Young Scientists Excel at Science & Engineering Fair

Editor's Note: The following news brief was contributed by Lawrence Township Public Schools.

Held Feb. 23 at Lawrence Intermediate School (LIS), the 4th annual Lawrence Science & Engineering Fair hosted 99 projects presented by 141 LIS and Lawrence Middle School (LMS) students.

Awards were presented for each grade level.

Lawrence High School (LHS) STEM students mentored fair participants and provided hands-on demonstrations. Resources and financial support for the fair were provided by Lawrence Township Public Schools; PTOs from LIS, LMS, and LHS; and Rider University.

Demonstrations inspired students to explore ecology, chemistry, biology, engineering and electronics. The scientific principles covered included magnetism, micronutrients, thermoelectric cooling, hydrophobic/hydrophilic effects, strength of geometric designs and pollution.

A key fair component was a personal interview between the judge and the student. During the interview students were asked to relate their project’s inspiration and design and to highlight the scientific method.

You might say it takes a village to pull off such a big event.

Jessica Heller, LTPS enrichment teacher, coordinated things internally while dozens of parent volunteers organized and staffed the fair. LHS transition students designed and manufactured buttons that were distributed to all students.

Demonstrations were a true community partnership with tables from Rider University, The College of New Jersey, the LIS Robotics program, the LHS STEM Academy, NJ AmeriCorps Ambassadors from the Delaware River Basin and Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association.

Fourth Grade Winners

First Place

Shiamak Kalwachwala & Adam Levinsky

Cookie Wars: Butter vs. Applesauce and Butter vs. Greek Yogurt

Second Place

Nicole Cadieu & Katherine Dorfman

Can you Speed Up the Composting of Kitchen Scraps?

Third Place

Eric Maest

Which Evaporates Water Faster: High or Low Watt Bulbs?

Honorable Mention

Daniel Lonarker

Effect of Hull Form on Boat Speed

Honorable Mention

Kaia Dyckman

Petri Dish Death Match: Soap vs. Hand Sanitizer

Honorable Mention

Manit Niwas

Effect of Seed Size on Germination

Fifth Grade Winners

First Place

Simon Cull

Fat, Salt or Sweet? What Do Dogs Like to Eat?

Second Place

Kiran Hiremath & Saloni Sharma

Keep it Cool

Third Place

Andrew Tziarriz-Over

Electromagnets: What Effects Their Strength

Honorable Mention

Aluen Tomat-Kelly

Ghost Plant

Honorable Mention

Disha Bharj & Riddhi Bharj

Plant Growth in Different Environments

Honorable Mention

Matthew Joseph

Water Race

Sixth Grade Winners

First Place

Matthew McChesney

Underwater Adventure

Second Place

Abhyan Jaikishen

Seeing is Believing

Third Place

Charlotte Bohra & Grace Dismukes

Why Do Our Cookies Burn?

Honorable Mention

Harshil Bhullar & Faraz Khan

What is the Bacterial Content of Milk?

Honorable Mention

Adeline Ripberger

The Big Squeeze

Honorable Mention

Teddy Masterson

Pulling with Pulleys

Honorable Mention

Anusha Aggarwal

Battle of the Screens

Seventh Grade Winners

First Place

Natasha Kalwachwala

How Permanent are Permanent Markers?

Second Place

Ryan & Dylan Morris

Bridges Falling Down

Third Place

Roja Vanaparthi

Can you Taste the Difference?

Honorable Mention

Catherine Chen & Sarah Chu

Surface Tension and Salt Water

Honorable Mention

Mrs. Zapata’s Class

Get Your Heart Pumping

Eighth Grade Winners

First Place

James Gow & Rohan Pahwa

Intercellar and Intracellar = Cellular Communication

Second Place

Anjali Agarwal

Soiled Soil

Third Place

Ritesh Dash & Kiran Aiyar

SoundWaves

Honorable Mention

Gwenyth Lavery

Measuring Surface Tension of Water with a Penny