RIVERSIDE – Studying the behavior of wildfire, comparing the germs on bathroom door handles, measuring pollution in fast food restaurant drive-through lanes, and researching new methods to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, are a few of the student projects investigating real life scenarios that will be on display at the Riverside County Science and Engineering Fair on Monday, March 2, 2020, at the Riverside Convention Center (3637 5th St, Riverside, CA 92501).
More than 450 students from 36 affiliate fairs representing public, charter, and private schools will present their findings in 365 projects spanning 19 subject matter categories from Biochemistry and Environmental Sciences to Animal Sciences and Robotics and Intelligent Machines.
Admission is free for public viewing on Tuesday, March 3, 2020, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The awards ceremony will also take place on March 3 at 6 p.m., where gold, and silver (runner-up) medals will be presented. Community awards will also be announced during the awards ceremony.
Within each of the 19 subject matter categories, students will compete in the Grade 4/5 division, Junior division (grades 6-8), and Senior division (high school). Winners in the Junior and Senior division will advance to the California State Science and Engineering Fair to be held April 20-21, 2020, at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, California. Sweepstakes awards will be presented to one project in Grades 4/5 division, one project in the Junior division, and one project in the Senior division. Three Senior division students will advance to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair to be held May 10-15, 2020, in Anaheim, California.
Participating districts and charter/private schools include:
- Alvord USD
- Beaumont USD
- Coachella Valley USD
- Corona-Norco USD
- Desert Sands USD
- Hemet USD
- Highland Academy Charter
- Inspire Charter School
- Islamic Academy, Riverside
- Jurupa USD
- Lake Elsinore USD
- Moreno Valley USD
- Nuview Union SD
- Palm Springs USD
- Palo Verde USD
- Perris Elementary SD
- Rancho Christian School
- REACH Leadership STEM Academy
- Riverside STEAM Consortium
- Riverside USD
- Romoland SD
- Sacred Heart School
- San Jacinto USD
- Springs Charter School
- Catherine’s of Alexandria
- Edward’s School
- Hyacinth Academy
- Jeanne de Lestonnac
- John’s Lutheran School
- Sycamore Academy Charter
- The Journey School
- The Pechanga School
- Temecula Preparatory School
- Val Verde USD
- Woodcrest Christian School
Riverside County Science and Engineering Fair by the numbers:
459 – Total students participating
365 – Total projects
36 – Districts and/or charter/private schools participating
156 – Projects from students in Grade 4/5 division
120 – Projects from students in Junior division (Grades 6-8)
91 – Projects from students in Senior division (Grades 9-12)
19 – Categories of competition
43 – Entries in most popular category: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Examples of entries from this year’s event include:
Project Title: Can People Tell Artificial Smells From Real Ones?
Student: Tristan Guerrero
Grade: 4
School/District: Victoriano Elementary School, Val Verde Unified School District
Project Description: Can a blindfolded person tell the difference between the smell of a real piece of fruit compared to an artificial version of that fruit’s smell?
Project Title: Human Teacher vs. Robot Teacher
Students: Bryce Hill and Carter Metcalf
Grade: 4
School/District: James Monroe Elementary School, Desert Sands Unified School District
Project Description: Will kindergarten students follow directions better from a human teacher or a robot teacher?
Project Title: Dinner Table
Student: Clover Valverde
Grade: 5
School/District: Cabot Yerxa Elementary School, Palm Springs Unified School District
Project Description: If children eat at the dinner table with their family, will they make healthier nutritional choices compared to eating alone?
Project Title: Parting The Salton Sea
Students: Gerardo Figueroa, Clemente Torres, and Arturo Delgado
Grade: 5
School/District: Oasis Elementary School, Coachella Valley Unified School District
Project Description: Is it possible to build a prototype of a machine that can extract the oxygen out of the water from the Salton Sea so that it can be used for the purpose of human breathing?
Project Title: Phone Stand
Student: Ethan Johnson
Grade: 5
School/District: River Springs Charter School, Springs Charter Schools
Project Description: Student built a cell phone stand for his sister to more easily watch cartoons since she does not have use of her arms due to a disability.
Project Title: Bathroom Door Handle: Which Is Cleaner: Inside Or Outside?
Student: Marley Roughton
Grade: 5
School/District: Triple Crown Elementary School, Val Verde Unified School District
Project Description: Which side of the bathroom door handle is cleaner, the inside or the outside?
Project Title: Wildfire Behavior
Students: Abbey Starling, Taylor Starling, and Gavin Starling
Grade: 6
School/District: Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, Riverside Unified School District
Project Description: In an attempt to better understand the behavior of wildfires, these three siblings, whose father is a firefighter, studied whether fire would burn faster uphill or downhill.
Project Title: There Is No Way I Am Kissing That!
Student: Jillian Longmeyer
Grade: 7
School/District: Elsinore Middle School, Lake Elsinore Unified School District
Project Description: Ever thought twice about what’s on your pet’s head and lips when you give it a kiss? This project tested the bacteria colonies on a cat, dog, rat, rabbit, turtle/tortoise, bird, axolotl, and a bearded dragon.
Project Title: Drive Throughs: Convenience With A Side Of Air Pollution
Student: Zachary Brasher (Gold Medal Winner from 2019 Riverside County Science & Engineering Fair)
Grade: 7
School/District: Dr. Augustine Ramirez Middle School, Corona-Norco Unified School District
Project Description: Using a homemade particulate matter sensor with a Raspberry Pi 2, the student evaluated the levels of particulate matter emitted by idling cars in fast-food drive-throughs and the effect of that carbon dioxide on three different types of plants.
Project Title: Merry “Clip”Mas
Student: Trevor Bollin
Grade: 9
School/District: Jurupa Valley High School, Jurupa Unified School District
Project Description: The holiday season is supposed to be a joyous time, not a stressful time. This student used a 3D printer to design a more efficient way to hang holiday lights with a clip system that will keep them from falling and avoid damage to gutters, roof shingles, and fascia board.
Project Title: Can You See Me Now? Comparing Visual Search And Screen Time
Students: Catherine Dinh, Lavie Nguyen, and Gabrielle Glumalid
Grade: 10
School/District: Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Corona-Norco Unified School District
Project Description: Does the amount of screen time of today’s youth affect their visual search skills—especially in an environment full of auditory distractors?
Project Title: The Analysis of Neatness of Handwriting and Personality Traits
Student: James Kim
Grade: 11
School/District: Martin Luther King High School, Riverside Unified School District
Project Description: Is there an association between an individual’s neatness of handwriting and their personality traits?
Project Title: Developing A Pre-Risk Assessment Incorporating Machine-Learning And Bio-Markers To Diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease
Student: Dimple Garuadapuri (Gold Medal Winner from 2019 Riverside County Science and Engineering Fair)
Grade: 10
School/District: Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Corona-Norco Unified School District
Project Description: Can one’s risk of potentially developing and/or being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease be improved with machine learning and bio-markers?
Project Title: Investigating OsSxr Nutrient Transporters To Increase Rice Submergence Resilience Via CRISPR-Cas9 Technology
Student: Isabelle Do (Gold Medal Winner from 2019 Riverside County Science and Engineering Fair)
Grade: 12
School/District: Martin Luther King High School, Riverside Unified School District
Project Description: With rice as a crop of global importance, this project studies how to increase the resilience of rice crop yields in light of increased floods and droughts by altering how the plant uses its sugar reserves during long periods of strain.
Additional details on this year’s event can be found on the Riverside County Science and Engineering Fair website.