Physics and Astronomy
On the moon, rovers and humans disturb the surrounding lunar dust by moving, creating plumes of dust. When two objects collide, they may become tribocharged and carry a level of voltage due…
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
The world's increasing demand for energy, combined with concerns over climate change, highlights the need for more sustainable energy sources. Piezoelectric energy harvesting is a renewable…
Biomedical and Health Sciences
The importance of dry skin and moisturization is evident in its impact on skin health and quality of life, particularly in dry and low humid environments like Colorado. Moisturization is ess…
Animal Sciences
The purpose of this project was to determine which soil parameters (pH, density, water content, and soil content) affect the location of Aphonopelma hentzi burrows in the Comanche National G…
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
This project aims to find natural solutions to reduce carbon dioxide contributing to climate change while expanding access to lighting. There Species of marine dinoflagellates, such as Pyroc…
Translational Medical Science
First Award
Three million people in the U.S. suffer from gluten intolerance/celiac disease (CD). In these patients, the digestive system cannot digest gluten proteins. My project aims to solve this issu…
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics
NASA has near-term plans to return to the moon with the intention of creating a permanent colony - they call it The Artemis Project. Creating a suitable building material using only the reso…
Physics and Astronomy
The purpose of this project is to discover which pyramidal airfoil design is the most effective in an oscillating wind chamber with additional mass, with four or six wings, and with a small,…
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics
The R.O.T. Slide, R.O.T. standing for “rate of travel” is an original project that was engineered to steady a welder’s arm while cutting metal. I decided to create a solution to a problem th…
Plant Sciences
In this quantitative research, the possible relationship between arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) and heavy metal absorption of four different plant genera was examined. The null hypothesis for th…
Animal Sciences
Planarians (Dugesia Dorotocephala) are flatworms capable of regenerating. Regeneration can be impacted if environmental factors are affected. The purpose was to determine if planaria regener…
Animal Sciences
Second Award
An invasive species is defined as a “non-native to the ecosystem whose introduction causes environmental impact (USDA, 1999).” In the early 1900’s, the American Bullfrog was introduced to ma…
Biomedical Engineering
For children in need of a heart valve replacement there are many options available. However, none of the available prosthesis are long term solutions. Because the valves are unable to grow a…
Animal Sciences
Fourth Award
The goal of this study is to create a diagnostic “suitability” tool to assess potential habitat for southwestern willow flycatcher (SWFL) sites in the San Luis Valley, Colorado. The tool def…
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
Grid-scale energy storage systems are an integral part of a clean future. Some sources of renewable energy cannot consistently produce electricity, leading to gaps between electricity supply…
Robotics and Intelligent Machines
Due to the devastating effects that brain tumors have on the body, early classification is crucial in reducing cancer mortality, improving quality of life, and developing a treatment plan. A…
Biomedical Engineering
Third Award
Prescription opioid addiction is a national health crisis. Today, patients or physicians don't have a way of diagnosing if a relief painkiller causes addiction. Current approaches for diagno…
Mathematics
Tetration is a fundamental mathematical operation that follows in the sequence of addition, multiplication, and exponentiation. x^^n is defined as x to the power of itself, n times. Naturall…
Robotics and Intelligent Machines
As machine learning becomes increasingly important across all fields which process data, it is necessary to investigate new models of machine learning. The goal of this project is to create…
Physics and Astronomy
The mesopause in the Martian atmosphere is the point at which the temperature is the coldest. It also divides the upper and lower atmospheres. In order for scientists to land spacecraft on M…
Physics and Astronomy
The Leidenfrost phenomenon is the term given to the phenomena observed when small quantities of a liquid are placed on an extremely hot surface. The purpose of this project is to investigate…
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world and accounts for the fifth most cancer deaths globally. Breast cancers are generally categorized into four main subtypes, nam…
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
In order to decrease reliance on non-renewable energies that greatly pollute the earth, people need more renewable energy sources, such as piezoelectric energy harvesting, that can generate…
Behavioral and Social Sciences
The purpose of this experiment is to see if there are statistical trends that exist with student’s GPAs before and after COVID-19. Deidentified data was collected from the Monte Vista School…
Chemistry
Acylation of biphenyl with acetyl chloride is a commonly used Friedel-Crafts reaction. Side products observed between the reactant and the acetylating agent are often due to incorrect stoich…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
In the last two years, COVID 19 has drastically increased the use of household disinfectants across the world. Is the increase of chemicals negatively affecting our environment more than we…
Physics and Astronomy
The seasonal cycling of volatile nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide ices from pole to pole causes significant changes in Triton's atmospheric pressure. The ability to model these changes…
Materials Science
The colonization of space will be important to the future of mankind. Our nearest celestial body is the moon, and creating a suitable building material using lunar resources will be critical…
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Ideological polarization in the United States has grown substantially in recent decades. Recent research establishes that this newfound polarization is eroding American democracy — akin to h…
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Third Award
Millions of people in the USA alone suffer from celiac disease or gluten intolerance. In previous work, I identified three fruit-derived enzymes that when combined have an efficient effect i…