2023 KY-SEF Award Winners

Category Awards

Middle School

Animal Sciences – Middle School
3rd Place
Julia Brown, SCAPA at Bluegrass – “Honey, I Caught the Flies!” (What is the effect of different types of  substances in homemade fly traps on the number of flies caught?)
2nd Place
Hajira Syed, Beaumont Middle School – The Potential Effects of Climate Change on Mosquitoes
1st Place
Emma Diehl, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring the Effect of Light Pollution on Honey Bees

Behavioral and Social Sciences – Middle School
3rd Place
Gracyn Stockwell, St. Francis of Assisi  – Exploring the Effect of Light Pollution on Honey Bees
2nd Place
Emery Cox, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring the Relationship of ACEs and Altruism in Teens
1st Place
Dillon Jenkins, The Lexington School – It’s Not a Problem If You Can Solve It

Biochemistry – Middle School
3rd Place
Lindsay DeVore, Homeschool – Preserving Your Bouguets and Blooms Longer
2nd Place
Charvi Nambi, Meyzeek Middle School – The Effect of pH Levels on Enzyme Activity of Lactase
1st Place
Tasneem Faiz, Nur Islamic School of Louisville – The Effect of Sugar Substitutes on Yeast Growth

Biomedical and Health Sciences – Middle School
3rd Place
Bhavya Agrawal, Meyzeek Middle School – Effects of Different Solutions on Human Teeth
2nd Place
Elli Keeley-Fine, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring UV Exposed Plastic Toxicity
1st Place
Saanvi Arora, Meyzeek Middle School – Effect of Caffeine and Melatonin on Neurotransmission Rates on the Cockroach

Biomedical Engineering – Middle School
3rd Place
Aleena Nguyen, Seton Catholic Elementary – Hair Care at the Science Fair
2nd Place
Rihaan Kapoor, St. Francis of Assisi – A Convolutional Neural Network to Detect Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
1st Place
Vishwaa Kannan, Meyzeek Middle School – A Sleep Detection System Using an Inertial Measurement Unit

Cellular and Molecular Biology – Middle School
3rd Place
Mariah Peterson, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring Tea: A Potential Remediator of Ethonolic Damage in Liver
2nd Place
Caroline Cotton, St. Francis of Assisi – Asimina Triloba: A Potential Anti-Cancer Medicine
1st Place
Katelyn Stroud, St. Francis of Assisi – Plastic Toys: A Potential Stem Cell Risk

Chemistry – Middle School
3rd Place
Kai Nakamura, St. Francis of Assisi – Catalyzing Greater Thrust in Rocket Fuel
2nd Place
Prikash Kharel, Glendover Elementary School – Water…Cooler or Hotter? With…?
1st Place
Avery Lloyd, St. Francis of Assisi – Extracting Oxygen from Martian Regolith

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics – Middle School
3rd Place
Jacob Holtgrave, St. Francis of Assisi  – Does Alcohol Use Increase Risk and Severity of Skin Cancer
2nd Place
Owen Singer, St. Francis of Assisi – mRna Isoform Therapy Targets in Sensory Neurons
1st Place
Aishwarya Ramasamy, Meyzeek Middle School  – Relationship Between Brain Age and Heart Health

Earth and Environmental Science – Middle School
3rd Place
Ethan Tiemeier, Saint Mary School – Which Methods Clean Water the Best?
2nd Place
Livia Chaudhary, Meyzeek Middle School – Inertial Based Filtration System
1st Place
Johanna Hawley, St. Francis of Assisi  – Does the Amount and Placement of Driftwood Affect Stream Erosion?

Embedded Systems – Middle School
3rd Place
No Award
2nd Place
No Award
1st Place
Annika Chadha, Noe Middle School  – Omni Wheel: An Innovative Wheel Design for Improved Walker Safety and Stability and Bi-mode Fall Notification System

Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design – Middle School
3rd Place
Nicholas Mayer, St. Francis of Assisi – Creating a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell
2nd Place
Kate DeHoag, Morton Middle School – Hydrogen: Clean Way Forward
1st Place
Shray Parekh and Likith Petnikota, Meyzeek Middle School – Best Alternative Source for Electrical Energy

Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics – Middle School
3rd Place
Jamie Best, Morton Middle School – Blast Off! Are We Going to Space Effectively?
2nd Place
Todd Niemann, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring Anode-Cathode Spacing in Ionic Thrusters
1st Place
Meredith Elder, St. Francis of Assisi – Reducing Conductor Gallop with 3D Printed Coverings

Environmental Engineering – Middle School
3rd Place
Drew Fluharty, Southern Middle School – What Filtration Method Filters Water Best?
2nd Place
Seth Niemann, St. Francis of Assisi – Remediating Oil Spill with a Milkweed and TiO2 Combination
1st Place
Akhila Nalladimma, Meyzeek Middle School – Farm of the Future

Materials Science – Middle School
3rd Place
Katie Mulvihill, St. Francis of Assisi – Infection Detecting Bioplastic Film
2nd Place
Hayden Zollinger, Williamstown Jr/Sr High School – Holding Your Weight
1st Place
Kaibrey Donnelly, Morton Middle School – Spherification

Mathematics – Middle School
3rd Place
No Award
2nd Place
Timothy Flannery, Elliott County Middle School – M&M Math
1st Place
Maylin Kidwell, Noe Middle School – Precision Through Randomness: A Physical Demonstration of Using Noise to Improve Measurements

Microbiology – Middle School
3rd Place
Priyam Kumaran, Meyzeek Middle School – Plant Derived Nanoparticles Inhibit Pathogenic Bacteria During Food Contamination
2nd Place
Marlowe Jeffreys, St. Francis of Assisi  – Toothpaste: A Possible Source of Bacterial Antibiotic Resistance
1st Place
Tejas Basneth, Tates Creek Middle School  – A Novel Approach to the Scarcity of Anti-Bacterial Solutions in Developing Countries

Physics and Astronomy – Middle School
3rd Place
Hasina Sabur, Nur Islamic School of Louisville – Levels on Image Clarity
2nd Place
Gowshik Lavan Ramanathan, Meyzeek Middle School – Making a Drone Fly with an Arduino
1st Place
Penelope Harris, St. Francis of Assisi – Golf Controversy: The Locked Putter Advantage

