We finished judging the 2006 Alabama Science and Engineering Fair (ASEF) on Saturday morning, April 8th. Due to impending bad weather, UAH closed Spragins Hall at 1:00 on Friday, and cancelled the awards banquet scheduled for Friday evening. ASEF organizers deferred judging the Junior Division until Saturday morning. Despite disappointment of not having the awards banquet and grand awards presentation, the students' projects were nonetheless outstanding. Huntsville IEEE Section judges selected eight quite worthy projects for certificates and $100 savings bonds.
Our winners in the Senior Divison were: SO230 Taylor Helsper, Catholic HS, Huntsville, "Linux Clusters and Parallel Processing"; SN251 Nathan Tinker, Covenant Christian Academy, Huntsville, "The Solar Steamer: A Solar Thermal Rocket Powered by a Fresnel Concentrator and H2O Propellant"; SE242 Jonathan Harmon, Catholic HS, Huntsville, "Radio Jove Telescope"; and SN256 Kristen Thrash, Wetumpka HS, Wetumpka, "Bridge Busters: Can Design Make a Difference?"
In the Junior Division, IEEE winners were: JN40 Joel Tinker, Covenant Christian Academy, Huntsville, "Splish Splash: Fuel Sloshing in Rockets and Automobiles"; JX91 Nicolas Christensen, Wetumpka Junior High, Wetumpka, "BMP, GIF, PNG, JPG - Which Digital Format Prints Best Pictures?"; JP126 Jordan Bush, Life Christian Academy, Harvest, "Capturing the Wind" [generating power using the wind]; and JP137 Jessica Stanley, St. John the Baptist Catholic School, Madison, "Upgraded Simulated MagLev Vehicle".
Keith Jadus, Willie Fitzpatrick, Bob Robinson, and Frank Parris judged ASEF for IEEE special awards. Many thanks to Cindi Branham, UAH, Dawn Reynolds, TechniCore, and the support staff from UAH and TechniCore for this well orchestrated event. And a special "Thanks!" to our IEEE judges for assisting with selection of our awards.
Frank Parris
IEEE Huntsville Section
Chairman, Educational Activities Committee
(256)971-5523 cell (256)503-9990
frank.parris@msfc.nasa.gov