Texas Science & Engineering Fair

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2023 Category Awards

2023 Winners

Life Sciences:

Animal Sciences

Senior Division

  • First Place: Is Your Cat or Dog Really Spayed: A Novel Test to Diagnose Ovarian Remnant Syndrome

  • Second Place: Gotta Stay Awake! Determining the Optimal Caffeine Alternative by Investigating the Effects of Select Caffeine Alterations on Drosophila melanogaster Circadian Cycles

  • Third Place: Glucose on Early Zebrafish Embryos and Pathology

Junior Division

  • First Place: The Kitty CATch in Visual Impairment

  • Second Place: Home Barn vs Ag Barn

  • Third Place: The Dancing LAYdies

Behavioral and Social Sciences

Senior Division

  • First Place: DSM Diagnosis is Dead: Novel, AI-Powered Biopsychosocial Fingerprinting for depressive, Anxiety, and Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders

  • Second Place: Early Diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Nurses Based on Physical Behavior and Circadian Rythmy Modeled by a Recurrent Neural Network

  • Third Place: Anxi: A Novel Natural Language Processing System for the Detection and Prevention of Anxiety Disorders

Junior Division

  • First Place: The Illusory Truth Effect: Influencing Human Health and Behaviors

  • Second Place: Psychology of Censorship

  • Third Place: Do you got the skills? The proper interview for the best skilled employees

Biochemistry

Senior Division

  • First Place: A Novel Approach to Treating Parkinson’s Disease with Amino Acids to Alleviate LRRK2 Gene Mutation Symptoms in C. elegans Evaluated Via the Use of Multidimensional Analysis Methods

  • Second Place: Utilizing a Receptome and Metabolomic Approach to Standardize Novel Early Diagnostic Methodology for Glial Tumors and Alzheimer’s Disease

  • Third Place: Alternative Translation of the Parkinson’s Associated Protein a-Synuclein

Junior Division

  • First Place: Dopamine Makes You a Scholastic Machine

  • Second Place: A Novel Usage of In Silico Methodology to Inhibit Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

  • Third Place: Using Spherification for Safe and Controlled Delivery of Iron Drops

Biomedical and Health Sciences

Senior Division

  • First Place: Proliferous Metabolics

  • Second Place: GlioGuide: A Multi-Stage, Deep Learning Platform for Rapid Therapy Response Prediction in De Novo Glioblastoma via Computational Modelling of Tumor Heterogeneity

  • Third Place: Exploring the relationship between tau and cortical thinning in the development of Alzheimer’s Disease

Junior Division

  • First Place: How does Direction, Distance and frequency impact sound localization in hearing aid wearer’s vs non hearing aid wearers?

  • Second Place: The Great Eczemadition

  • Third Place: Best Agents for Acid Neutralization

Cellular and Molecular Biology

Senior Division

  • First Place: Attenuation of Methylglyoxal Cytotoxicity with Fisetin Rescue in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

  • Second Place: TNF Ligand Promotes Angiogenesis in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Through Activation of Inflammatory Regulatory Networks

  • Third Place: Phagotherapy and Antimicrobial resistance

Junior Division

  • First Place: Effect of Targeting Multiple Neural Pathways Using Nutraceuticals on Cognition in Drosophila Melanogaster

  • Second Place: Effectiveness of Bacteriophage, Antibiotics and Combination Therapy in Eradication of E. Coli

  • Third Place: Antibiotics and its effect on Bacteria

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Senior Division

  • First Place: Monco: A Novel Deep Learning Pipeline to Predict Drug Candidates for the Inhibition of EZH2 Cofactors in Pediatric Neuroblastoma

  • Second Place: Decoding Cancer II: Biomarker Based Predictive Modeling of Population Level Signaling for Cancer Treatment Optimization

  • Third Place: DeepLig: A Novel, de-novo Drug Design Platform to Generate Multi-Targeted Drugs Against Glioblastoma

Junior Division

  • First Place: An analysis of mRNA backbone in an aqueous solution data: Are there base mutations that make sequences less susceptible to degradation?

  • Second Place: Comparing gRNA to be used with CRISPR for Sickle Cell Disease Treatment

  • Third Place: Vitacandy

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Senior Division

  • First Place: Comprehensive Dataset Utilizing Meteorological and Topographical Feature Data for Next-Day Wildfire Spread Prediction

  • Second Place: Climate Change Reimagined: A Novel Visualization of the Influence of Earth’s Precession Index Variations on the Precipitation and Photosynthetic Activity Experienced By Equatorial Regions

  • Third Place: An Analysis Into the Removal of Microplastics from Water Using Oil-based Ferrofluids

Junior Division

  • First Place: Banana pads ?!?