Plant Sciences – Middle School
3rd Place
Eva Donis, St. Francis of Assisi – Increasing Drought Tolerance in Plants
2nd Place
Nandini Chivukula and Nehareddy Kommareddy, Meyzeek Middle School – Soil Moisture Sensor
1st Place
Ainjini Patra, Tates Creek Middle School – Effect of Electric Stimulation on Seed Germination and Hypocotyl Growth

Robotics and Intelligent Machines – Middle School
3rd Place
Carson Couch, Mountain View Elementary – Laser Shooting Gallery
2nd Place
Bryan O’Toole and Ajay Sutaria, Meyzeek Middle School – Hyper Local UV Radiation Data Collection and Analysis for Skin Protection
1st Place
Vera Naidu, St. Francis of Assisi – TaMRA: Temperature Monitoring Robotic Assistant

Systems Software – Middle School
3rd Place
No Award
2nd Place
Prisha Hedau, Meyzeek Middle School – Health and Wellness
1st Place
Rishik Saravanan, Meyzeek Middle School – Digital Assessment & Practicing Platform (DAP)

Translational Medical Science – Middle School
3rd Place
Brady Kyde, Liberty Elementary School – Are You Kidneying Me?
2nd Place
Eva Garvin, St. Francis of Assisi – Acetaminophen Controversy: Can It Affect Developing Children?
1st Place
Leah Rasnake, St. Francis of Assisi – Anticoagulation and Coagulation Effects of Herbs and Medicines

High School

Animal Sciences – High School
3rd Place
Mary Catherine Kelly, Notre Dame Academy High School – The Effect of Selenium on the Productivity of Harvester Ants
2nd Place
Amina Puzhakkaraillath, duPont Manual High School – The Effect of the Meganuclease Gene Therapy on Transgenic Mice with Retinis Pigmentosa
1st Place
Lucy Teng, duPont Manual High School – Being Young Again: Curcumin Delivered by Lemon-Derived Nanovesicle Restores Cognitive Function in Aging

Behavioral and Social Sciences – High School
3rd Place
Caleb Singleton, duPont Manual High School – The Subjective Experience of Autobiographical Memory Through Functional Connectivity
2nd Place
Katie Yang, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – The Effectiveness of Flood Property Acquisitions for Certain Sociodemographics
1st Place
Halie Boyer, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Ephemeral Reward Task with Pigeons: Researching Methods of Making Learning a Difficult Task Easier

Biochemistry – High School
3rd Place
Adaora Ozor, duPont Manual High School – How sensitive/accurate the Kastle-Meyer test is when testing for the presence of blood?
2nd Place
Ana Despa, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – The Effect of Running-Induced Cathepsin B Secretion on Stroke Recover
1st Place
Vedha Balamurugan, duPont Manual High School – Novel Organ Preservation Approaches to Enhance Hepatocyte Survival for Liver Transplantation

Biomedical and Health Sciences – High School
3rd Place –
Ryan Yakoumatos, North Oldham High School – The Impact of β-Glucans on Murine Macrophage Activation
2nd Place
Sireesha Gutti, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Validation of the Gender-Specific Genes in the Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Cell Line
1st Place
Nithin Senthilvel, duPont Manual High School – Colonl: The Development of a Diagnostic/Prognostic Tool for the Screening and Proctocolectomy Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis Utilizing Novel P-ANCA Biomarkers Synchronously with 2D Ex Vivo Computerized Tomography (CT) Feature Extraction

Biomedical Engineering – High School
3rd Place
No Award
2nd Place
Karthika Hariprasad, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – SMART Pill Dispenser – An Arduino-Based Device to Prevent Drug Overdose
1st Place
Rishabh Ranjan and Gopalaniruddh Tadinada, duPont Manual High School  – BioSpec: A Low-Cost Pipeline for Non-Invasive Gastrointestinal Cancer Screening Utilizing miRNA Fluorescence Spectroscopy with High-Efficacy Support Vector Networks

Cellular and Molecular Biology – High School
3rd Place
Arjun Sharma, duPont Manual High School – Inflammation Through Neutrophils
2nd Place
Andrew Blair, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Investigating the Effects of Mutated Phosphatase of Regenerating Liver Protein on Cancer Metastasis
1st Place
Katie Quinn, duPont Manual High School – Exploring the Effect of Maternal Exposure to Nicotine on the Renal Function of the Offspring

Chemistry – High School
3rd Place
Justin Huang, duPont Manual High School – Development and Validation of a Novel Clinical Diagnostic Platform with Breath Analysis and Machine Learning
2nd Place
Joshua Zyzak, Beechwood High School – Development of a Novel Aroma Capture Device
1st Place
Christina Lin and Miranda Ma, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Leuco Dye Based Radiation Sensors

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics – High School
3rd Place
Hannah Ashton Long, Magoffin County High School – A Computational Method for Utilizing Genetic and Epigenetic Information for Predicting Mutations in Colorectal and Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Cancers
2nd Place
Sai Javvadi, duPont Manual High School – SquidNet: A Novel GAN-based Architecture for Histopathological Color Normalization
1st Place
Tony Xu, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Identifying a Novel Gene Signature to Predict Drug Resistance in Epilepsy Patients

Earth and Environmental Science – High School
3rd Place
Ishani Kulkarni and Aiden Vilo, duPont Manual High School – Vegetation Density of Riparian Forest’s Effect on Water Quality
2nd Place
Sophia Zhou, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Thermal Tolerance Across Insect Taxa: Computational Inference of Heat Tolerance Across Insect Taxa
1st Place
Clare Shay, Notre Dame Academy High School – Nano-silver, Macro-effects

Embedded Systems – High School
3rd Place
Easha Heellage, Ballard High School – Smart Irrigation
2nd Place
Saveer Jain, duPont Manual High School – Relative Localization of Swarm Robots Using Radio Signals
1st Place
Elizabeth Bryant and Amy Chen, duPont Manual High School – Designing a Form-Correcting Device for Weightlifting

Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design – High School
3rd Place
Ralph Bright, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – External Quantum Efficiency Measurements for Defect Characterization in Perovskite Photovoltaics
2nd Place
Conor O’Bryan, Saint Xavier High School – The Wave Shaper
1st Place
Mihira Sumanasekera, Ballard High School – Problems of All-Solid-State Lithium-Sulfur Batteries and Improvement of Their Performances

Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics – High School
3rd Place
Anirudh Srinivasan, duPont Manual High School – The Implementation of a Pressure-Regulated System to Increase the Efficiency of the OxyCart Oxygen Concentrator?
2nd Place
Phillip Herndon, duPont Manual High School – Durability of 3D Printed Objects vs. Infill Pattern
1st Place
Richard Lian, duPont Manual High School – Decentralized, Autonomous Drone Swarms for Real-Time Mapping Applications and Natural Disaster Relief

Environmental Engineering – High School
3rd Place
Zahra Chasmawala and Valerie Mohrmann, duPont Manual High School – Evaluating Chemically Enhanced Natural Materials for Oil Spill Cleanup
2nd Place
Michael Crowe, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Investigating Carbon Sequestration Potential in Central Kentucky
1st Place
Priya Midha, duPont Manual High School – A Sustainable Alternative to Toxic Azo Dyes in the Textile Industry

Materials Science – High School
3rd Place
Anvitha Srineni and Padmapriya Viswakumar, duPont Manual High School – The Potential Biocompatibility of 3D Printed 17-4 pH Stainless Steel in Implants
2nd Place
Marty Copley and Braxton Hatfield, Belfry High School – Biodegradable Plastics
1st Place
Vallabh Ramesh, duPont Manual High School – 4D Print Low-Cost Novel Shape Memory Polymer Compositions for Industrial, Robotic, and Disaster Relief Applications

Mathematics – High School
3rd Place
Kaden Mahoney, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – There for a Fixed Discriminant $?
2nd Place –
Joseph Vulakh, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Hereditary Atomicity and ACCP in Monoids and Integral Domains
1st Place
Summer Li, duPont Manual High School – Vital Signs Based Biometric Authentication Using a mmWave Radar

Microbiology – High School
3rd Place
Om Shah, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Validation of the Bruker Microflex MALDI-tof Research Use Only Data Base for the Identification of Gram Positives
2nd Place
Sachi Dronawat, duPont Manual High School – Evaluating the Effectiveness of Commonly Used Antibiotics Against Urban and Rural Kentucky Soil Samples
1st Place
Zita Nguyen, duPont Manual High School – The Effect of Distance on Bacteria Growth from Hot Air Drying Machines

Physics and Astronomy – High School
3rd Place
Nedjma Kalliney, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Development of Software for a Fluxgate Magnetometer Array
2nd Place
Ishannita Banerjee, Louisville Male High School – Cosmic Muon Detection
1st Place
Gabriel Nowaskie, Gatton Academy of Science & Mathematics – Quarkonium Dynamics in Phase Space

Plant Sciences – High School
3rd Place
Leia Lukas, Valley High School – What Happens in an Aquaponic Garden that Causes It to Grow, and How Does It Compare to Soil and Hydroponics?
2nd Place
Kara Bracken, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Using Growing Degree Day Models to Develop Crop Planning Tools for Cool Season Vegetables
1st Place
Sivani Babu, duPont Manual High School – The Uptake of Arsenic in Rice Plants

Robotics and Intelligent Machines – High School
3rd Place
Varun Hariprasad, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School  – Using Large Language Models to Solve PDDL-Based Robot Task Planning Problems
2nd Place
Shazia Shaik, duPont Manual High School – Smile for the Camera! Real-Time Facial Emotion Recognition Using AI for Improved Patient Care
1st Place
Natalie Janzaruk, Notre Dame Academy High School – A Prototype Bioinspired Soft Robotic Microplastic Filter

Systems Software – High School
3rd Place
Manit Gupta, duPont Manual High School – Smart Garden
2nd Place
Ellen Fei, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Encryption-free Vertical Slicing Techniques to Improve Security in the Multi-Cloud Environment
1st Place
Anirudh Iyengar, duPont Manual High School – Cost-Effective Baseball Statistical Analysis Tool

Translational Medical Science – High School
3rd Place
Sohan Sen, duPont Manual High School – The Effect of Nimbidiol on Diabetic Osteoporosis
2nd Place
Emily Hu, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – DAE-XGBOOST: Developing a Method to Classify Neoplasms via Micro-RNAs for Biopsy Verification
1st Place
Shreya Chandrashekar, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Targeting Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) to Enhance Aged Muscle Stem Cell Function

Special Awards

Association for Women Geoscientists
Arie Washington, duPont Manual High School – Understanding the Impact of Silt on Floodplains and the Surrounding Envi9ronment

Dr. Barbara Ramey Physical Sciences Award
Natalie Fite, Reese Varney, Belfry High School – sm;)e – An Application for the Betterment of Mental Health

Dr. Robert Creek Life Sciences Award
Kai Miller, Valley High School – How Does Bipolar 1 Disorder Affect a Student’s Ability to Complete Work Both Inside and Outside of the Classrooom?

American Institute of Professional Geologists
Michael Crowe, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Investigating Carbon Sequestration Potential in Central Kentucky

American Psychological Association Award
Halie Boyer, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Ephemeral Reward Task with Pigeons: Researching Methods of Making Learning a Difficult Task Easier

Lemelson Early Inventor Prize
Livia Chaudhary, Meyzeek Middle School – Inertial Based Filtration System

NASA Earth System Science Award
Veeksha Katta, North Oldham High School – Desalination Goes Green: A Solar-Powered Solution for Water Purification

National Geographic Society
Arie Washington, duPont Manual High School – Understanding the Impact of Silt on Floodplains and the Surrounding Environment

NOAA: Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award
Ishani Kulkarni and Aiden Vilo, duPont Manual High School – Vegetation Density of Riparian Forest’s Effect on Water Quality

Regeneron Biomedical Science Award
Tony Xu, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Identifying a Novel Gene Signature to Predict Drug Resistance in Epilepsy Patients

Ricoh Sustainable Development Award
Aniket Tadinada, Meyzeek Middle School – The Development of a Low-Cost Risk Detection Device for Wildfires Utilizing a Convolutional Neural Network and Object Detection Model

Society for In Vitro Biology
Shreya Chandrashekar, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Targeting nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) to Enhance Aged Muscle Stem Cell Function

Stockholm Junior Water Prize
Zahra Chasmawala and Valerie Mohrmann, duPont Manual High School – Evaluating Chemically Enhanced Natural Materials for Oil Spill Cleanup

