Grand Erie was well represented at the recent Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair (BASEF), and four students have returned with awards honouring projects that showcased curiosity, innovation and creative problem-solving, with practical applications in the world.
"This year, my BASEF project aimed to investigate the spread of airborne pathogens in public hallways," explained Kiera Mitchell, a Grade 11 student at Delhi District High School, with an entry titled Modelling Spread and Infection Risk for COVID-19 in Hallways Scenarios. "I really enjoyed conducting research on something that's interested me for a while, and had the opportunity to learn a lot of new things, such as different epidemiological methods and how to use fluid simulation software."
Mitchell took home the bronze merit award, presented by Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health.
Fellow Delhi District Secondary School student Brodi Ouwendyk also returned to Norfolk County with an award. Ouwendyk's project, Stopping Potentially Hazardous Objects in Space with High-Velocity Spacecraft, garnered the James A. Winger award.
That project set out "to determine if humanity, with current achievable technology, would be able to deflect the currently most hazardous objects in terms of collision with Earth," according to his entry's abstract.
North Park Collegiate and Vocational School students also brought home awards. Lily Song, in Grade 12, picked up an award presented by ArcelorMittal Dofasco as well as a university admission scholarship for her project, Talk to the Hand.
"The purpose of this project is to facilitate communication between the verbally able and those who are deaf-blind," she said. "By using a speech recognizer, this project can translate spoken words and emulate tactile language on a glove."
Cordelia Simmons, also in Grade 12 at North Park, presented her project, Hydroplaning Detection and Prevention Using an AI Neural Network, which earned an electrical engineering award presented by Mohawk College and the silver merit award.
"The purpose was to develop an AI model and Arduino program that prevents hydroplaning by detecting and automatically responding to dangerous conditions," Simmons explained. "The goal of this is to reduce morbidity and mortality from hydroplaning-related accidents."
The BASEF provides an event that fosters curiosity and opportunity for hundreds of learners from the surrounding area, in line with Grand Erie's collective priorities. For students, the experience of attending the fair was in and of itself the reward.
"Overall, I think the experience of presenting my project at BASEF was beneficial for helping me learn how to communicate my scientific research and gain experience in a field of study I may pursue in the future," concluded Mitchell.
