Chapter Youth Outreach Report: 2021 Science Fairs
The 2021 Judges
This February and March, Chesapeake Chapter volunteers again participated as independent sponsor judges at the Anne Arundel County Public Schools Science and Engineering Expo. Our team of volunteers this year was comprised of five members: Clinton Hilliard (CSEP), Jim Campbell (ASEP), Jim DeCamp (CSEP), Gary Wiboldt (ESEP), and Robert Muth (ESEP).
Due to the Coronavirus, this year the entire event was conducted virtually. There was a prejudging period in February in which the judges could view reports, videos, and other information provided by the students. The judges reviewed projects from 6th through 12th grade. To whittle down candidates, criteria was applied for selecting projects that were most relevant to the systems engineering disciplines. Emphasis was also placed on reviewing projects from the higher grades.
The judges had opportunity to virtually interview the students at the official judging session via Google Meet. In the end, the chapter selected just two projects that our judges deemed the most excellent out of the field of candidate projects and in line with the requisites of applying Systems Engineering practices.
The Anne Arundel County Public Schools Science and Engineering Expo Awards went to:
Josie Billett, Hot Hands: Using the Seebeck-Peltier effect and applying it to a glove like devise; in a cyclic heating/cooling system to treat Rheumatoid Arthritis.
The student researched the potential for a glove that could heat and cool for treating arthritis while using sensors that monitored the patient’s skin temperature.
Aaban Syed and Imaad Syed, Biomedical Imaging with DVD OPU.
The students used recycled Optical Pickup Units (OPUs) from a DVD drive to create an inexpensive microscope with controlled motion using input from a joystick and buttons.
Presented to each awardee was a framed INCOSE certificate proclaiming they were winners of The Chesapeake Chapter’s Young Systems Engineer Prize for 2021. Along with each certificate was given an official INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter coin, a congratulatory letter signed by our esteemed chapter president, and monetary award of $100 to each student. Finally, the Chesapeake Chapter also provided another $500 to the school district’s STEM programs office for direct support to the event.
The Youth Stem Outreach (YSO) Committee pursues opportunities in informing and encouraging young people about systems engineering and how they can get involved to pursue a career in this field.
For anyone interested in earning PDUs and joining us on the committee, please contact us at STEM@INCOSE-CC.org.
this year the entire event was conducted virtually
The 2021 STEM Awards from the INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter