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MSEF In The News‘Best of the best’ head to science fair
May 2, 2004 By Valerie Reed Philadelphia Inquirer SUBURBAN STAFF Elena Glassman and Laura Wong are both varsity soccer players. Both love working with computers. Both point to their fathers as mentors. And later this week, they both plan to travel to Portland, Ore., for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. "We're talking the best of the best," said Tim Donza, an Intel ISEF representative. More than 1,200 high school students from about 40 coun- tries will compete for $3 million in awards and scholarships from May 9 to 15. These students were selected by judges at 500 regional fairs held world- wide. Glassman, who lives in Plumsteadville and is a senior at Central Bucks West High School in Doylestown Borough, was a silver medalist at the Delaware Valley Science Fairs last month. She wrote software to interpret brain waves that cause hand movements. Wong, a Lower Makefield resident and senior at Villa Victoria Academy in Ewing, N.J., won the grand prize at the Mercer County Science and Engineering Fair in March. She built three robots with video, touch and infrared sensors to work together to perform a task. Both girls are making return trips to the international con- test to compete in the computer- science division. Last year, Glassman was one of three to receive the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award, a $50,000 scholarship. Wong took third place in the computer-science category and won a NASA award to attend space camp in Alabama. Glassman said she was inspired to work on her project after viewing a film of a paralyzed person wearing electrodes attached to a helmet so he could use brain waves to trigger muscle stimulators in his arms. Her goal, she said, is to help the muscularly disabled use their brain waves to operate a computer. She records brain waves with equipment at Princeton University. "This has literally changed my life. It's a positive way to channel a lot of my energy," said Glassman, who plans to study electrical engineering and computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon, or California Institute of Technology. Glassman plays trumpet for the school band and volunteers for Habitat for Humanity. "I couldn't do just science fair, or I'd be fried," she said. Wong recently received the Gold Award, the highest recognition for a Girl Scout. For the last three years, she has won the grand prize at the Mercer County Science and Engineering Fair. "The caliber at the fair is extraordinary," said Nicholas Fenelli, fair director. "A lot of judges come from industry and academia and marvel at how high school students work at an advanced college level." Wong, who plans to study mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon or the University of Rochester, placed second in a national contest sponsored by the Air Force for a paper about her research. "Robotics amazes me," Wong said. "I enjoy the hands-on building and designing." Wong said that relatively few female students make it to the international competition but that they are the ones taking home awards. “It proves to me women can do science, engineering and math, and that it’s not male-dominated anymore,” Wong said. Several other students from Bucks County schools placed in the Delaware Valley Science Fairs last month at the Fort Washington Expo Center. About 900 students in the sixth through 12th grades competed at the event. Winners from Villa Joseph Marie High School in Holland were Brittney Kern, ninth grader, second place in mathematics; Kristen Kelly, ninth grader, third place for environmental project; Colleen Kampf, 11th grader, third place, zoology; and Maria Rozploch, 11th grader, third place, engineering. From Central Bucks' West High School in Doylestown Borough: Daniel Cunningham, 11th grader, first in computers; Corey Montella, 11th grader, second in physics; and Ellen Pitman, 11th grader, second in medicine and health. Other winners were Alison Spiro, ninth grader at Lenape Middle School in Doylestown Borough, first in behavior and social sciences; Andrew Polec, ninth grader at Holicong Middle School, second in medicine and health; and Sarah Shumsky, ninth grader at Unami Middle School in Chalfont, third in medicine and health. In the sixth- through eighth" grade division, two eighth graders from Unami Middle placed second: Amanda Weir, for consumer science, and Laura Schoedler for behavior and social sciences. At the Mercer County Science and Engineering Fair, one Bucks student in addition to Wong was recognized with a fair-sponsored prize. Lexie Simcik of Lower Makefield Township, a fifth grader at Villa Victoria Academy, earned an outstanding achievement award, the second-highest honor, in general science. More than 500 students from third through 12th grades competed at the fair at Rider University in Lawrenceville.
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