ARTICLES
STEM down under students are on top of the world
By Stuart Garth, Young Scientist ISEF Fair Director
Young Scientist students win $ 194,200 in Prizes
Some of the brightest young scientists and technology students from NSW have just returned victorious from the largest high school STEM event in the world, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Competing against the best 1,800 science and technology students from 81 countries at the 2018 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair( Intel ISEF 2018), NSW students won $ 194,200 in prizes and scholarships including the ultimate prize of the best science and technology project in the world!
Oliver Nicholls won two 2nd prize awards sponsored by IEEE( USD $ 750) & NASA( USD $ 600) and an honourable mention from INCOSE. He then went on to win a 1st place Grand award in the Robotics and Intelligent Machines category. His project was also judged Best of Category, earning him an extra USD $ 5,000, with USD $ 1,000 going to his school Barker College and USD $ 1,000 going towards our STANSW Young Scientist Fair. This Best of Category award is something that no other Australian student has ever achieved in our 20 years of representation at ISEF.
Oliver joining the other 21 Best of Category winners on the front row of the stage
As a grand finale to the Grand Awards Ceremony, the top overall awards were announced. Two USD $ 50,000 Intel Foundation Young Scientist Awards were given to students from Arkansas and Washington
State respectively. These winners were Meghana Bollimpalli, 17, of Little Rock, Arkansas, for her innovative and inexpensive method for synthesizing electrode-like materials and Dhruvik Parikh, 18, of Bothell, Washington, for his low-cost composite membrane destined for use in large batteries that store energy from renewables like solar and wind.
16 SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 67 NO 2