On February 4^th the Connecticut STEM Foundation, Inc. hosted its 17^th annual Connecticut STEM Fair at Darien High School. This event brought together students from Amity Regional High School, Convent of the Sacred Heart, Darien High School, Greens Farms Academy, Greenwich High School, Joel Barlow High School, Newtown High School, Ridgefield High School and Staples High School for a highly energetic and scientific endeavor. A total of 224 judges evaluated the exhibits, providing both assessment of the projects and feedback to the exhibitors, and 80 volunteers added their efforts to the event. The student exhibitors presented 233 completed projects and research proposals in four scientific disciplines: physical sciences, behavioral sciences, health sciences and environmental sciences.

The Connecticut STEM Fair became an affiliate of the International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) in 2016. Regional ISEF award certificates were presented to 13 exhibitors, and will sponsor 3 delegates to attend the ISEF in Los Angeles in May.

Connecticut STEM Foundation awards were presented for 46 exhibits. In addition to medals, cash awards totaling more than $8,000 were presented. Sponsors of these awards were Sexauer Foundation and Laticrete International. The Office of Naval Research presented an additional 5 awards. The Darwin Day Foundation awarded 2 tickets to the 2017 Darwin Day Dinner.

The Keynote speaker for the Awards Ceremony was Dr. Stephanie Eisenbarth (MD PhD), Assistant Professor of Laboratory Medicine, Immunobiology and Medicine at Yale School of Medicine. Her presentation of her personal background, training pathway and the joys and challenges of her career offered the young scientists in the audience greater insight and understanding of what lies ahead on the road to becoming professional research scientists.

The Connecticut STEM Foundation, Inc. is growing its scholarship program this year. Students who are eligible should visit our scholarship website at http://ctstemfoundation.org/students/scholarship/ to apply for any one scholarship for graduating seniors entering into college, or non-graduating students who are attending a summer internship or camp related to STEM.

If you’d like more information about the CT STEM Foundation, would like to be a financial partner, or would like to be a judge, please contact us at info@CtSTEMfair.org.

2017 CT STEM Fair winners:

Representatives to International Science & Engineering Fair

The CT STEM Foundation is proud to support the following 2017 CT STEM Fair Winners at the 2017 International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles:

Name	Category	School	Status
Connor Li	Physical Science	GHS	Delegate
Shobhita Sundaram	Health & Medical	GHS	Delegate
Agustina Stefani	Environmental	GHS	Delegate
James He	Behavioral	ARHS	Alternate

CT Science & Engineering Fair Exhibitors sponsored by the CT STEM Foundation

Category	Names & Schools
Behavioral	James He, Amity Regional High School
Environmental	Katherine Handler, Amity Regional High School
Health & Medical	Olivia Hallisey, Greenwich High School
Physical Science	Daniel Pfrommer, Darien High School
Physical Science	Connor Li, Greenwich High School
Team	Samuel Mahler and Joseph Sugarmann, Amity Regional High School

