This past week nine Gould students travelled to Colby College to compete in the Maine State Science Fair, the largest such fair in the state with 175 competitors from 26 schools. All the Gould students who competed are part of the Science Research Methods course and have been working on their projects since at least the start of the academic year. To say that Gould was well-represented would be an understatement.
David Song ’19 displays the app he developed in the McLaughlin Science Building.
David Song ’19 carried the day with a first place prize in the Computer Science division, a $500 award from Intel, and first place overall for the entire fair. This means that David will be traveling to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Los Angeles for a week in May to represent the state of Maine. David’s project, “Can Smart Road Signs Improve Pedestrian Safety?” is an app that aims to decrease the number of pedestrian injuries by generating a smartphone alert when a pedestrian approaches a crosswalk equipped with a Bluetooth Low Energy transmitter. David has been working on improving pedestrian safety at Gould and human-centered design since his ninth grade year. This is the fourth year in a row that a Gould student has won the Maine State Science Fair and gone to the Intel ISEF.
Moon Jang ’18 was the third place finisher in the Physics and Astronomy category, with his project focused on improving the design of rocket engine nozzles. Moon used the 3D printers in Gould’s Marlon Family IDEAS Center to print various rocket nozzle designs and then created a test platform that allowed him to test the thrust of the nozzle designs using compressed air. His project could lead to the design of more efficient rocket engines for use in the aerospace industry. Moon was also awarded a four year renewable scholarship at the University of Southern Maine.
Zoe Kim ’19 was awarded a certificate of achievement from the United States Air Force for her project on the toxicity and mutagenicity of Polyhexamethylene Guanosine Phosphate (PMHG) as it relates to Pulmonary Fibrosis. A potentially lethal lung degeneration, Pulmonary Fibrosis may be linked to the use of PMHG as a disinfectant in room humidifiers. Zoe will continue work on her project and hopefully observe how PMHG impacts human lung cells.
We could not be more proud of the work David, Moon, Zoe, and all of our students put into their projects. Along with David’s involvement in the Intel ISEF Fair, Moon, Zoe and other students will be competing in further fairs around New England this spring.
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