March 2, 2007 News Media Release

Austin Area Students Advance To State, International Science Fairs

Jenna Kromann from Bowie High School, Erik Bilansky from Vista Ridge High, and a team consisting of David Price of LBJ High, Stephanie Chan of Sugarland and Jacob Shapiro of Columbus, Ohio, won Best of Fair awards at the recent Austin Energy Regional Science Festival, earning the right to compete at the prestigious Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 13-19.

Their projects were among more than 200 science projects in the senior division (9-10-11-12 grades) competing at the Austin Energy-sponsored event—the largest of 18 regional science fairs throughout Texas. Projects competing at regional fairs have all won science fairs at their individual schools.

Meanwhile, some 110 middle school and high school students advance from the Austin regional competition to the State Science Fair, the ExxonMobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair April 5-7 in San Antonio. These are the projects that placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in 18 categories from Math and Computer Science to Biochemistry and Cellular & Molecular Biology.

Vista Ridge High School of the Leander Independent School District and Murchison Middle School of the Austin Independent School District were  Sweepstakes winners. Sweepstakes goes to the senior division and junior division schools with the most 1st, 2nd and 3rd places finishes in all 18 categories.

The Austin Energy Regional Science Festival is the largest of 18 science festivals in Texas with participation by more than 3,500 students, PreK- 12th grade from 160 schools representing 17 school districts and five counties. The festival is planned and executed by Austin Energy staff and requires, among other things, in excess of 300 judges.

About winning projects going to International

Jenna, Kromann, an 11th grader from Bowie, won a Best of Fair award for her research into the effect of drought on the salinity zone and water quality of the Edwards Aquifer. She found that during a drought, the amount of sulfates, chlorides and dissolved solids increase, causing the salinity to degrade fresh water.

Erik Bilansky, a senior at Vista Ridge, won a Best of Fair award by continuing to research a science project he submitted last year on robotic intelligence. He decided to improve the ability of robots to sense open paths, handle more complicated mazes, and adapt to a changing environment by utilizing light emitters and switches. Erik found that the robot could learn to recognize pathways used before and would check those pathways first when negotiating a maze.

David Price, Stephanie Chan, Jacob Shapiro, the Best of Fair winning team project, met at a math camp this past summer. Their project examined a mathematical model that predicts the spread of epidemics. Through a computer simulation they developed a new model for projecting how a disease would spread through a population.

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