Natalie Janzaruk, Notre Dame Academy High School – A Prototype Bioinspired Soft Robotic Microplastic Filter

Ishani Kulkarni and Aiden Vilo, duPont Manual High School – Vegetation Density of Riparian Forest’s Effect on Water Quality

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Jake Harmon, duPont Manual High School – Opinions of High Schoolers on Government Climate Action

U.S. Metric Association Award
Maximo Ortega, Meyzeek Middle School – MagnoWheel

Yale Science and Engineering Association
Ishannita Banerjee, Louisville Male High School – Cosmic Muon Detection

Military Awards

U.S Air Force Award – Grades 6 – 8
Todd Niemann, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring Anode-Cathode Spacing in Ionic Thrusters

Aniket Tadinada, Meyzeek Middle School – The Development of a Low-Cost Risk Detection Device for Wildfires Utilizing a Convolutional Neural Network and Object Detection Model

U.S Air Force Award – Grades 9 – 12
Anvitha Srineni and Padmapriya Viswakumar, duPont Manual High School – The Potential Biocompatibility of 3D printed 17-4 pH Stainless Steel in Implants

US Army Award
Kevin Brothers, Ballard High School – Reuniting Children with Their Parents Using Facial Recognition

Phillip Herndon, duPont Manual High School – Durability of 3D Printed Objects Vs. Infill Pattern

Ishani Kulkarni and Aiden Vilo, duPont Manual High School – Vegetation Density of Riparian Forest’s Effect on Water Quality

Sohan Sen, duPont Manual High School – The Effect of Nimbidiol on Diabetic Osteoporosis

Katie Yang, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – The Effectiveness of Flood Property Acquisitions for Certain Sociodemographics

U.S. Navy-Marine Corp Excellence in Research Award-Grades 6 – 8
Emma Diehl, St. Francis of Assissi – Exploring the Effect of Light Pollution on Honey Bees 

Meredith Elder, St. Francis of Assisi – Reducing Conductor Gallop with 3D Printed Coverings

Finn Oetken, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring the Creation of Electrically Conductive Concrete

U.S. Navy-Marine Corp Excellence in Research Award-Grades 9 – 12
Summon Gebrelibanos, Ballard High School – Transferring Pictures and Text Effectively Using Augmented Reality, Salient Object Detection Neural Networks, and WebSockets

Karthika Hariprasad, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – SMART Pill Dispenser – An Arduino-Based Device to Prevent Drug Overdose

Richard Lian, duPont Manual High School – Decentralized, Autonomous Drone Swarms for Real-Time Mapping Applications and Natural Disaster Relief

Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovator Challenge

Tejas Basneth, Tates Creek Middle School – A Novel Approach to the Scarcity of Anti-Bacterial Solutions in Developing Countries

Kate DeHoag, Morton Middle School – Hydrogen: Clean Way Forward

Emma Diehl, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring the Effect of Light Polution on Honey Bees

Kaibrey Donnelly, Morton Middle School – Spherification

Tasneem Faiz, Nur Islamic School of Louisville – The Effect of Sugar Substitutes on Yeast Growth

Timothy Flannery, Elliott County Middle School – M&M Math

Penelope Harris, St. Francis of Assisi – Golf Controversy: The Locked Putter Advantage

Dillon Jenkins, The Lexington School – It’s Not a Problem If You Can Solve It

Vishwaa Kannan, Meyzeek Middle School – A Sleep Detection System Using an Inertial Measurement Unit

Elli Keeley-Fine, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring UV Exposed Plastic Toxicity

Nicholas Mayer, St. Francis of Assisi – Creating a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

Akhila Nalladimma, Meyzeek Middle School- Farm of the Future

Aleena Nguyen, Seton Catholic Elementary – Hair Care at the Science Fair

Ainjini Patra, Tates Creek Middle School – Effect of Electric Stimulation on Seed Germination and Hypocotyl Growth

Katelyn Stroud, St. Francis of Assisi – Plastic Toys: A Potential Stem Cell Risk

Ethan Tiemeier. Saint Mary School – Which Methods Clean Water the Best?

Hayden Zollinger, Williamstown Jr/Sr High School – Holding Your Weight

Best of Fair- Middle School

Middle School – Life Sciences
3rd Place
Dillon Jenkins, The Lexington School – It’s Not a Problem If You Can Solve It
2nd Place
Vishwaa Kannan, Meyzeek Middle School – A Sleep Detection System Using an Inertial Measurement Unit
1st Place
Ainjini Patra, Tates Creek Middle School – Effective of Electric Stimulation on Seed Germination and Hypocotyl Growth

Middle School – Physical Sciences
3rd Place
Penelope Harris, St. Francis of Assisi – Golf Controversy: The Locked Putter Advantage
2nd Place
Maylin Kidwell, Noe Middle School – Precision Through Randomness: A Physical Demonstration of Using Noise to Improve Measurements
1st Place
Annika Chadha, Noe Middle School – Omni Wheel: An Innovative Wheel Design for Improved Walker Safety and Stability and Bi-Mode Fall Notification System

Best of Fair – High School and Regeneron ISEF Finalists

High School – Life Sciences
3rd Place
Rishabh Ranjan and Gopalaniruddh Tadinada, duPont Manual High School – BioSpec: A Low-Cost Pipeline for Non-Invasive Gastrointestinal Cancer Screening Utilizing miRNA Fluorescence Spectroscopy with High-Efficacy Support Vector networks
2nd Place
Zita Nguyen, duPont Manual High School – The Effect of Distance on Bacteria Growth from Hot Air Drying Machines
1st Place
Tony Xu, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Identifying a Novel Gene Signature to Predict Drug Resistance in Epilepsy Patients

High School – Physical Sciences
3rd Place
Natalie Janzaruk, Notre Dame Academy High School – A Prototype Bioinspired Soft Robotic Microplastic Filter
2nd Place
Vallabh Ramesh, duPont Manual High School – 4D Printed Low-Cost Novel Shape Memory Polymer Compositions for Industrial, Robotic, and Disaster Relief Applications
1st Place
Richard Lian, duPont Manual High School – Decentralized, Autonomous Drone Swarms for Real-Time Mapping Applications and Natural Disaster Relief

KEY CONTACT
State Fair Directors
Dr. Jason Marion
June Settle
Email:
june.settle@retiree.eku.edu

