Young scientists from Liberty rate high at state meet
After a fine showing at the regional meet, Liberty Middle School students continued their string of successes at the Alabama State Science and Engineering Fair.
Liberty ranked second among all schools for the most first- and second-place winning students, sponsor Carla Beardslee said. The University of Alabama in Huntsville hosted both the regional and state meets.
Preston Lamb won first place in the behavioral and social sciences category for “Are There Factors That Influence or Affect the Sensitivity of Taste?” In engineering, Spencer Barnes took first place for “Getting High with Science — Using Orthogonal Arrays to Design a Rocket.”
Also in first place, Alex Dillon entered “MyPad Tablet, Powered by Fusion OS” in the math and computers division.
Second-place winners at the state meet were Grace Barnes and Kimberly Waggener. Grace Barnes entered “That’s How I Roll” for the math and computers category. In the medicine and health science category, Waggener’s project was “Dog Saliva’s Effect on Bacteria.”
Joshua Abreo received an expenses-paid slot to compete at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Honorable mention recipients included Jon Pearson in the environmental category for “Water, A Profitable Solutions for Fuels” and Kaitlyn Weis in physical science for “Can Heat Keep You Out of the ‘Cooler.'”
Area industries presented several special awards. Spencer Barnes’ project earned recognition from the Alabama Modeling and Simulation Council, NASA and Teledyne Brown Engineering.
Lamb earned the American Psychological Association award. Waggener was recognized by The Boeing Company, Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge and U.S. Army Science and Engineering Awards Program.
For his project, Dillon received awards from the Boeing Engineers, Broadcom Masters, Greater Huntsville Rotary, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) – Huntsville Section, along with the Junior Grand Award.
Pearson was awarded the Stockholm Junior Water Prize and U.S. Metric Association honors.