  • Second Place: It’s ALL Up In The Air! A Continued Study on Microplastics: Year 3

  • Third Place: Effects of Urbanization on the San Antonio River Water Quality

Microbiology

Senior Division

  • First Place: Combating Pseudomonas Resistance: Cloning of ampC Gene Encoding for Beta-lactamase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Computational Mutagenesis of TEM-1 Beta-Lactamase to Identify Potential Allosteric Binding Sites and Inhibitors

  • Second Place: Identifying Novel Modes of Inhibition of Curtobacterium pusillum and Bacillus subtilis Bacteria, Against Deadly Bat Fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, (Year 8)

  • Third Place: Investigating the Gut-Brain-Microbiota Axis: The Effect of Prebiotics and Probiotics on Appetite in Drosophila Melanogaster

Junior Division

  • First Place: Are The Natural Bactericidal Agents as Effective as Bleach?

  • Second Place: Icky Clicky

  • Third Place: Temperature Effect on an E. coli-based Exoelectrogenic Bacterial Fuel Cell: An Exploration of Microbial Energy Efficiency

Plant Sciences

Senior Division

  • First Place: Agro-Rhizoremediation: Rhizoremediation with Agro-transformed Oryza sativa to facilitate Arsenic degradation in-situ (Year III)

  • Second Place: Alluring Undergrowth: The effects of magnets on plants

  • Third Place: Utilizing Soil Moisture Instruments to Illustrate Soil Salinity Variability across Golf Course Fairways

Junior Division

  • First Place: Soil Fever – A Scientific Analysis of the Effects of Polypropylene (Plastic) on Plants

  • Second Place: The Impact of Black Looseleaf, Caffeinated Tea Grounds as a Fertilizer Additive on the Height of Phaseolus aureus

  • Third Place: What is the Best NPK Ratio for the Most Plant Growth?

Translational Medical Sciences

Senior Division

  • First Place: SA translational approach to develop N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) as a biomarker for diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease

  • Second Place: Investigating the Potentiality of an Alternative, Realistic Cure of Encephalomyelitis disseminata (Multiple Sclerosis) Using the Neoblasts From Dugesia tigrina (Planaria) on Lumbricus terrestris (Earthworms)

  • Third Place: The Effect of Traumatic Brain Injury and THIP on Short-Term Memory in Drosophila melanogaster using Avesive Phototaxic Suppression

Junior Division

  • First Place: Football Safety: Does a Helmet Protect the Brain?

  • Second Place: Gold Nanoshells and Focal Laser Therapy: A Novel Approach to Solid Tumor Treatment

  • Third Place: The Effects of Herbal Infusions on Daphnia Magna

Physical Sciences:

Biomedical Engineering

Senior Division

  • First Place: DiaVest: A Non-invasive Glucose Monitoring System for Diabetes Management

  • Second Place: A Nonmydriatic Retinal Imaging Tool Utilizing Biomarker Characteristics for Broad Spectrum Disease Eye-Dentification via Limited Dataset Categorical Classification and Multi-Disease Diagnosis Deep Learning

  • Third Place: Using AI to Detect Optical Biomarkers With Fundus Photography to Diagnose Rentinal Diseases

Junior Division

  • First Place: Development of a Portable Solar-Powered Cost-Efficient Sterilization Unit for Use in Developing Countries

  • Second Place: GastroGuard: Accurate and Efficient Detection of Gastrointestinal Abnormalities Via Machine Learning Analysis of Video Capsule Endoscopy Images

  • Third Place: Reinventing the Medical Container

Chemistry

Senior Division

  • First Place: Engineering a Cost-Effective and Biodegradable Cellulosic Battery Composition

  • Second Place: Identification of gamma-Hydroxybutric acid (GHB) and gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL) in an Alcoholic Beverage with the use of a Conventional Method of Esterification and the Ferric Hydroxamate Mehanism

  • Third Place: A Study on the Effects of Pleurotus djamor Enzymes in the Breakdown of FOG Hydrocarbons for Water Remediation

Junior Division

  • First Place: Determination of Ascorbic Acid through Redox Titration

  • Second Place: The Effect of Fruit on Metabolism

  • Third Place: Which orange juice has the most vitamin C?

Embedded Systems

Senior Division

  • First Place: ChroniSense: Developing a Wearable Device for the Dynamic Detection, Tracking, and Mitigation of Chronic Pain

  • Second Place: IVY: An Intelligent Vision System for the Visually Impaired

  • Third Place: Sign Say

Junior Division

  • First Place: Plam Reading: A Novel Computer Vision Approach to Translating Sign Language

  • Second Place: Searching for life-bearing rocks using a novel Mars magnetometer

  • Third Place: Automated Plant Watering System

Energy: Sustainable Materials & Design

Senior Division

  • First Place: Engineered Phototropism: Improving the Energy Efficiency of Residential-Use Solar Tracking Use Soft-Bodied Thermal Expansion

  • Second Place: A Novel Fe Doped Metal-Oxide Electrode Material for High Energy Densities Within Intercalated Pseudo Supercapacitors

  • Third Place: Evaluating Electrolytic Additives for Their Ability to Inhibit the Dendritic Growth of Deposits in Zinc-Based Flow Batteries