2023 KY-SEF Award Winners

Category Awards

Middle School

Animal Sciences – Middle School
3rd Place
Julia Brown, SCAPA at Bluegrass – “Honey, I Caught the Flies!” (What is the effect of different types of  substances in homemade fly traps on the number of flies caught?)
2nd Place
Hajira Syed, Beaumont Middle School – The Potential Effects of Climate Change on Mosquitoes
1st Place
Emma Diehl, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring the Effect of Light Pollution on Honey Bees

Behavioral and Social Sciences – Middle School
3rd Place
Gracyn Stockwell, St. Francis of Assisi  – Exploring the Effect of Light Pollution on Honey Bees
2nd Place
Emery Cox, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring the Relationship of ACEs and Altruism in Teens
1st Place
Dillon Jenkins, The Lexington School – It’s Not a Problem If You Can Solve It

Biochemistry – Middle School
3rd Place
Lindsay DeVore, Homeschool – Preserving Your Bouguets and Blooms Longer
2nd Place
Charvi Nambi, Meyzeek Middle School – The Effect of pH Levels on Enzyme Activity of Lactase
1st Place
Tasneem Faiz, Nur Islamic School of Louisville – The Effect of Sugar Substitutes on Yeast Growth

Biomedical and Health Sciences – Middle School
3rd Place
Bhavya Agrawal, Meyzeek Middle School – Effects of Different Solutions on Human Teeth
2nd Place
Elli Keeley-Fine, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring UV Exposed Plastic Toxicity
1st Place
Saanvi Arora, Meyzeek Middle School – Effect of Caffeine and Melatonin on Neurotransmission Rates on the Cockroach

Biomedical Engineering – Middle School
3rd Place
Aleena Nguyen, Seton Catholic Elementary – Hair Care at the Science Fair
2nd Place
Rihaan Kapoor, St. Francis of Assisi – A Convolutional Neural Network to Detect Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
1st Place
Vishwaa Kannan, Meyzeek Middle School – A Sleep Detection System Using an Inertial Measurement Unit

Cellular and Molecular Biology – Middle School
3rd Place
Mariah Peterson, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring Tea: A Potential Remediator of Ethonolic Damage in Liver
2nd Place
Caroline Cotton, St. Francis of Assisi – Asimina Triloba: A Potential Anti-Cancer Medicine
1st Place
Katelyn Stroud, St. Francis of Assisi – Plastic Toys: A Potential Stem Cell Risk

Chemistry – Middle School
3rd Place
Kai Nakamura, St. Francis of Assisi – Catalyzing Greater Thrust in Rocket Fuel
2nd Place
Prikash Kharel, Glendover Elementary School – Water…Cooler or Hotter? With…?
1st Place
Avery Lloyd, St. Francis of Assisi – Extracting Oxygen from Martian Regolith

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics – Middle School
3rd Place
Jacob Holtgrave, St. Francis of Assisi  – Does Alcohol Use Increase Risk and Severity of Skin Cancer
2nd Place
Owen Singer, St. Francis of Assisi – mRna Isoform Therapy Targets in Sensory Neurons
1st Place
Aishwarya Ramasamy, Meyzeek Middle School  – Relationship Between Brain Age and Heart Health

Earth and Environmental Science – Middle School
3rd Place
Ethan Tiemeier, Saint Mary School – Which Methods Clean Water the Best?
2nd Place
Livia Chaudhary, Meyzeek Middle School – Inertial Based Filtration System
1st Place
Johanna Hawley, St. Francis of Assisi  – Does the Amount and Placement of Driftwood Affect Stream Erosion?

Embedded Systems – Middle School
3rd Place
No Award
2nd Place
No Award
1st Place
Annika Chadha, Noe Middle School  – Omni Wheel: An Innovative Wheel Design for Improved Walker Safety and Stability and Bi-mode Fall Notification System

Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design – Middle School
3rd Place
Nicholas Mayer, St. Francis of Assisi – Creating a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell
2nd Place
Kate DeHoag, Morton Middle School – Hydrogen: Clean Way Forward
1st Place
Shray Parekh and Likith Petnikota, Meyzeek Middle School – Best Alternative Source for Electrical Energy

Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics – Middle School
3rd Place
Jamie Best, Morton Middle School – Blast Off! Are We Going to Space Effectively?
2nd Place
Todd Niemann, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring Anode-Cathode Spacing in Ionic Thrusters
1st Place
Meredith Elder, St. Francis of Assisi – Reducing Conductor Gallop with 3D Printed Coverings

Environmental Engineering – Middle School
3rd Place
Drew Fluharty, Southern Middle School – What Filtration Method Filters Water Best?
2nd Place
Seth Niemann, St. Francis of Assisi – Remediating Oil Spill with a Milkweed and TiO2 Combination
1st Place
Akhila Nalladimma, Meyzeek Middle School – Farm of the Future

Materials Science – Middle School
3rd Place
Katie Mulvihill, St. Francis of Assisi – Infection Detecting Bioplastic Film
2nd Place
Hayden Zollinger, Williamstown Jr/Sr High School – Holding Your Weight
1st Place
Kaibrey Donnelly, Morton Middle School – Spherification

Mathematics – Middle School
3rd Place
No Award
2nd Place
Timothy Flannery, Elliott County Middle School – M&M Math
1st Place
Maylin Kidwell, Noe Middle School – Precision Through Randomness: A Physical Demonstration of Using Noise to Improve Measurements

Microbiology – Middle School
3rd Place
Priyam Kumaran, Meyzeek Middle School – Plant Derived Nanoparticles Inhibit Pathogenic Bacteria During Food Contamination
2nd Place
Marlowe Jeffreys, St. Francis of Assisi  – Toothpaste: A Possible Source of Bacterial Antibiotic Resistance
1st Place
Tejas Basneth, Tates Creek Middle School  – A Novel Approach to the Scarcity of Anti-Bacterial Solutions in Developing Countries

Physics and Astronomy – Middle School
3rd Place
Hasina Sabur, Nur Islamic School of Louisville – Levels on Image Clarity
2nd Place
Gowshik Lavan Ramanathan, Meyzeek Middle School – Making a Drone Fly with an Arduino
1st Place
Penelope Harris, St. Francis of Assisi – Golf Controversy: The Locked Putter Advantage

