PLEASANT HILL, Calif. – School-aged scientists recently competed to represent Contra Costa County in state, national, and international science contests. 110 student projects were submitted for judging at the Contra Costa County Science & Engineering Fair (CCCSEF) in March.
Of those, 18 were selected to compete in the California Science & Engineering Fair and three projects will represent CCCSEF at the Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) in May. Three projects in the Junior Division Grand Sweepstakes became eligible to compete at Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge held in October 2023 in Washington, DC.
“Our partnership with CCCSEF opens opportunities for our students to engage in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math); these experiences help shape creativity and innovation, igniting a spark that could fuel a future career,” Contra Costa County Superintendent of Schools Lynn Mackey said. “Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make this competition successful. Congratulations also to each participant that entered the competition. We are rooting for those of you representing Contra Costa County at the state, national, and international science fairs.”
The CCCSEF competition takes place each year during the month of March. This year, it was held in-person at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg after being hosted virtually during the pandemic due to COVID restrictions. Student projects were judged by dozens of industry partners and volunteers.
Students competed in six distinct categories: behavioral sciences, biology, engineering, environmental sciences, math/computer sciences, physical sciences. After selecting a category and becoming approved in the entry process, a research plan or project summary and a science/engineering experiment was conducted. Students then submitted a Project Board displaying the question, hypothesis, research or project background, procedure or project results, and the conclusion. The students were also required to provide an in-person interview with judges about the project
SENIOR DIVISION GRAND SWEEPSTAKES WINNERS (Grades 9-12)
INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE & ENGINEERING FAIR FINALISTS, May 14-23, 2023 in Texas
- Krisha Singhani, Monte Vista High School, 10th Grade, Engineering
“FEmale: A Diagnostic and Evaluation System for Iron Deficiency and Anemia in Teenage Girls due to their Menstrual Cycle.” - Charisse Zou, Dougherty Valley High School, 11th Grade, Environmental
“The Effect of Neonicotinoids on the Positive Transfer of Learning in the Visual Domain of Honeybees” - Neel Redkar, Dougherty Valley High School, Math/Computer Science, 12th Grade, Engineering
“CLAMP: A Contrastive Language And Molecule Pre-training Network for Scaling Artificial Photosynthesis Candidate Identification”
JUNIOR DIVISION GRAND SWEEPSTAKES WINNERS (Grades 7-8)
Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge, October 2023 in Washington, DC.,
- Michael Suacillo, St. Patrick School, 8th Grade, Behavioral, “Think Fast!”
- Caleb Sunia, NorthCreek Academy, 7th Grade, Biological, “Here We Grow Again”
- Ella Abbott, NorthCreek Academy, 7th Grade, Environmental, “Bamboo Versus Paper: Which Straw is Better?”
CALIFORNIA SCIENCE & ENGINEERING FAIR
- Sofia Seiden & Tyler Militar-Cross, St. Patrick School, 7th Grade, Behavioral
- Michael Suacillo, St. Patrick School, 8th Grade, Behavioral
- Bilva Vedamurthy, Monte Vista High School, 11th Grade, Behavioral
- Caleb Sunia, North Creek Academy, 7th Grade, Biological
- Anirudh Ayyadevara, Dougherty Valley High School, 9th Grade, Biological
- Marcus Kauffman, De La Salle High School, 10th Grade, Biological
- Ginessa Colombana, Carondelet High School, 12th Grade, Biological
- Jonas Desyatnik, Joaquin Moraga Intermediate, 8th Grade, Engineering
- Lucas Katz-Carreno, Campolindo High School, 9th Grade, Engineering
- Krisha Singhani, Monte Vista High School, 10th Grade, Engineering
- Alan Fang, Monte Vista High School, 11th Grade, Engineering
- Ella Abbott, NorthCreek Academy, 7th Grade, Enviornmental
- Vedant Kathrani, Dougherty Valley High School, 10th Grade, Environmental
- Charisse Zou, Dougherty Valley High School, 11th Grade, Environmental
- Ananya Raghu & Anisha Raghu, Quarry Lane School, 9th Grade, Math/Computer Science
- Neel Redkar, Dougherty Valley High School, 12th Grade, Math/ Computer Science
- William Lee, Deer Valley High School, 11th Grade, Physical
- Ryma Ouramdane & Liezyl Catahan, Deer Valley High School, 12th Grade, Physical
THERMO FISHER JUNIOR INNOVATORS CHALLENGE FINALISTS
- Michael Suacillo, St. Patrick School, 8th Grade, Behavioral
- Caleb Sunia, NorthCreek Academy, 7th Grade, Biological
- Ella Abbott, NorthCreek Academy, 7th Grade, Environmental
About Contra Costa County Office of Education
One of 58 counties in California, Contra Costa County has the 9th largest public-school student population in the state (approximately 158,401 students). Officially established in 1932, the CCCOE has a long history of providing direct services to some of our county’s most vulnerable students, including young people who are incarcerated, homeless, or in foster care, as well as students who have severe physical or emotional challenges.
CCCOE also provides support services to schools and school districts in Contra Costa County; services that can be handled most effectively and economically on a regional basis rather than by each of the county’s 285 schools or 18 school districts. These services range from budget approval and fiscal support to technology infrastructure, communication support, and high-level professional development opportunities for educators. CCCOE maintains a website at www.cocoschools.org.
