Promoting Science in Mercer County, NJ

2009 Intel ISEF

John Wu and Swetha Chandrasekar represented the Mercer Science and Engineering Fair at this year's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held in Reno, NV along over 1500 students from around the world. This year we had a winner at ISEF.  John Wu, with his project Is this parking ticket warranted? took 4th place in the Computer Science category. 

We would like to congratulate John and Swetha and look forward to seeing them and you at out 2010 Mercer Science and Engineering Fair this coming March. Stay tuned for details this fall. 

For those looking to start their project this summer, please download the ISEF forms from the Society for Science & The Public's site. Please note that there is a new form for projects with human subjects. Check out the calendar for next year's due dates.

2009 Mercer Science and Engineering Fair Results

Congratulations to all the students that participated in this year's science fair. The grand prize winner, for the second year in a row, was John Wu with the project Is this parking ticket warranted?. The 1st runner up was Swetha Chandrasekar with the project Evaluating Mutant Adenoviral genome-end integrity by Polymerase Chain Reaction. Both will be attending the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Reno, NV. The 2nd runner up was Neeli Mishra with the project Understanding the Epigenetic Histone Code.

The 2009 Mercer Science and Engineering Fair Results are available as a PDF file. Elementary and Junior division students who were not able to attend the awards ceremony may pick them up on Thursday March 19th afternoon.

2009 Mercer Science and Engineering Fair 

Any students with projects that require precertification (see article below) that have not sent in their forms must contact Bill Wong immediately.

ALL applications must be started online. Students should sign up for an account unless this will be done by their teacher. You can sign up for an account before you start your experiments as the registration process can assist in filling in the required forms. Junior and Senior division students SHOULD NOT START experimentation until AFTER you have all the necessary forms filled in and signed. 

Precertification Requirement For The 2009 Fair

This year we have added a precertification requirement that is due by December 1st for some projects in the Junior and Senior Divisions. Projects that would fall into these categories are normally excluded from the Elementary Division. These include projects that deal with topics that incorporate testing of human subjects, bacteria, and hazardous materials, just to mention a few. These kinds of projects require additional approvals. Please check out the precertification page for more details.  

The ISEF Rules Wizard can help you figure out if you need more than Form 1, 1A and 1B. If so the you probably need precertification.

Teachers that have set schedules for students that may conflict with the December 1st deadline should contact us to setup approval that will work in conjunction with your current schedule. Students that have already started their projects that require precertification should send us a copy of your forms immediately.

Independent students that have started their projects already or miss the deadline and find they need precertification must contact use immediately.

Getting Ready For The 2009 Fair

Our Fair Preview Session for teachers, parents and students (grades 9 through 12 only) on Saturday Oct. 18 at Villa Victoria Academy was a great success. We had a great Q&A and plenty of discussion about projects, judging and the fair. We will be posting the presentations online here in the near future. 

For those who really need the 2009 ISEF forms right now you can download them from the Society for Science and the Public download site. The MSEF 2009 version will be available when the online registration is up and running for the 2009 fair.

2008 SSP Middle School Program Winner

We would like to congratulate Evan Bedser, a 5th grader at University Heights Elementary School, for his project, The "Disc"overy of Inertia. Evan is one of 300 semifinalists chosen from almost 2000 entries from 253 regional science fairs including the Mercer Science and Engineering Fair. 

The list of winners can be found a Society for Science and the Public site. We will let you know if Evan makes it to the top 30 finalist list. In the Washington, D.C., the finalists will compete for over $40,000 in scholarships provided by the Society for Science & the Public.

2008 MSEF wraps up with 2 winners heading to ISEF at Atlanta, GA in May

More details and photos soon but in a nutshell we had a great fair this year. The grand prize winner in the Senior Division was John Wu from Princeton High with his project Ear Recognition - A New Biometrics Device. He will be competing in Atlanta at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair along with our 1st runner up, Christina Razzano from Villa Victoria Academy, with her project Making Methane. We would also like to congratulate the 2nd runner-up, Kevin Mantel from Hamilton High East, for his project Does Temperature Affect the Photoelectric Effect?

We would like to congratulate all the participants in this year's fair on a job well done. The 2008 results are available online. We would like to thank all the teachers, judges, parents and mentors for their hard work. I would also like to thank all the Mercer Science and Engineering Club members and our sponsors including Rider University for making this fair possible. We look forward to seeing you next year.