Plant Sciences – Middle School
3rd Place
Eva Donis, St. Francis of Assisi – Increasing Drought Tolerance in Plants
2nd Place
Nandini Chivukula and Nehareddy Kommareddy, Meyzeek Middle School – Soil Moisture Sensor
1st Place
Ainjini Patra, Tates Creek Middle School – Effect of Electric Stimulation on Seed Germination and Hypocotyl Growth

Robotics and Intelligent Machines – Middle School
3rd Place
Carson Couch, Mountain View Elementary – Laser Shooting Gallery
2nd Place
Bryan O’Toole and Ajay Sutaria, Meyzeek Middle School – Hyper Local UV Radiation Data Collection and Analysis for Skin Protection
1st Place
Vera Naidu, St. Francis of Assisi – TaMRA: Temperature Monitoring Robotic Assistant

Systems Software – Middle School
3rd Place
No Award
2nd Place
Prisha Hedau, Meyzeek Middle School – Health and Wellness
1st Place
Rishik Saravanan, Meyzeek Middle School – Digital Assessment & Practicing Platform (DAP)

Translational Medical Science – Middle School
3rd Place
Brady Kyde, Liberty Elementary School – Are You Kidneying Me?
2nd Place
Eva Garvin, St. Francis of Assisi – Acetaminophen Controversy: Can It Affect Developing Children?
1st Place
Leah Rasnake, St. Francis of Assisi – Anticoagulation and Coagulation Effects of Herbs and Medicines

High School

Animal Sciences – High School
3rd Place
Mary Catherine Kelly, Notre Dame Academy High School – The Effect of Selenium on the Productivity of Harvester Ants
2nd Place
Amina Puzhakkaraillath, duPont Manual High School – The Effect of the Meganuclease Gene Therapy on Transgenic Mice with Retinis Pigmentosa
1st Place
Lucy Teng, duPont Manual High School – Being Young Again: Curcumin Delivered by Lemon-Derived Nanovesicle Restores Cognitive Function in Aging

Behavioral and Social Sciences – High School
3rd Place
Caleb Singleton, duPont Manual High School – The Subjective Experience of Autobiographical Memory Through Functional Connectivity
2nd Place
Katie Yang, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – The Effectiveness of Flood Property Acquisitions for Certain Sociodemographics
1st Place
Halie Boyer, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Ephemeral Reward Task with Pigeons: Researching Methods of Making Learning a Difficult Task Easier

Biochemistry – High School
3rd Place
Adaora Ozor, duPont Manual High School – How sensitive/accurate the Kastle-Meyer test is when testing for the presence of blood?
2nd Place
Ana Despa, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – The Effect of Running-Induced Cathepsin B Secretion on Stroke Recover
1st Place
Vedha Balamurugan, duPont Manual High School – Novel Organ Preservation Approaches to Enhance Hepatocyte Survival for Liver Transplantation

Biomedical and Health Sciences – High School
3rd Place –
Ryan Yakoumatos, North Oldham High School – The Impact of β-Glucans on Murine Macrophage Activation
2nd Place
Sireesha Gutti, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Validation of the Gender-Specific Genes in the Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Cell Line
1st Place
Nithin Senthilvel, duPont Manual High School – Colonl: The Development of a Diagnostic/Prognostic Tool for the Screening and Proctocolectomy Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis Utilizing Novel P-ANCA Biomarkers Synchronously with 2D Ex Vivo Computerized Tomography (CT) Feature Extraction

Biomedical Engineering – High School
3rd Place
No Award
2nd Place
Karthika Hariprasad, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – SMART Pill Dispenser – An Arduino-Based Device to Prevent Drug Overdose
1st Place
Rishabh Ranjan and Gopalaniruddh Tadinada, duPont Manual High School  – BioSpec: A Low-Cost Pipeline for Non-Invasive Gastrointestinal Cancer Screening Utilizing miRNA Fluorescence Spectroscopy with High-Efficacy Support Vector Networks

Cellular and Molecular Biology – High School
3rd Place
Arjun Sharma, duPont Manual High School – Inflammation Through Neutrophils
2nd Place
Andrew Blair, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Investigating the Effects of Mutated Phosphatase of Regenerating Liver Protein on Cancer Metastasis
1st Place
Katie Quinn, duPont Manual High School – Exploring the Effect of Maternal Exposure to Nicotine on the Renal Function of the Offspring

Chemistry – High School
3rd Place
Justin Huang, duPont Manual High School – Development and Validation of a Novel Clinical Diagnostic Platform with Breath Analysis and Machine Learning
2nd Place
Joshua Zyzak, Beechwood High School – Development of a Novel Aroma Capture Device
1st Place
Christina Lin and Miranda Ma, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Leuco Dye Based Radiation Sensors

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics – High School
3rd Place
Hannah Ashton Long, Magoffin County High School – A Computational Method for Utilizing Genetic and Epigenetic Information for Predicting Mutations in Colorectal and Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Cancers
2nd Place
Sai Javvadi, duPont Manual High School – SquidNet: A Novel GAN-based Architecture for Histopathological Color Normalization
1st Place
Tony Xu, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Identifying a Novel Gene Signature to Predict Drug Resistance in Epilepsy Patients

Earth and Environmental Science – High School
3rd Place
Ishani Kulkarni and Aiden Vilo, duPont Manual High School – Vegetation Density of Riparian Forest’s Effect on Water Quality
2nd Place
Sophia Zhou, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Thermal Tolerance Across Insect Taxa: Computational Inference of Heat Tolerance Across Insect Taxa
1st Place
Clare Shay, Notre Dame Academy High School – Nano-silver, Macro-effects

Embedded Systems – High School
3rd Place
Easha Heellage, Ballard High School – Smart Irrigation
2nd Place
Saveer Jain, duPont Manual High School – Relative Localization of Swarm Robots Using Radio Signals
1st Place
Elizabeth Bryant and Amy Chen, duPont Manual High School – Designing a Form-Correcting Device for Weightlifting

Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design – High School
3rd Place
Ralph Bright, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – External Quantum Efficiency Measurements for Defect Characterization in Perovskite Photovoltaics
2nd Place
Conor O’Bryan, Saint Xavier High School – The Wave Shaper
1st Place
Mihira Sumanasekera, Ballard High School – Problems of All-Solid-State Lithium-Sulfur Batteries and Improvement of Their Performances

Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics – High School
3rd Place
Anirudh Srinivasan, duPont Manual High School – The Implementation of a Pressure-Regulated System to Increase the Efficiency of the OxyCart Oxygen Concentrator?
2nd Place
Phillip Herndon, duPont Manual High School – Durability of 3D Printed Objects vs. Infill Pattern
1st Place
Richard Lian, duPont Manual High School – Decentralized, Autonomous Drone Swarms for Real-Time Mapping Applications and Natural Disaster Relief

Environmental Engineering – High School
3rd Place
Zahra Chasmawala and Valerie Mohrmann, duPont Manual High School – Evaluating Chemically Enhanced Natural Materials for Oil Spill Cleanup
2nd Place
Michael Crowe, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Investigating Carbon Sequestration Potential in Central Kentucky
1st Place
Priya Midha, duPont Manual High School – A Sustainable Alternative to Toxic Azo Dyes in the Textile Industry

Materials Science – High School
3rd Place
Anvitha Srineni and Padmapriya Viswakumar, duPont Manual High School – The Potential Biocompatibility of 3D Printed 17-4 pH Stainless Steel in Implants
2nd Place
Marty Copley and Braxton Hatfield, Belfry High School – Biodegradable Plastics
1st Place
Vallabh Ramesh, duPont Manual High School – 4D Print Low-Cost Novel Shape Memory Polymer Compositions for Industrial, Robotic, and Disaster Relief Applications

Mathematics – High School
3rd Place
Kaden Mahoney, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – There for a Fixed Discriminant $?
2nd Place –
Joseph Vulakh, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Hereditary Atomicity and ACCP in Monoids and Integral Domains
1st Place
Summer Li, duPont Manual High School – Vital Signs Based Biometric Authentication Using a mmWave Radar

Microbiology – High School
3rd Place
Om Shah, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Validation of the Bruker Microflex MALDI-tof Research Use Only Data Base for the Identification of Gram Positives
2nd Place
Sachi Dronawat, duPont Manual High School – Evaluating the Effectiveness of Commonly Used Antibiotics Against Urban and Rural Kentucky Soil Samples
1st Place
Zita Nguyen, duPont Manual High School – The Effect of Distance on Bacteria Growth from Hot Air Drying Machines

Physics and Astronomy – High School
3rd Place
Nedjma Kalliney, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Development of Software for a Fluxgate Magnetometer Array
2nd Place
Ishannita Banerjee, Louisville Male High School – Cosmic Muon Detection
1st Place
Gabriel Nowaskie, Gatton Academy of Science & Mathematics – Quarkonium Dynamics in Phase Space

Plant Sciences – High School
3rd Place
Leia Lukas, Valley High School – What Happens in an Aquaponic Garden that Causes It to Grow, and How Does It Compare to Soil and Hydroponics?
2nd Place
Kara Bracken, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Using Growing Degree Day Models to Develop Crop Planning Tools for Cool Season Vegetables
1st Place
Sivani Babu, duPont Manual High School – The Uptake of Arsenic in Rice Plants

Robotics and Intelligent Machines – High School
3rd Place
Varun Hariprasad, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School  – Using Large Language Models to Solve PDDL-Based Robot Task Planning Problems
2nd Place
Shazia Shaik, duPont Manual High School – Smile for the Camera! Real-Time Facial Emotion Recognition Using AI for Improved Patient Care
1st Place
Natalie Janzaruk, Notre Dame Academy High School – A Prototype Bioinspired Soft Robotic Microplastic Filter

Systems Software – High School
3rd Place
Manit Gupta, duPont Manual High School – Smart Garden
2nd Place
Ellen Fei, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Encryption-free Vertical Slicing Techniques to Improve Security in the Multi-Cloud Environment
1st Place
Anirudh Iyengar, duPont Manual High School – Cost-Effective Baseball Statistical Analysis Tool

Translational Medical Science – High School
3rd Place
Sohan Sen, duPont Manual High School – The Effect of Nimbidiol on Diabetic Osteoporosis
2nd Place
Emily Hu, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – DAE-XGBOOST: Developing a Method to Classify Neoplasms via Micro-RNAs for Biopsy Verification
1st Place
Shreya Chandrashekar, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Targeting Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) to Enhance Aged Muscle Stem Cell Function

Special Awards

Association for Women Geoscientists
Arie Washington, duPont Manual High School – Understanding the Impact of Silt on Floodplains and the Surrounding Envi9ronment

Dr. Barbara Ramey Physical Sciences Award
Natalie Fite, Reese Varney, Belfry High School – sm;)e – An Application for the Betterment of Mental Health

Dr. Robert Creek Life Sciences Award
Kai Miller, Valley High School – How Does Bipolar 1 Disorder Affect a Student’s Ability to Complete Work Both Inside and Outside of the Classrooom?

American Institute of Professional Geologists
Michael Crowe, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Investigating Carbon Sequestration Potential in Central Kentucky

American Psychological Association Award
Halie Boyer, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Ephemeral Reward Task with Pigeons: Researching Methods of Making Learning a Difficult Task Easier

Lemelson Early Inventor Prize
Livia Chaudhary, Meyzeek Middle School – Inertial Based Filtration System

NASA Earth System Science Award
Veeksha Katta, North Oldham High School – Desalination Goes Green: A Solar-Powered Solution for Water Purification

National Geographic Society
Arie Washington, duPont Manual High School – Understanding the Impact of Silt on Floodplains and the Surrounding Environment

NOAA: Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award
Ishani Kulkarni and Aiden Vilo, duPont Manual High School – Vegetation Density of Riparian Forest’s Effect on Water Quality

Regeneron Biomedical Science Award
Tony Xu, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Identifying a Novel Gene Signature to Predict Drug Resistance in Epilepsy Patients

Ricoh Sustainable Development Award
Aniket Tadinada, Meyzeek Middle School – The Development of a Low-Cost Risk Detection Device for Wildfires Utilizing a Convolutional Neural Network and Object Detection Model

Society for In Vitro Biology
Shreya Chandrashekar, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Targeting nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) to Enhance Aged Muscle Stem Cell Function

Stockholm Junior Water Prize
Zahra Chasmawala and Valerie Mohrmann, duPont Manual High School – Evaluating Chemically Enhanced Natural Materials for Oil Spill Cleanup

