Microbiology (General)
Objectives/Goals My hypothesis is that specific endothelial cell membrane proteins called tetraspanins are necessary for C. albicans to invade endothelial cells, and my goal was to discover…
Applied Mechanics & Structures
Objectives/Goals Triangles have always been known as the strongest shape in two dimensions, but are they the strongest in three dimensions? Does shape even make a substantial difference in t…
Aerodynamics/ Hydrodynamics (Junior Division Only)
First Award
Objectives/Goals Determine which sugar among Sucrose, Glucose, and Fructose makes the best choice of sugar fuel for sugar-based solid propellant motors. Gain experience with materials, equip…
Environmental Engineering
Objectives/Goals The purpose of this experiment was to create a water system that cleans greywater, transfers the water to a fish pond, and extracts the fertilized water from the pond to sat…
Microbiology (Medical) (Junior Division Only)
Objectives/Goals It has been suggested that yeast growth has important similarities to cancer growth. In this project I considered the effect of apple cider vinegar on yeast growth, with the…
Biochemistry/ Molecular Biology
Objectives/Goals The objective of this study was to synthesize a new contrast agent probe for imaging of pancreatic cancer. Methods/Materials 10 micrograms of THY-1 single chain antibody var…
Chemistry
Third Award
Objectives/Goals Synthesize gold nanoparticles surrounded by a TiO2 hollow shell to serve as a more efficient photocatalyst. Methods/Materials First, the gold nanoparticles were prepared by…
Mathematical Sciences
Honorable_mention Award
Objectives/Goals To create a model that can understand human emotion in such a way that it essentially "feels" emotion just like humans do. Emotion is a key enabler of natural human interact…
Behavioral & Social Sciences
Objectives/Goals The goal is to find out what people fear by filling out surveys about fears, and based on those results, determine if fears change with age. Methods/Materials I made a quest…
Zoology
Honorable_mention Award
Objectives/Goals The objective of this study was to test the problem solving abilities of Steller's Jays. Methods/Materials Using clear plastic containers mounted on a wooden box I built tes…
Microbiology (General)
Objectives/Goals We are studying Phytophthora ramorum, a water mold which is killing tanoaks and causing a foliar infection on Bay laurels in Santa Cruz County. Sudden Oak Death threatens th…
Environmental Engineering
Objectives/Goals Growing scarcity of high-quality drinking water supplies across the globe heightens the need for innovative and sustainable technologies for drinking water decontamination a…
Applied Mechanics & Structures
Objectives/Goals The goal of our project is to find a new tunnel lining design that is stronger, and more stable while being environmentally friendly by reducing the amount of materials that…
Aerodynamics/ Hydrodynamics (Junior Division Only)
Objectives/Goals In our daily life, electricity is the most common usage in our entire world. With wind energy, life is a lot cleaner, faster, healthier, and more efficient than any other en…
Environmental Engineering
Objectives/Goals The purpose of this experiment is to economically engineer and test 3-D printed Microbial Fuel Cells (MFC) in a series connection for use in large scale application like a d…
Biochemistry/ Molecular Biology
Honorable_mention Award
Objectives/Goals The objective of my project was to learn at what temperture does catalase break down hydrogen peroxide most efficiently. Methods/Materials Timer, Potato and Potato Peeler, F…
Applied Mechanics & Structures
Objectives/Goals The goal of this project is to build a self-contained two-phase immersion cooling unit that can effectively dissipate the heat from a full size ATX form factor desktop compu…
Computational Systems & Analysis
Objectives/Goals Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) affects more than 200 million people worldwide. Steady-state plasma glucose (SSPG) values are crucial to determining T2D as they indicate a patient's i…
Mammalian Biology
Honorable_mention Award
Objectives/Goals Traumatic brain injury (TBI) damages cerebral cells and the annual cost to treat is $76.5 billion. CT scans are primarily used to determine extent of injury, yet are expensi…
Chemistry
Objectives/Goals The goal was to analyze working and dead pixels on an OLED (Organic light emitting diode) phone display to understand why the display region stopped working and if the damag…
Microbiology (Medical) (Junior Division Only)
Objectives/Goals The objective of my project was to determine which bacteria where susceptible or resistant to certain antibiotics and to find out why this occurred. My hypothesis was that b…
Biochemistry/ Molecular Biology
Fourth Award
Objectives/Goals The purpose of this project is to analyze how the enzyme invertase converts sucrose into glucose and how this affects the amount of actual glucose digested from different fo…
Environmental Science
Objectives/Goals The objective of this study is to determine what tree's and bushes are the safest to plant near your home in case of a wildfire. Methods/Materials We tested ten different pl…
Electronics & Electromagnetics
Objectives/Goals The objective of this experiment was to determine the order of energy efficient conditions for hover engines by varying the type of substrate (surface below them), substrate…
Environmental Science
Objectives/Goals The Department of Environmental Health recommends waiting 72 hours before entering the water at our local beaches after a significant storm event. The purpose of my project…
Plant Biology
Objectives/Goals Used coffee grinds (UCG) are increasingly becoming a huge waste problem. To mitigate this problem my experiment is about reusing UCG as soil to grow plants. Research shows U…
Toxicology
First Award
Objectives/Goals The objective of the experiment was to solve the issue of invasive species which compete for nutrients with desirable plants. As a solution, adjuvants can be added to herbic…
Biochemistry/ Molecular Biology
Objectives/Goals Over the past decade, many mechanisms of telomerase inhibition have been developed to treat cancer. Yet certain barriers prevent telomerase inhibition from becoming a robust…
Environmental Engineering
Objectives/Goals The purpose of this study was to determine whether earth-friendly biodegradable Coconut Coir, Straw and Raffia each rolled onto jute fiber matting and made into berm covers…
Applied Mechanics & Structures
Objectives/Goals The purpose of this experiment is to determine if conducting electricity in wire affects its metallic bonds and thus its tensile strength. It was hypothesized that if an ele…