PRISMS Students Shine at Mercer Science and Engineering Fair 2019
On March 18, 2019, 21 PRISMS students had great success at the award ceremony of the annual Mercer County Science and Engineering Fair (MSEF). Yizhen (Johnson) Chen and Songtao (Barton) Li won the first place in the field of Mathematics, Physics, & Astronomy, and Chemistry & Materials, respectively. Many others received various of special awards in different categories. The name of Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science (PRISMS) was announced so many times in the award ceremony!
The Fair recognizes the scientific and engineering achievements of students in Mercer County, which attracts nearly 80 students from dozens of schools in Princeton and surrounding areas. Students use the scientific method to prepare their projects: selecting a research topic, developing a project plan, executing the plan and creating a presentation of the project's results. Participants prepare a research paper and presentation board that are judged by professional scientists and engineers.
PRISMS has been involved in the competition since 2017, with only one student participated in the first year. Nine PRISMS students entered the fair in 2018. This year, coordinated by Dr. Chen, a historic record of 21 students prepared and competed in the competition with the professional guidance from our fabulous Ms Jones and research mentors. Beginning in January 2019, the students started their preparation through a one-minute oral presentation about the significance and brief background of their research projects. The second round was a slides presentation focusing on the experimental results and conclusion. All faculty and students were invited to a final poster presentation, which is quite similar to the fair. Students got tremendous feedback and suggestions from mentors and other students.
Here are the awards received by PRISMS students in MSEF 2019:
Chemistry, Materials, and Environmental Science
- Barton Li - First Place in the field of Chemistry and Materials
- Eugene Gao - Second Place in the field of Environmental Science and Engineering
- Eugene Gao - United States Air Force, Outstanding Science or Engineering Fair Project
- Richard Li - Second Place in the field of Chemistry and Materials
- Janis Zhu - Honorable Mention in the field of Chemistry and Materials
- Janis Zhu - ASM Materials Education Foundation, Most Outstanding Exhibit in Materials Science
- Ethan Li - Honorable Mention in the field of Chemistry and Materials
- Helen Zhang - Honorable Mention in the field of Chemistry and Materials
- Nick Han - Honorable Mention in the field of Chemistry and Materials
- Nick Han - The Office of Naval Research, Naval Science Award with $50 cash award
- Tina Wang - Honorable Mention in the field of Environmental Science and Engineering
- Tina Wang - Stockholm Junior Water Prize (Regional Water Prize Award), Award of Excellence for a Water-Related Science Research Project, A nomination to enter the state competition
Psychology and Social Science
- Shayla James - Honorable Mention in the field of Behavioral and Social Science
- Melinda Lu - Honorable Mention in the field of Behavioral and Social Science
- Ray Wang - Honorable Mention in the field of Behavioral and Social Science
Biology
- Ariana Fei - Second Place in the field of Biochemistry, Biology, and Medical Science
- Edward Shi - Second Place Award, American Society for Microbiology
- Gary Guo - Honorable Mention in the field of Biochemistry, Biology, and Medical Science
- Ananya Gangavarapu - Honorable Mention in the field of Biochemistry, Biology and Medical Science
Engineering, Optics, and Computer Science
- Cici Xu - Second Place in the field of Software and Embedded System
- Howard Hu - Second Place in the field of General Engineering
- Zhamilya Bilyalova - Third Place in the field of Software and Embedded Systems
- Zhamilya Bilyalova - United States Air Force, Outstanding Science or Engineering Fair Project
- Zhamilya Bilyalova - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Education, Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award
- Zhamilya Bilyalova - American Meteorological Society, Outstanding Achievement for Excellence in Atmospheric or Related Sciences
- Zach Brunet - The Yale Science & Engineering Association, Inc, Most Outstanding Exhibit in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, or Chemistry
Math
- Johnson Chen - First Place in the field of Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy
- Johnson Chen - Mu Alpha Theta Award