Junior Division

  • First Place: Piezoelectric Power Generation From Automotive Tires

  • Second Place: CharEcoal

  • Third Place: Green Hydrogen: The Fuel of the Future

Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics

Senior Division

  • First Place: ArmAssist: A Lightweight, Concealable Active Arm Support that Empowers Victims of Muscular Atrophy

  • Second Place: Cost-effective Sustainable Structural Support Targeted for Use in Economically Disadvantaged Areas based upon DaVinci Self-Supporting Bridge

  • Third Place: Minimizing Runway Excursions During Landings Through Oleo Strut Experimentation for Greater Shock Absorption

Junior Division

  • First Place: Project Guidance

  • Second Place: Side Impact Car Crash – External Airbag to reduce injury severity

  • Third Place: Autonomous All Terrain Rover

Environmental Engineering

Senior Division

  • First Place: Plastic Waste: A Sustainable Aggregate for Concrete

  • Second Place: Maximal Triglyceride Production by Co-cultivation of Isochrysis galbana and Bacillus megaterium for Engineering Third-Generation Biofuels

  • Third Place: Utilization of CRISPR and ribonucleoproteins for the modification of the accD gene for the Conservation of Nitrogen in Chlorella Vulgaris

Junior Division

  • First Place: Bio-Breeze: A Biodegradable Air Filter Using Snake Plant Cellulose Fibers

  • Second Place: CO2 Buster

  • Third Place: The Light and Shape of Things: The Effect of Roof Shape on Inside Temperature of Houses

Materials Science

Senior Division

  • First Place: Synthesis of a Sustainable Bio-Nanocomposite Coating to Reduce Post-Harvest Agriculture Losses

  • Second Place: Comprehensive Analysis of Microplastic Contamination of Water: The Effects of Zinc Oxide Treated Novel Bio Composites Comprising of Abelmoschus esculentus and Aloe vera

  • Third Place: Synthesizing Curcumin-Infused Hydrogel to Inhibit Oral Fungal Formation Caused by Asthma Inhalers

Junior Division

  • First Place: The Impacts of Microwave Cooking Relative to Conventional Methods on Protein

  • Second Place: I Can’t Hear: Soundwave Cancellation by Soundproofing Materials in Rooms

  • Third Place: TESTING SELF-MADE BIODEGRADABLE PACKAGING

Mathematics

Senior Division

  • First Place: Mathematical Modeling of CO2 Migration and Trapping in Geologic Formations for Risk Assessment of Carbon Sequestration impacting Carbon Footprint

  • Second Place: A simple mathematical optimization framework to determine optimal school attendance zones and capacity growth plans

  • Third Place: Finding a Lower Bound for k-Unbounded Hamiltonian Cycles

Junior Division

  • First Place: Analyzing the Effects of Gender and APOE Genes on AD

  • Second Place: Amazon on a Healthy Economy

  • Third Place: THE AREA ESTIMATION

Physics and Astronomy

Senior Division

  • First Place: A Hierarchical Labeling Deep Learning Framework for Classifying Particle Jets for Generalizable Jet Tagging

  • Second Place: Investigating the effect of Qubit entanglement on quantum decoherence

  • Third Place: Effects of a biodegradable polymer on synthetic cloth in attempt to reduce microplastics in waste water.

Junior Division

  • First Place: Using Schlieren Imaging to Test the Efficacy of Different Facemasks for Reducing the Transmission of Respiratory Droplets

  • Second Place: Analyzing Materials Using Infrared and Optical Spectroscopy

  • Third Place: Reach for the Stars: Comparing Fin Shapes for Rocket Distance

Robotics and Intelligent Machines

Senior Division

  • First Place: VisAide: A Multifaceted Self-Learning AI Assistant for the Visually Impaired Using A Novel Context-Based Approach

  • Second Place: FISQ: A Few-Shot, Interperatable, and Self-Supervised Quantum Machine Learning Approach to Automated Real-time Prediction across Domains

  • Third Place: Autonomous, Over the Board Chess Solution for Players in Isolated Conditions

Junior Division

  • First Place: Intelligent Traffic Light System

  • Second Place: The Applications of Autonomous Vehicles

  • Third Place: Copbot: School Security Robot Using Facial Recognition

Systems Software

Senior Division

  • First Place: AIM-AI: An AI-Based Natural Language Processing Approach to Reducing Fatal Risks of Medical Imaging in Patients through Automated Imaging Order Selection

  • Second Place: CorX: A Biosensing Application that Utilizes Machine and Deep Learning Algorithms to Predict Cardiac Events and Disease

  • Third Place: A Novel Automatic SEEG & EEG Pre-Processing Pipeline for optimizing Studies of Deep Brian Signals & Seizure Prediction

Junior Division

  • First Place: Plant Life – An app to aid gardeners

  • Second Place: Artificial Intelligence for School Safety and Efficiency

  • Third Place: DR-Check: A New Method for Detecting Diabetic Retinopathy