CT STEM Foundation awards at the 2017 CT STEM Fair

Individual Completed Project, Behavioral
	Award	Student	School	Title
	1^st	James He	ARHS	The Relationship Between Phonological Processing, Intelligence Quotient, and Reading Cognition: A Behavioral and Neurological Analysis
	2^nd	Julia Nadelmann	ARHS	Investigating Cooperation in the Sharing Economy through the WiFi sharing Game
	3^rd	Neha Pashankar	ARHS	Investigating vPFC mGluR5 Availability and Behavioral and Cognitive Difficulties in Individuals with Bipolar Disorder Depression, Major Depressive Disorder, and Healthy Controls
	HM	Sarah Saxe	ARHS	Effects of Feces Deposition in Natural Refuges on Common Bedbug, Cimex lectularius L. Aggregation
	HM	Haya jarad	ARHS	Identifying Quasi Periodic Patterns in fMRI versus CBF Data
	HM	Johnathan Stimpson	DHS	The Effect of Changes in the Stock Market on Polling of Incumbent Presidential Candidates Using Time Series Analysis
Individual Completed Project, Environmental
	Award	Student	School	Title
	1^st	Agustina Stefani	GHS	Carbon Capture & Storage via Silver-Catalyzed Hydration of Carbon Dioxide
	2^nd	Katherine Handler	ARHS	The Influence of Wildebeest Carcass Inputs on the Diet of Fish in the Mara River
	3^rd	Devyn Zaminski	GHS	Self-Sustaining Biosynthesis of Methane from CO2 via an Optimized Microbial & Electrochemical Hybrid System
	HM	Lucy Briody	RHS	Plastic Ingestion in Pelagic Sportfish
	HM	Thomas Livesay	ARHS	Determining the Ideal Management Strategy for Controlling Varroa Mite Levels
Individual Completed Project, Health and Medical
	Award	Student	School	Title
	1^st	Olivia Hallisey	GHS	Temperature-Independent, Portable, and Rapid Home Detection Of Lyme Disease Using a Silk-Derived Lateral-Flow Salivary Test
	1^st	Shobhita Sundaram	GHS	Detection of Premalignant Pancreatic Cancer via Computational Analysis of Serum Proteomic Profiles
	3^rd	Kevin Santoro	RHS	The Effect of Insulin Growth Factor-I on Folliculogenesis in vitro
	HM	Caleigh Morr	DHS	IgM Expands Regulatory T Cells and Demonstrates Therapeutic Potential for Type 1 Diabetes
	HM	Sophia Chow	GHS	PDE-4 Inhibitor-Assisted Antibiotic Suppression of Borrelia Biofilm Growth for Treatment of Chronic Lyme
Individual Completed Project, Physical Science
	Award	Student	School	Title
	1^st	Connor Li	GHS	Fabrication of a Magnetically Vertical-Aligned Boron Nitride Nanotube Membrane in a Lyotropic Precursor for Water Transport Applications
	3^rd	Steven Ma	GHS	Reliably Jammed Disk Packing: A Novel Feature of a Classic Geometry Problem
	HM	Samuel Pfrommer	DHS	Determining Salient Control Decisions of the Actuated Spring Loaded Inverted Pendulum Traversing Slippery Terrain Using a Sliding Mass Model
	HM	Keri Tenerowicz	ARHS	The Effect of Different Textures of Coconut-Based Activated Carbon on the Adsorption of Dyes
Individual Research Proposal, Behavioral
	Award	Student	School	Title
	1^st	Sofia Piriz	CSH	Determining Differences in Choice Blindness by Gender and Age
	2^nd	Tracy Lu	ARHS	Font Color And Memory
	2^nd	Nicole Mongillo	ARHS	The Effect of Sleep Duration on the Humor Perception of Freshmen in High School
	HM	Jack Tajmajer	ARHS	The Reactions of Various Ages to Visual Subconscious Stimuli
	HM	Maia Clarkin	RHS	The Impact of CpG Depletion via DNA Methylation on the Social Complexity of Insects
Individual Research Proposal, Environmental
	Award	Student	School	Title
	1^st	Juliana Hopper	SHS	The Effect of EsMCsu1, from Eutrema Salsugineum, on Transformed Arabidopsis Related to Drought Resistance
	2^nd	Sophia Wang	ARHS	The Early Detection of Sink0holes
	3^rd	Carson Halabi	DHS	The Effect of Valencia Orange Oil in Bat Caves Infected with White-Nose Syndrome
	3^rd	Adrianna Davis	RHS	Using Stable Isotope Analysis to Estimate the Trophic Positions of Mackerel Sharks, Sand Tiger (C. taurus) and White (C. carcharias)
Individual Research Proposal, Health and Medical
	Award	Student	School	Title
	1^st	Paul Hager	DHS	Regulatory miRNA Responses to shRNA-mediated Knockdown of PLEKHA7, a Novel Agent in Tumor Suppression, in Various Endothelial and Epithelial Cell Types
	2^nd	Julia Driscoll	RHS	The Effect of Low Level Laser Light Therapy on Genetically Corrected Skin Grafts for the Treatment of Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa
	3^rd	Natalie Silver	RHS	The Impact of Sodium Chloride on the Effectiveness of Beta-Interferon 1A to Treat Multiple Sclerosis
	3^rd	Catherine Li	RHS	The Effects of Phytochemicals on Autophagy in Rats

