TX, United States of America

The Effects of Consuming GMO vs. Organic Corn on Fruit Fly Health

Biochemistry

Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMO, are becoming more prominent in the agricultural industry of the United States. According to the Institute of Responsible Technology, these organisms a…

The Effects of Forest Fires on Stream Invertebrates and Water Quality at Two Different Sites in New Mexico

Systems Software

Forest fires are quite common during drought season, we see the signs that warn us of the danger, but we hardly take into consideration what happens to microorganisms. Based off of experimen…

The Iron Hand, Year Four

This project was developed to fabricate a low cost, effective forearm and hand prosthesis for amputees to assist them in daily activities. After researching and collaborating with Lubbock Ar…

The Repercussions of Electromagnetic Fields on the Reproductive Capacity of Drosophila melanogaster

The following project will include a series of experiments to find biological consequences that exposure to electromagnetic fields may bring not just to Drosophila Melanogaster and their rep…

True-HEV: An Innovation for Hybrid Electric Engines

Third Award

In the modern world, fossil fuels have ignited an overwhelming concern for pollutants emitted through the burning of gasoline and other non-renewable resources in vehicles, industry, and oth…

Turning the Red Planet Green: Study of Cyanobacteria/Algae Growth Kinetics Coupled with Hydroponics Applications for Terraforming and Settling on Mars

Third Award

This project examined how cyanobacteria/algae might exist under Martian simulated conditions, helping convert Mars’ most abundant gas CO2 into oxygen; thus paving the way for possible settle…

Understanding Parkinson's Disease: Basal ganglia Dysfunction's Role in the Visual Adaptation of Speech

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a degenerative neurological disorder caused by loss of dopamine cells in the basal ganglia region of the brain. Not only does the loss of motor control affect lim…

Unmanned Explosive Disposal

Robots used by Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Specialists in the United States Army specialize in transport and detonation of unexploded ordinance, improvised explosive devices, and weap…

Use the Force, Lyapunov! A Novel Quadcopter Motor Controller Using Force Sensor Feedback

Second Award

Quadcopter drones are poised to become a widely used technology with important humanitarian, civil and military applications. However, these flying robots face significant and complex aerody…

Utilizing Cardiac and Pulmonary Function with Piezoelectricity to Power a Cardiac Pacemaker, Year II

The purpose of this experiment was to find a way to provide a constant supply of electrical power to a cardiac pacemaker utilizing cardiac and pulmonary motions in conjunction with piezoelec…

3-D Electrical Cast

The purpose for this project is to create a 3-D Printer Cast and incorporate the T.E.N.S. Unit to treat Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and allow full arm mobility. The procedure is to first get the…

A Novel Approach for Tuning Chiral Nematic Structures in Cellulose Nanocrystal Films

Color is an important aspect of human life and one day structural colors, never fading and mimicking nature, could replace toxic pigments. Aqueous suspensions from Cellulose Nanocrystals (CN…

A Novel Coevolution Data-based Approach for Computational Drug Design to Target Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

Fourth Award

Because traditional (experimental) methods of drug design involve trial and error, they are expensive and time-consuming. Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are structurally flexible p…

Assessing Reverse Cholesterol Transport Levels Association to Early-Onset Compared to Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a form of dementia that causes major loss of cognitive abilities, affecting daily life. It is necessary to define possible symptoms for early diagnosis purposes.…

Biophysical Characterization of Hydrocarbon Transport Systems as a First Step in Marine Oil-Degradation by Hydrocarbonoclastic Bacteria

Fourth Award

Hydrocarbonoclastic (oil-eating) bacteria play an important role in the removal of petroleum hydrocarbons from polluted marine waters during oil spills. The bacterial biodegradation of hydro…

Boolean AlGenebra: A Nature-Inspired Framework for the Analysis of Cancer Genes

Euclidean distance metric based analysis, including regression and clustering, is good at detecting symmetrical relationships between variables, such as “if gene A was high, then gene B was…

Chemical Sensing and Peculiar Redox Properties of Calcium Barium Cobalt Oxide Thin Films as a Viable Cathode Material for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design

Solid oxide fuel cells require pure electronic conductors with composite designs and high operating temperatures. In this respect, mixed ionic electronic conductors are desirable due to thei…

Competitive Inhibition of DNA Polymerase by XNA Nucleosides

Fourth Award

Shingles, herpes zoster virus, affects many middle aged adults around the world, exhibiting symptoms of pain, itching, burning, and postherpetic neuralgia. In an attempt to discover effectiv…

Computer-Aided Oral Cancer Diagnosis

Currently, oral cancer patients visit a pathologist in order to determine the severity of their oral cancer. The pathologist then takes a biopsy of the oral tissue, which undergoes a chemica…

Designing a Fluorescent Precursor to Test the Partial Hairpin Insertion Model of Tat Protein Transport

Protein transporters, located in the bacterial cell membranes, are responsible for moving proteins produced inside bacteria to outside of the cell where they operate. The Tat (twin-arginine…

Detecting Early Stage Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Novel Approach to the Engineering of a Gold Nanorod Based Point-of-Care Biosensor

Systems Software Third Award

This research project details the development and implementation of a novel biosensor utilizing gold nanorods for the early stage detection of HER2-mediated breast cancer. Aspect ratio depen…

Determining Maximum Carpool Potential: A Study of Car Sharing Efficiency

The purpose of this experiment is to determine the maximum carpool potential for the upper school student body at Trinity School in Midland. Carpool potential could be defined as the maximum…

Determining the Role of Visual Signals in the Neurological Aspect of Speech: Implications for the Treatment of Speech Motor Programming Disorders

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Speech is produced by a set of neurological and motor processes, known as speech motor programming. When regions of the brain controlling speech are damaged, speakers are not able to properl…

Effective Remediation of Air Pollution through an Algal System Integrated with Carbon Mineralization Technology, Phase I: Selection of Algal Strains that Perform Well in a Flue Gas Derived Bicarbonate Environment

Second Award

Carbon capture and storage is a major strategy to mitigate greenhouse gasses (GHGs) but the associated high costs and risk of CO2 leakage can deter its adaptability. Carbon Mineralization te…

Effect of Simulation Covert Feathers on Airfoil Lift and Drag

Third Award

Located along the lengthwise middle of a bird's wing are the covert feathers. During flight, some of these feathers vibrate and lift up from the wing. Scientists speculate that putting synth…

Effects of Collaboration on Student Productivity, Accuracy, and Retention

Biomedical and Health Sciences

The effects of collaboration on accuracy, retention, and productivity were measured through this project to determine if a factor such as collaboration can have a positive impact on overall…

Effects of Probiotics and Aquatic Vegetation on the Growth of Cyprinidae

The purpose of the research determined if the growth of fish would be affected by the presence or absence of aquatic plants or probiotics. Four identical twenty gallon tanks housed ten fish…

Elucidating the Molecular Mechanisms of Arrhythmogenesis

Fourth Award

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most commonly encountered cardiac arrhythmia in the clinical setting, and is a leading cause of stroke and heart failure. Hyperactivity of the ryanodine recep…

Energetic Particles from 10B and Li Fusion Reactions

In this investigation, alpha particles from an Am-241 source (approximately 5 MeV) were used to bombard a 10B target (fine powder on a piece of tape) to produce high energy protons and later…

Enhanced Hydrogen and Third-Generation Biofuel Production from Modified Algae

Second Award

Algae are one of the most promising sources of biomass because of their environmental sustainability, and the direct use of algal byproducts as transportation fuels. Hydrogen is one of the f…