Senior Division Winners

Check out this site for more details on our open Introduction Session this coming fall on October 18th at Villa Victoria Academy. The tentative time will be 8am -12pm. It is open to all teachers, mentors, parents and Senior Division students. It will include a variety of sessions targeted at each group in additional to a general opening session. We hope you can attend. Please tell your friends and colleagues about it. 

Society for Science & the Public (SSP) Runs ISEF

Society for Science & the Public (SSP) is the new name for Science Service, the organization that runs the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. SSP is the same group. They have a new website although the old one is still accessible.  

Another change is the national fair for 5th through 8th graders. This used to be Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge (DCYSC). This will now be the SSP Middle School Program. It may get a snappier name in the future but the effects are the same. 5th through 8th grader winners at our fair will be able to participate in this fair.

So, just a few names changes. Nothing else is new right now. All ISEF forms remain the same. 

More News

Congratulations To Rider's Earle Rommel

Earle Rommel just retired as Director of Public Relations at Rider University. Rider University is the co-sponsor of the Mercer Science and Engineering Fair and Earle has been at the forefront of that support since the fair moved to Rider. 

Earle was with Rider University for 35 years and is also an alumnus. He was instrumental in raising awareness of Rider and its academic offerings to students and the community. He did the same for the Fair as well making sure that all the results were published in local papers immediately after each fair. 

You probably caught a glimpse of Earle at the fair or at the award ceremonies but he always stayed in the background leaving the limelight to the students. As you might guess, he will be spending a little more time with his wife and his favorite hobby, fishing.

The Mercer Science and Engineering Club wants to thank Earle for his long and substantial support of the Fair and the students of Mercer County. There are hundreds of inspired students and adults that got their start in the world of science and engineering because of Earle's efforts. Thanks, Earle, from all of us.

2007 MSEF Award Winners

We would like to congratulate the over 500 students that participated in this year's 2007 Mercer Science and Engineering Fair. The Grand Prize award winner in the Senior Division is Nicole Hom from Hamilton High East for her project entitled The Effects of pH and Temperature on the Development of Tadpoles. The 1st Runner Up was Rebecca Ehrhardt for her project entitled Emergency Solar Water Pasteurization. The complete list of awards and photos have been posted. 

The fair was also covered by WZBN TV- 25. The video was aired the Monday of judging and you will be able to view it online from the video vault.

MIRTH Joins 2007 MSEF As Sponsor And Award Presenter

We would like to welcome MIRTHE, the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center, as a new sponsor to the Mercer Science and Engineering Fair.  MSEF sponsors like MIRTHE are the reason why the science fair is free to all students in Mercer County.

MIRTHE will also be awarding prizes to students whose research is in the areas of optics, environment and health for both junior and senior levels. Please have your students contact us  if they wish their project to be considered for a MIRTHE award.  Students to be directed to MIRTHE's main web site to find out more about the center.

MIRTHE is headquartered at Princeton University, with partners City College New York, Johns Hopkins University, Rice Iniversity, Texas A&M University, and the University of Maryland Baltimore County. The center encompasses a world-class team of engineers, chemists, physicists, environmental and bio-engineers, and medical doctors. MIRTHE's goal is to develop mid-infrared ( wavelength range of  3 - 30 micrometers) optical trace gas sensing systems based on new technologies such as quantum cascade lasers or quartz enhanced photo-acoustic spectroscopy, with the ability to detect minute amounts of chemicals found in the environment or atmosphere, emitted from spills, combustion, or natural sources, or exhaled in human breath.

MIRTHE is already involved in many education outreach activities including working with science and engineering science fairs which are described at www.mirthecenter.org/educators.cfm

Science Fair Video

Check out this video about the 2006 Intel Science and Engineering Fair courtesy of Swetha ChandraSekar. Swetha and her family accompanied her brother, Rohith, to ISEF in Indianapolis and this is her video story. Hear what some of the 1,500 participants at the say about the competition and their projects.

Fair Sponsors

Platinum level

Web Hosting

Gold level

Silver level

Bronze level

Honeywell

Macraigor

Roebling Construction Company

Parsons Brinckerhoff

Click here for a complete Sponsor List