SPA Students win Awards at 2024 Twin Cities Regional Science Fair, Move on to State, National, and International Competitions

SPA student-scientists have once again earned multiple national, state, and local honors at the Twin Cities Regional Science Fair (TCRSF) for their original research in science, computer science, and engineering. Twenty-seven students competed in this year's TCRSF.

For the seventh year in a row, SPA students competing at TCRSF were named Finalists in the Regeneron ISEF competition, the world’s largest international pre-college science competition. Bora Mandic '25 and Huxley Westemeier '26 will present their projects entitled SignalGrab: A Machine Learning Approach to Helping Color Blind Drivers and Project Calliope during ISEF's finalist competition in early May. Additionally, Talia Cairns '25 and Finn Cairns '25 were named ISEF alternates.

In addition, 20 SPA student projects will move on to the Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair (for poster projects). A total of 32 sponsored awards for excellence in specific research or disciplinary areas were also awarded to SPA students’ research or projects, and Karissa Baker was honored with the TCRSF Teacher Excellence Award. See below for a full list of the students’ projects and awards.

Of the 27 TCRSF competitors, thirteen were students in SPA's Advanced Science Research (ASR) course taught by Karissa Baker, thirteen were students in Dr. Kate Lockwood's Advanced Technology Projects (ATP) course, and one was a Middle School student. Both the ASR and ATP courses are designed for students who want to conduct independent original research in an area of their interest and choosing. “We’re really proud of our students’ projects, as they are completely of their own design," says ASR faculty Karissa Baker, who notes that the students go through the full scientific investigative process: selecting a topic, combing through the primary literature to find a "gap in knowledge" to investigate, designing the experiment, gathering and analyzing data, and then using their findings to create both a paper and a poster/presentation. "It is a challenging academic and scientific experience," Baker says, "but one that allows them to apply so much of what they’ve learned throughout their science coursework at SPA. It’s thrilling when their efforts are commended externally."

Student projects

• Rishi Bhargava ‘24 and Humza Murad ‘24: Project WASP: Autonomous Self Watering Planter using Atmospheric Water
• Finn Cairns ‘25: ViABL: Visual Assistant for the Blind with VLMs
• Talia Cairns ‘25: Rhizofiltration of Nitrate and Phosphate by Elodea Canadensis Under Varying Temperatures
• Oliver Chan ‘25: Examining the Impact of Positive Affirmations on the Confidence Perception and Academic Performance of High School Students
• Deling Chen ‘25: A Novel Electrocardiogram-Based Model for Prediction of Dementia—the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study
• Jacob Colton ‘25: Effect of Annealing Time on Electrodeposited Zinc Samples for Use in Dye Sensitized Solar Cells
• Adam Ebert ‘25 and Andy Wells ‘24: PENGUIN: A Innovative Robotics Platform Assisting Healthcare Workload
• Alessandro Fusco ‘24: Electric Vehicle Charger Demand Prediction using Machine Learning
• Jack Gao ‘28: The Impact of Electric Vehicle Adoption and Electrification
• McKinley Garner ‘24: The Effectiveness of Aspergillus niger as a Remedy to Microplastic-Contaminated Soil
• Samantha Gilats ‘24:  Exploring Potential Effects of Theobromine on Girardia tigrina Regeneration
• Humza Jameel ‘25: Investigating The Effects of Rubber Aggregate as a Substitute for Natural Aggregate on the Strength of Concrete
• Cerena Karmaliani ‘25: The Absorbency of Home-Compounded Transdermal Pain Medication in Comparison to Industrially Manufactured Voltaren Gel
• Rohan Kharbanda ‘25: The Effects of Varying Sizes of Polylactic Acid as a Supplement for Concrete Aggregate on the Maximum Stress and Young’s Modulus of Concrete
• Lam Le ‘26: The Solitary Bees' Diet: An Exploration of Megachile campanulae
• Annika Lillegard ‘24: The Effect of Trans-Resveratrol on the Longevity of Caenorhabditis Elegans
• Bora Mandic ‘25: SignalGrab: A Machine Learning Approach to Helping Color Blind Drivers 
• Nicholas McCarthy ‘25: The Effect of Synthetic and Composted Manure Fertilizers on the Growth of Brassica juncea in Copper-Contamianted Soil
• Milan Mishra ‘25: Usage of a Convolutional Neural Network in Drone-Based Algae Bloom Monitoring
• David Schumacher ‘25: Bioremediation of Nickel with Chlorella vulgaris and Chlorella pyrenoidosa
• Oliver Thompson ‘25 and Finn Miller-Fimpel ‘25: Fisher-MN: Using a Mobile Application to Increase Accessibility to Minnesota's Lakes While Mapping Invasive Species and Diseases Among Fish Populations
• Huxley Westemeier ‘26: Project Calliope
• Henry Whelan ‘24: Mind Mobility Management
• Annie Zhang ‘25: The Effects of Natural versus Pharmaceutical Stimulants on Autism Symptoms

Competition Qualifications

Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF): Bora Mandic '25: Finalist and Huxley Westemeier '26: Finalist; Talia Cairns: First Alternate; and Finn Cairns: Second Alternate

Minnesota State Science and Engineering Fair qualification (poster project): Rishi Bhargava and Humza Murad; Finn Cairns; Talia Cairns; Oliver Chan; Deling Chen; Jacob Colton; Adam Ebert and Andy Wells; McKinley Garner; Samantha Gilats; Humza Jameel; Cerena Karmaliani; Rohan Kharbanda; Lam Le; Annika Lillegard; Bora Mandic; Finn Miller-Fimpel and Oliver Thompson; Milan Mishra; David Schumacher; Huxley Westemeier, and Annie Zhang

Sponsored Awards

• Ecolab: McKinley Garner
• City of St. Paul Youth Fund Award: Humza Jameel
• 3M Display Materials and System Division: Annika Lillegard
• 3M Engineering and Manufacturing Technology Global Manufacturing Technology: McKinley Garner
• 3M Specialty Materials Development Lab: Jacob Colton, Nicholas McCarthy, and Milan Mishra
• Inspiring Excellence Project: Jacob Colton
• United States Department of Agriculture Research: Milan Mishra
• MN Academy of American Fisheries Aquatic Science Excellence Award: Talia Cairns, Finn Miller-Fimpel and Oliver Thompson, and David Schumacher
• ASM Material Award: Jacob Colton and Humza Jameel
• University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy Award: Cerena Karmaliani
• US Air Force Award: Oliver Chan, Jacob Colton, Rohan Kharbanda, and Henry Whelan
• American Psychological Association Award: Annie Zhang
• Association of Women Geoscientists: Talia Cairns
• Genius Olympiad: Talia Cairns and Finn Cairns
• Regeneron Biomedical Science Award: Annika Lillegard
• Ricoh Sustainable Development Award: Rohan Kharbanda
• Society for In Vitro Biology Award: Cerena Karmaliani
• USAID US Agency for International Development Award: Milan Mishra
• US Metric Association Award: Annie Zhang
• Yale Science and Engineering Award: Finn Cairns
• Stockholm Junior Water Prize: Milan Mishra
• Top Ranked Research Papers – Middle School, 2nd Place: Jack Gao
• Thermo Fisher Jr. Innovators Challenge – Middle School National Competition: Jack Gao
• TCRSF Teacher Excellence Award: Karissa Baker