Natalie Janzaruk, Notre Dame Academy High School – A Prototype Bioinspired Soft Robotic Microplastic Filter

Ishani Kulkarni and Aiden Vilo, duPont Manual High School – Vegetation Density of Riparian Forest’s Effect on Water Quality

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Jake Harmon, duPont Manual High School – Opinions of High Schoolers on Government Climate Action

U.S. Metric Association Award
Maximo Ortega, Meyzeek Middle School – MagnoWheel

Yale Science and Engineering Association
Ishannita Banerjee, Louisville Male High School – Cosmic Muon Detection

Military Awards

U.S Air Force Award – Grades 6 – 8
Todd Niemann, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring Anode-Cathode Spacing in Ionic Thrusters

Aniket Tadinada, Meyzeek Middle School – The Development of a Low-Cost Risk Detection Device for Wildfires Utilizing a Convolutional Neural Network and Object Detection Model

U.S Air Force Award – Grades 9 – 12
Anvitha Srineni and Padmapriya Viswakumar, duPont Manual High School – The Potential Biocompatibility of 3D printed 17-4 pH Stainless Steel in Implants

US Army Award
Kevin Brothers, Ballard High School – Reuniting Children with Their Parents Using Facial Recognition

Phillip Herndon, duPont Manual High School – Durability of 3D Printed Objects Vs. Infill Pattern

Ishani Kulkarni and Aiden Vilo, duPont Manual High School – Vegetation Density of Riparian Forest’s Effect on Water Quality

Sohan Sen, duPont Manual High School – The Effect of Nimbidiol on Diabetic Osteoporosis

Katie Yang, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – The Effectiveness of Flood Property Acquisitions for Certain Sociodemographics

U.S. Navy-Marine Corp Excellence in Research Award-Grades 6 – 8
Emma Diehl, St. Francis of Assissi – Exploring the Effect of Light Pollution on Honey Bees 

Meredith Elder, St. Francis of Assisi – Reducing Conductor Gallop with 3D Printed Coverings

Finn Oetken, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring the Creation of Electrically Conductive Concrete

U.S. Navy-Marine Corp Excellence in Research Award-Grades 9 – 12
Summon Gebrelibanos, Ballard High School – Transferring Pictures and Text Effectively Using Augmented Reality, Salient Object Detection Neural Networks, and WebSockets

Karthika Hariprasad, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – SMART Pill Dispenser – An Arduino-Based Device to Prevent Drug Overdose

Richard Lian, duPont Manual High School – Decentralized, Autonomous Drone Swarms for Real-Time Mapping Applications and Natural Disaster Relief

Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovator Challenge

Tejas Basneth, Tates Creek Middle School – A Novel Approach to the Scarcity of Anti-Bacterial Solutions in Developing Countries

Kate DeHoag, Morton Middle School – Hydrogen: Clean Way Forward

Emma Diehl, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring the Effect of Light Polution on Honey Bees

Kaibrey Donnelly, Morton Middle School – Spherification

Tasneem Faiz, Nur Islamic School of Louisville – The Effect of Sugar Substitutes on Yeast Growth

Timothy Flannery, Elliott County Middle School – M&M Math

Penelope Harris, St. Francis of Assisi – Golf Controversy: The Locked Putter Advantage

Dillon Jenkins, The Lexington School – It’s Not a Problem If You Can Solve It

Vishwaa Kannan, Meyzeek Middle School – A Sleep Detection System Using an Inertial Measurement Unit

Elli Keeley-Fine, St. Francis of Assisi – Exploring UV Exposed Plastic Toxicity

Nicholas Mayer, St. Francis of Assisi – Creating a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

Akhila Nalladimma, Meyzeek Middle School- Farm of the Future

Aleena Nguyen, Seton Catholic Elementary – Hair Care at the Science Fair

Ainjini Patra, Tates Creek Middle School – Effect of Electric Stimulation on Seed Germination and Hypocotyl Growth

Katelyn Stroud, St. Francis of Assisi – Plastic Toys: A Potential Stem Cell Risk

Ethan Tiemeier. Saint Mary School – Which Methods Clean Water the Best?

Hayden Zollinger, Williamstown Jr/Sr High School – Holding Your Weight

Best of Fair- Middle School

Middle School – Life Sciences
3rd Place
Dillon Jenkins, The Lexington School – It’s Not a Problem If You Can Solve It
2nd Place
Vishwaa Kannan, Meyzeek Middle School – A Sleep Detection System Using an Inertial Measurement Unit
1st Place
Ainjini Patra, Tates Creek Middle School – Effective of Electric Stimulation on Seed Germination and Hypocotyl Growth

Middle School – Physical Sciences
3rd Place
Penelope Harris, St. Francis of Assisi – Golf Controversy: The Locked Putter Advantage
2nd Place
Maylin Kidwell, Noe Middle School – Precision Through Randomness: A Physical Demonstration of Using Noise to Improve Measurements
1st Place
Annika Chadha, Noe Middle School – Omni Wheel: An Innovative Wheel Design for Improved Walker Safety and Stability and Bi-Mode Fall Notification System

Best of Fair – High School and Regeneron ISEF Finalists

High School – Life Sciences
3rd Place
Rishabh Ranjan and Gopalaniruddh Tadinada, duPont Manual High School – BioSpec: A Low-Cost Pipeline for Non-Invasive Gastrointestinal Cancer Screening Utilizing miRNA Fluorescence Spectroscopy with High-Efficacy Support Vector networks
2nd Place
Zita Nguyen, duPont Manual High School – The Effect of Distance on Bacteria Growth from Hot Air Drying Machines
1st Place
Tony Xu, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School – Identifying a Novel Gene Signature to Predict Drug Resistance in Epilepsy Patients

High School – Physical Sciences
3rd Place
Natalie Janzaruk, Notre Dame Academy High School – A Prototype Bioinspired Soft Robotic Microplastic Filter
2nd Place
Vallabh Ramesh, duPont Manual High School – 4D Printed Low-Cost Novel Shape Memory Polymer Compositions for Industrial, Robotic, and Disaster Relief Applications
1st Place
Richard Lian, duPont Manual High School – Decentralized, Autonomous Drone Swarms for Real-Time Mapping Applications and Natural Disaster Relief

© 2014 Kentucky Science & Engineering Fair.