systems:, Bee Prepared: An Optimized Swarming Drone Dispersion System
• Krithi Subramanian, Schimelpfenig Middle School, Chemistry: The Polystyrene Predicament
• Team: Adithi Rallapalli and Shakti Ramakrishna, Renner Middle School, Microbiology: The Effect of Essential Oils on Escherichia Coli Serotype O157:H7 in Comparison to the Antibiotic Ampicillin

** Nominated to apply for Broadcom MASTERS

More information about TSEF

TXSEF is an annual state science competition for students in grades six through twelve. To advance to TXSEF competition, students must first have placed at their district and regional fairs.