Individual Research Proposal, Physical Science
	Award	Student	School	Title
	1^st	Aman Thombre	ARHS	Expanding the Materials Genome of Dielectric Materials Through Polyureas
	2^nd	Joshua Burns	RHS	Different material and case design effects on EM drive propellantless thrusters
	3^rd	Jack Hicks	RHS	Graphene Composites as Ballistic Resistant Materials
	HM	Talia Barry	ARHS	Effect of container type on the pH of water
	HM	Victor You	ARHS	The Effect of Left Lane Usage Laws on the Number of Traffic Accidents
Team Completed Project
	Award	Student	School	Title
	1^st	Samuel Mahler and Joseph Sugarmann	ARHS	The Effect of Foot Arch Height on the Area of Maximum Force the Foot Exerts While Running
	2^nd	Rosie Du and Courtney Greifenberger	ARHS	The Effect of Bio-Inspired Textures on Friction
	2^nd	Himay Dharani and Kelsey McCormack	ARHS	Analysis and Proving of “Cycloid”Universe Using Friedmann Equations and Torsion Cosmology
	HM	Summer Schaaf and Neha Sudhir	ARHS	The Impact of Ocean Acidification On Phytoplankton
Team Research Proposal
	Award	Student	School	Title
	1^st	Aniruddha Murali and Zachary De Brino	SHS	The Effect of Different Catalysts on the Conversion of Carbon Dioxide to Methanol
	2^nd	Caroline Dym and Lauren Burd	CSH	Evaluating the Bacteria Found in Indoor Play Areas Vs. Public Restrooms
	3^rd	Joseph Benedetti and Austin Gilbride	ARHS	The Effect of Predation and Availability of Resources on Habitat Selection of Oniscus asellus
	HM	Julia Herzig and Barbara Jones	CSH	The Effects of Choline on Learning, Memory, and Movement in C. elegans

Office of Naval Research Awardees:

Daniel Pfrommer	Darien High School
Devyn Zaminski	Greenwich High School
Alexander Scheck	Ridgefield High School
Jacob Silliman	Amity Regional High School
Joshua Burns	Ridgefield High School

ISEF Regional Awards at CT STEM Fair 2017

Award	Description	Name	School
1. Intel: Excellence in Computer Science Award	For outstanding achievement in the category of Computer Science	Andrew Benz	DHS
2. Yale Science and Engineering Association	Most Outstanding Exhibit in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics or Chemistry	Joshua Verdejo	RHS
3. NASA Earth System Science Award	Presented to Student whose project offers the greatest insight into Earth’s interconnected system based on predetermined judging criteria	Agustina Stefani	GHS
4. NOAA’s 2017 Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award	Presented to student whose research has demonstrated the principles and technical innovations that offer the greatest potential for an improved understanding of Earth’s dynamic processes	Felix Liu	ARHS
5. Ricoh Sustainable Development Award 2017	Presented to student whose research has demonstrated the principles and technical innovations that offer the greatest potential for sustainable development	Noah Sonnenberg	GFA
6. The Society for In Vitro Biology	Certificate of outstanding achievement for ability and creativity in In Vitro Biology	Adam Roitman	GHS
7. U.S. Metric Association (USMA)	For the best use of SI (The International System of Units)	Devyn Zaminski	GHS
8. Mu Alpha Theta Award	For the most challenging, original, thorough and creative investigation of a problem involving mathematics accessible to high school student	Daniel Pfrommer	DHS
9. American Meteorological Society	For excellence in atmospheric or related sciences	Charles Pratt Ari Singer-Freeman	RHS DHS
10. The American . Psychological Association: Certificate of Award	For achievement in research and psychological science	Neha Poshankar	ARHS
11. ASM Materials Education Foundation: Certificate of Recognition	For most outstanding exhibit in Materials Science	Jethin Gowda	ARHS
12. Association for Women Geoscientists (AWG)	Outstanding project for Geoscience excellence	Dante Grace Minichetti	GHS
13. Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SIWI)	Recognizing outstanding water-related research at the high school level.	Keri Tenerowicz Connor Li Julia Todeasa	ARHS GHS ARHS

ARHS: Amity Regional High School, CSH: Convent of the Sacred Heart, DHS: Darien High School, GFA: Greens Farms Academy, GHS: Greenwich High School, JBHS: Joel Barlow High School, NHS: Newtown High School, RHS: Ridgefield High School, SHS: Staples High School