FCPS Students Win Special and Category Awards at 2024 International Science and Engineering Fair

Thirteen students from Fairfax County Public Schools won awards at the International Science and Engineering Fair that took place recently in Los Angeles.   

Winners of category awards included: 

• Anant Khandelwal, Sritan Motati, and Siddhant Sood from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, first award in Technology Enhances the Arts for their project Diffusion-Based Conditional Mesh Synthesis for Rapid 3D Visual Design.
• Medha Pappula from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, second award in Behavioral and Social Sciences for her project Identifying Underlying Brain Connections in Pediatric ADHD: A Pathway to Early Diagnosis and Reduced Secondary Effects.
• Ray Zhang from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, second award in Microbiology for his project Biofilm Composition in Fungi Fusarium and Development of a Multi-targeted Antifungal Treatment to Inhibit Proliferation.
• Valeria Novoa from James Madison High School, third award in Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design for her project Optimizing Graphitic Carbon Nitride to Create a Safe, Effective, and Economic Form of Hydrogen Storage.
• Sanchali Banerjee from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, fourth award in Environmental Engineering for her project A Novel Framework Using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to Create Land Resource Management Strategy Through Economic-Environmental Payoff Optimization.
• Joshua (Shua) Michel from Chantilly High School, fourth award in Behavioral and Social Sciences for his project The Effect of Absence of Select Languages on Amount of Divergence in Reconstruction of Proto-Romance.
• Ryan Singh and Surbhi Singla from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, fourth award in Materials Science for their project Utilizing the Chirality Induced Spin Selectivity Effect Through Chiral Carbon Nanotubes to Polarize Current for Spin-Transfer Torque in Spintronic Devices.

Winners of special awards included: 

• Isabel Aysa-Lastra and Danial Syed from Hayfield Secondary School, special award from the Air Force Research Laboratory on behalf of the United States Air Force for their project Robee: A Novel Autonomous Pollinator.
• Anant Khandelwal, Sritan Motati, and Siddhant Sood from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, special award from the Air Force Research Laboratory on behalf of the United States Air Force for their project Diffusion-Based Conditional Mesh Synthesis for Rapid 3D Visual Design.
• Viraj Luthra from Chantilly High School, special award from N.C. State College of Engineering for his project On the Synthesis of Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles from Eggshells via the Sol-Gel Method.

Over 1,700 students represented 67 countries, regions, and territories across the world and competed for approximately $9 million in awards and scholarships at the International Science and Engineering Fair.

For more information, contact Ann Wong at [email protected].