Keith Jadus and Frank Parris represented the IEEE Huntsville Section and Educational Activities Committee in judging the North Alabama Regional Science and Engineering Fair (NARSEF) Tuesday, March 14th, and presenting our awards at the awards ceremony at Chan Auditorium, UAH, Thursday, March 16th. Our section selected four special awards winners in the Junior Division, and four in the Senior Division, for framed certificates and a form students can mail in for a $100 savings bond. Additionally, our section was a category sponsor for NARSEF, sponsoring the Computer Science category. As a category sponsor, we assisted in judging for the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), held this year in Indianapolis, IN.
Our winners in the Junior Divison were: "Slicing the Wind," Joshua Piner, Life Christian Academy, Harvest - the effect of automobile vehicle profiles on aerodynamic drag; "Light it Up!" Elizabeth Schweers, St. John's Catholic, Madison - an investigation of variable voltage sources on a simple telegraph; "Hot or Cold?" Andrew Baldwin, Faith Christian Academy, Athens - an investigation into the best hot/cold power sources for a sterling engine; and "Tower of Terror: An Adventure in Microgravity," Brooke Higdon, Oak Park MS, Decatur - a drop tower investigation of effects of microgravity on extended duration space flight.
Our Senior Division winners were: "Linux Clusters: The Power of Many," Taylor Helsper, Catholic HS, Huntsville - an investigation of parallel processing benefits using up to twenty processors; "The Solar Steamer: A Solar Thermal Rocket Powered by a Fresnel Concentrator and H2O," Nathan Tinker, Covenant Christian Academy, Huntsville - a solar powered rocket motor using a fresnel concentrator (flat lens) and water as fuel; "Radio Jove Telescope," Jonathan Harmon, Catholic HS, Huntsville - development of a radio telescope to receive/investigate radio emissions from Jupiter; and "Obstacles to Radio Waves," Lauren Walker, Fairview HS, Cullman - an investigation into what types of materials block radio waves.
Two of our Senior Division winners - Taylor Helsper and Nathan Tinker - were also selected among the four NARSEF participants in ISEF for their projects on Linux clusters and solar powered rocket motors, respectively. This was also the first year that UAH hosted the regional science fair - for the past several years it has been hosted by Calhoun Community College in Decatur. Many thanks to Cindi Branham and UAH for an excellent job with the fair, with help from a cast of many. Here's pictures of our winning projects:
