RCPS Students Win Best in Category and Honors at GA Science Fair, Top Teaching Honor Awarded

Six Rockdale County Public Schools (RCPS) students won Best in Category awards and a Memorial Middle School (MMS) teacher was awarded the top teaching honor at the 68th Georgia Science and Engineering Fair held at the Classic Center in Athens, Ga., April 1-2, 2016. Altogether RCPS students brought home seven first honors, 25 honors, and 17 specialty awards among 40 Rockdale student research projects in the state competition, continuing RCPS’ tradition of STEM excellence.

Memorial Middle’s STEM Research teacher Caroline Snell was recognized with the Inspiring Excellence Award for teaching.

Bella Castronova, a senior at Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology (RMSST), won Best in Category for Senior Division Animal Sciences.

Cole Nangle and Shivam Vohra, both from MMS, won Best in Category for Junior Division Environmental Engineering.

Brandon Gignilliat, Tiara Mitchell, and Cara Zheng, also from MMS, won Best in Category for Junior Division Biochemistry.

“We are proud of how well all of our students defended their research at the state fair and delighted that Mrs. Snell’s efforts to facilitate research were recognized. Six students from the Rockdale regional fair winning best in category awards highlights the amazing innovations young scientists are making throughout Rockdale County Public Schools,” said Amanda Baskett, co-director of the Rockdale Regional Science and Engineering Fair.

A total of 32 Rockdale middle and high school students won honor awards. Seven of those received first honors. Honors ribbons indicate a student’s relative position in the overall fair and Senior and Junior division are calculated separately. First Honors go to projects with total scores ranking at or above the 90th percentile based on overall scores, regardless of category.

Rockdale students also won 17 specialty awards at the fair ranging from the Georgia Society of Professional Engineers’ Best Use of Engineering Skills Award, won by Matthew York from RMSST, to the UGA Crop and Soil Sciences Department of Agronomics Award, won by Josephine Slotnik from MMS. Specialty Awards are given by the GSEF Judging Team and representatives of sponsoring organizations

Three student projects from RMSST will be advancing to the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) after winning bids from the Rockdale Regional Science and Engineering Fair in January. Additionally, three student projects from MMS qualified to submit for the National Broadcom Masters Award.

“GSEF gives students the chance to defend their research to professional scientists and engineers. Students must know the science behind their project because the judges truly are experts in their fields,” Baskett said.

“The judges were really good and they gave great feedback,” said Sierra Driver, a RMSST junior who worked on genetics research with her teammate Miranda Murphy.

Ralph Dizon, a RMSST junior who investigated how bacteria can impact barley growth, said “The questions I was asked were basically just to clarify what was on the poster. I felt it was a pretty good experience overall.” Dizon won fourth honors at state.

“The judges were really enthusiastic about our research and it helped us to be more confident in presenting our results,” said McKenna Commiskey, a RMSST junior.

Commiskey and her partner Kya Wideman will be presenting at ISEF and have been working with Jackson laboratory in Maine to use a mouse model to study type two diabetes. Mai Nguyen, whose project focused on engineering an oleocanthal‐based nanocarrier for drug delivery, and Isabella Castranova, whose project characterized of thymic signaling cascades in transgenic mice, will also be competing at ISEF this May in Phoenix, Arizona.

Junior Division (Middle School) Awards:

AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION AWARD – Imani Gunnison, Laiana Humphries, Nicole Ofori; Eye Tracking; Identifying Early Characteristics of Autism; MMS

BROADCOM MASTERS NOMINEES – Brandon Gignilliat, Tiara Mitchell, Cara Zheng; Biodegradability, Durability, and Water Tested Bioplastics; MMS; Imani Gunnison, Laiana Humphries, Nicole Ofori;  Eye Tracking; Identifying Early Characteristics of Autism; MMS

KALEIDOSCOPE CAREERS ACADEMY RISING RESEARCHER AWARD – Ava Bailey; Designing and Testing a Low‐Level Phosphate Program; MMS

NABT BIOLOGY & LIFE SCIENCE PROJECT AWARD – Brandon Gignilliat, Tiara Mitchell, Cara Zheng; Biodegradability, Durability, and Water Tested Bioplastics; MMS

NAVAL SCIENCE AWARD – Grant Tomlinson; Spherification in Space; Conyers Middle School

UGA LAMAR DODD SCHOOL OF ART EXCELLENCE IN CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING & INNOVATIVE THINKING AWARD – Imani Gunnison, Laiana Humphries, Nicole Ofori; Eye Tracking; Identifying Early Characteristics of Autism; MMS

GSEF BEST IN CATEGORY BIOCHEMISTRY – Brandon Gignilliat, Tiara Mitchell, Cara Zheng; Biodegradability, Durability, and Water Tested Bioplastics; MMS

GSEF BEST IN CATEGORY ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING – Cole Nangle and Shivam Vohra; Wind Turbine Efficiency Through 3‐D Printing; MMS

First Honors – Brandon Gignilliat; Imani Gunnison; Laiana Humphries; Tiara Mitchell; Nicole Ofori; Cara Zheng

Second Honors – Ava Bailey; Ryan Richardson

Third Honors – Nylah Ductan; Cole Nangle; Josephine Slotnik; Grant Tomlinson; Shivam Vohra

Fourth Honors – Emma MacDonald

Senior Division (High School) Awards:

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICS & ASTRONAUTICS 3RD PLACE SENIOR DIVISION – CJ Hardnett; Robotics in the Navy; Phase Two; RMSST

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICS & ASTRONAUTICS 1ST PLACE SENIOR DIVISION – Matthew York; The Effect of Wing Shape on Lift and Drag Produced; RMSST

GEORGIA VETERINARY MEDICAL AUXILIARY AWARD – Nkima Stephenson; Analyzing the Genetics of Canine Hypothyroidism; RMSST

NAVAL SCIENCE AWARD – CJ Hardnett; Robotics in the Navy; Phase Two; RMSST

RICOH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AWARD – Sarah Beharry; Vibrio fischeri’s Effect on Grey Water; RMSST

SOCIETY FOR IN VITRO BIOLOGY AWARD – Claire Bumgardner; The Effect of Probiotic Bacteria on P. acnes and S. epidermidis; RMSST

UGA GENETICS GSA BEST PROJECT IN GENETICS – Bella Castronova; Characterization of Thymic Signaling Cascades on Transgenic Mice; RMSST

GSEF BEST IN CATEGORY ANIMAL SCIENCES – Bella Castronova; Characterization of Thymic Signaling Cascades on Transgenic Mice; RMSST

First Honors – Madeline Burkey

Second Honors – Bella Castronova; Erin Hardnett; Molly Niemczyk; Caroline Norwood; Matthew York

Third Honors – Cameron Bennett; Claire Bumgardner; Sydney Driver; Candace Hill; Laurel Holmes; Mai Nguyen; Nkima Stephenson

Fourth Honors – Ralph Dizon; Anna LaMontagne; Yasin Siddiquee; Caroline Turner; Dahlia Walters