Fifth-Annual UC Science and Engineering Expo Selects Projects for Future Competitions

Students from 39 schools in southwestern Ohio competed at the University of Cincinnati at its fifth-annual Science and Engineering Expo (SEE) on March 14 for more than $73,000 in awards and scholarships. More than 100 student poster presentations won superior ratings and were recommended for the Ohio Academy of Science State Science Day, which will be held in Columbus on May 9. UC is once again paying the $50 entry fee of students who qualify for the state contest.

Tom Cruse, director of UC’s Science & Engineering Expo, noted that the number of projects allowed to compete at the State Science Day is a reflection of the quality of projects from that district’s fair.

In addition, two student projects and one team project were selected to compete at the world’s largest pre-college science competition, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Reno, Nev., May 10 – 14. The individual participants are Alexander Chernyakhovsky, a junior at Mason High School, and Michael Di Mascio, a junior at Waynesville High School.

Both Alexander and Michael are SEE veterans; this is Alexander’s fifth science fair at UC and it is Michael’s third. In fact, Alexander has competed at UC's SEE every year that UC has held a science fair. Jennifer Andrews and Brent Gargano, both seniors at Sycamore High School, were chosen for their team project.

The competition for the nearly 400 7–12 graders in southwest Ohio held $73,000 in scholarships and awards, among them three UC Presidential Scholarship awards that went to Akanksha Mishra ($3,000), Alexander Chernyakhovsky ($2,000) and Alexandria Behne ($1,000) if they enroll at UC in any science major of their choosing.

Cruse pointed out that physics was the most popular category, although engineering is the fastest growing. For one of the first years, the math category had entrants — nine projects. Altogether, 391 students competed with 313 projects, including 74 team projects in every category offered.

List of students qualifying for State Science Day