2003
Greater San Diego
Science and Engineering Fair
http://www.gsdsef.org
March
25-30, 2003
Balboa Park Activity Center
by
Kelly Cummings
OSSD Science Fair Coordinator
The
Optical Society of San Diego again participated in this latest edition of the
San Diego Science and Engineering Fair. We put together a panel of six judges
that took a close look at the projects related to the optics field. This year
there were not many projects that we could say really hit home with us as "optics"
projects. There seemed to be many more entries in the Junior Division than in
the Senior Division, both for optics projects as well as topics in general.
In
the senior division, we could not find a clear winner for the First Place Award.
We chose to only recognize a second place and an honorable mention in this division.
The lack of optics projects again was a concern to the OSSD Judges. In the past
number of years, we have seen fewer and fewer standout optical projects. We hope
to somehow address this issue in the near future.
Due
to scheduling problems for our Educational Outreach Meeting, the students will
be receiving their OSSD Awards via the US Mail.
I
would like to congratulate all our winners, as well as all of this year's participants,
and wish them all the best in the future.
Senior
Division
First
Place:
No Award Given
Second
Place:
"Counting Muon Particles from Space"
Jonathan Grinstein
Grade 10
Torry Pines HS
Advisor: V. Coordt
Honorable
Mention:
"Hydrocarbon Sensors Using Nanostructured Films"
Patricia Wang Grade 11
Torry Pines HS
Advisor: V. Coordt
Pat
Wang demonstrated the continued work on the Hydrocarbon Sensor she has contributed
to as an intern at UCSD. There were a number of issues that had yet to be resolved
with the sensor, and she demonstrated what she and her mentors at UCSD were trying
to accomplish. This project was a follow-up to her work from last year's SD Science
and Engineering Fair (GSDSEF2002).
Pat Wang's
Abstract:
The
purpose of my project was to construct a hand held hydrocarbon sensor using inexpensive,
commercially available parts and a specially prepared silicon chip that is able
to detect the presence of hydrocarbons. The box's general design consists of a
LED, a phototransistor, and the etched silicon chip. The LED's light is reflected
off the silicon chip and onto the phototransistor. In the presence of hydrocarbons,
the silicon chip changes colors, which then results in a change in light intensity
seen by the phototransistor. This particular set of sensors uses a wireless system
to transfer its information to a computer program, which then graphs the changes
in light intensity.
Various
properties, including the battery time, the responsiveness and the recovery time,
of a single sensor were extensively tested in the lab. During the summer of 2002,
the sensor was taken to the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve to test the greatest
distance we could separate the sensor and its receiver for the wireless system
to still respond. We also tested the stability of the box over a 24 hour time
span.
Junior
Division
First Place:
"Effect of Skyglow on the Visibility
of Stars"
Jacob Rucker Grade 7
Rhodes School
Advisor: R.
Hunker
(will receive a HeNe Laser
from Melles Griot)
Many
of our Judges were impressed with the effort and work demonstrated by this student.
Jacob made a number of "runs" across the county at night to photograph
the sky from different locations. He had a map of the sites and results from many
different nights of photography. By digitizing the prints with a scanner and then
using an imaging processing application (Photoshop), he demonstrated the differences
in skyglow on the ability to see the stars at different sites. There may have
been some room for error in some of his methods, but he was well aware of where
it might occur and how to modify his experiment to reduce it in the future. Jacob
was well versed in all aspects of this work and had obviously put in a lot of
effort.
After
sending out the OSSD Awards, it was a pleasure to receive back a note from Jake:
Dear
Mr. Cummings:
Thank
you and the Optical Society of San Diego for presenting me an award for my science
fair project. For now I am saving the money in the bank, but I will probably use
it to rent a digital camera for research on my next year's project.
I
enjoyed reading your website and am attaching my abstract
for posting as you would like. Also, you asked if I have received any other
awards, which I have. I am pleased to say that I also received professional society
awards from the Mount Laguna Observatory Association, San Diego Astronomy Association,
and International Darksky Association (IDA) - San Diego Section. I also won the
2nd place award in Physics and Astronomy at the California State Science Fair
(see picture) and have been nominated for the international IDA award and national
Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, which results will be announced later
this year.
I
really appreciated that you and your colleagues asked me in-depth questions about
my project at the fair and also offered some suggestions, in particular Ned Briggs's
input about using Excel. Thank you and the Optical Society of San Diego for participating
in the GSDSEF and for recognizing and encouraging students like me.
Sincerely,
Jake
Rucker
Jake,
you're very welcome! We all hope to see more of your good work in the future.
I've added some links to other awards won by Jake.
Kelly Cummings
OSSD Science Fair Coordinator
For
more on Jake's continued success: National Finalist!
Second
Place:
"Can Light Energy Accurately Measure Surface Area"
Jeff Clyne Grade 8
Wangenheim Middle School
Advisor: E. Resovsky
This
project used light detectors to measure how much light was being blocked by an
object placed on a stage above, with a light source above that. There were some
issues of measurement to be overcome and some refinement in the technique, but
the OSSD panel of judges thought it was a good effort and worthy of recognition.
Honorable Mention:
"Holograms"
Thomas DiVita Grade 8
Oak Crest Middle School
Advisor: M. Herr
Honorable
Mention:
"Which Color Diffuses A Laser Beam Transmitting
an Audio
Signal Most?"
Ivan Lebedev Grade 8
Pierce Middle School
Advisor:
M. Vandergrif
OSSD
Judges at
2003 San Diego Science and Engineering Fair
This year's
judges included (left to right) Donn Silberman, Sergey Egorov, Ned Bragg, Kelly
Cummings, Jim Menders and missing from photo, Graham Brewis. Thanks to all of
these OSSD Judges for their efforts and contributions.
Thank You Melles
Griot
The
OSSD would like to recognize and thank Melles
Griot for their past and ongoing support of our Educational Outreach efforts.
For over five years they have provide HeNe Lasers to the faculty advisors for
both the Senior and Junior division OSSD First Place Winners at the Greater San
Diego Science and Engineering Fair. Melles Griot continues to assist the OSSD
with encouraging optic and photonic projects at the SD Science and Engineering
Fair.
