Northport Student Scores First Place at LISEF Competition

Northport High School’s Aidan Dwyer, an 11th grade student, scored first place in the category of Energy and Transportation at the regional Long Island Science and Engineering Fair (LISEF) on March 12.

Aidan’s project, Fueling the World One Layer at a Time: Improving the Efficiency of the Gratzel Cell with Nanotechnology, was designed to investigate the use of a graphene matrix and volcanic ash as an alternative to graphite and titanium dioxide in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC) design.

Results from Aidan’s experiments suggest that improvements in DSSC design will improve power efficiency at lower manufacturing costs. For the competition, Aidan completed a research project at home, prepared an oral presentation and created a poster display.

After five rounds of judging, LISEF nominates the top student in each category to receive a first place award. In addition to his first place nomination, Aidan will present his research project at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Pittsburgh, PA this May. Intel ISEF, a program sponsored by the Society for Science and the Public (SSP), is the world’s largest international pre-college science competition and features more than 1,700 high school students from over 70 countries.

School official extend congratulations and good luck to Aidan at Intel ISEF.

Submitted by Bryan Horan – Northport High School Science Research Program Coordinator

Image: Aidan Dwyer/Submitted by Bryan Horan