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2018 Award Winners:

·       The Intel ISEF Award is offered to students for the top high school projects at the 2018 Minnesota Science & Engineering Fair. Winners receive an all-expense paid trip to compete at the International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF), which will be held in Pittsburgh, May 13-18. ISEF is the world's largest international pre-college science competition, featuring more than 1,700 high school students from over 50 countries. For 2018, Minnesota Academy of Science winners of this award were: Parthiv Krishna researching: Development of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Systems for Semi-Dense Point Cloud Generation in Disaster Scenarios; Louise Kim & Spencer Yueh researching: Unplugged: Quantifying the Effect of Technology on Adolescent Sleep and Mood; Alexa M. Reynders  & Benjamin Q. Larson researching: Vertical Flow Assay Detection for Gm2-Ap in Simulated Urine of Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Patients; Maxwell Rader & Christopher Simmons researching: Robotic Exoskeleton for Rehabilitation Applications; and Camryn Franke  researching Optimizing Escherichia Coli Energy Usage for Chemotaxis and Reproduction Through Experimental Evolution.

·    The Seagate Rising Star Award recognizes emerging scientists whose projects exemplify high degrees of difficulty, thoroughness, complexity, creativity, innovation and effective communication. Thomas Murphy  was the middle school winner for his research: The Effects of Thermochromic Pigment on the Rate of Temperature Decline in the Average American Household. Parthiv Krishna was the high school winner for his research: Development of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Systems for Semi-Dense Point Cloud Generation in Disaster Scenarios.

·    The Seagate Excellence in Science Mentoring Award spotlights outstanding teachers/advisors from around the state who find creative ways to nurture students' interest in scientific research and discovery. Virginia Amundsen of Breck School and Shawn Stafki of Perham High School were recognized for their dedication. Teachers are nominated by their students and win a $1,000 award, with another $1,000 awarded to their school.

·    Ecolab offered a Green Award to middle school winner Annalise Purcell for her experiment: Can I use the Amylase Enzyme to Break Down Bioplastics? and to high school student Preethi Kaliappan for his experiment: Determining the Most Effective Enzymes Which Can Improve the Efficiency of Cellulosic Ethanol Production. 

·    The Ecolab Food Safety Award went to middle school winner Becca Ballard  for her experiment: Finding a Natural Preservative for Bread, and to high school winners Molly Carroll & Mari Leland for their experiment: Breaking the Barrier to Safe Food: Identifying Functions for Disruption of Foodborne Pathogen Biofilms.

·    The 3M Science Award offered an award to the top three middle school and top three high school projects. The first-place middle school student was Thomas Murphy for his project: The Effects of Thermochromic Pigment on the Rate of Temperature Decline in the Average American Household; second place went to Nova Midwinter; and third place went to Ellie Scheldberg for her project: Making Pollution a Solution. The first-place high school students were Felicia Fox & Michael Pupel for their project: Pain Averting Device (PAS), second place went to Parthiv Krishna for his project: Development of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Systems for Semi-Dense Point Cloud Generation in Disaster Scenarios, and third place went to Haley Jostes for her project: Using Ceratophyllum Demersum as a Water Filter and Fertilizer in an Organic Farming Cycle.

·    The Land O’Lakes Food Innovation Award offered an award to the top three middle school projects and the top three high school projects. The first-place middle school students were Quentin Hughes & Vaughn Hughes for research on: Vertical vs. Conventional Farming: A Nutrition Inquisition • Texting the Brix Factor of Ocimum Basilicum Using Refractometer Analysis; second place went to Muminah Nihaar Mohammed for research on: Determining Dairy Quality; and third place went to Maggie Fuller for research on: How Does the Amount of Beating Time of Egg Whites & Sugar Affect the Quality of a Meringue. The first-place high school student was Yuxuan Geng for his research: From Peels to Superabsorbent Polymer: Creating a More Sustainable Future; second place went to Ayush Shah for research on: Development of a Polymer-Based Fertilizer from Readily Accessible Food Waste; and third place went to Elizabeth Duerr for research on: What's Still Hiding in Your Fast Food Ice.

·    Beckman Coulter offered an Engineering award to the top three middle school projects and the top three high school projects. The first-place middle school students were Luke Attlesey & John Attlesey for research on: The Aerodynamics of a Pinewood Derby Car; second place went to Libby Witcombe for research on: UV Defense; and third place went to Joseph Mohr for research on: Arduino - Powered Automatic Tank Filler. The Beckman Coulter Engineering award first-place high school students were Felisha Fox & Michael Pupel for research on: Pain Averting Device (PAD); second place went to Gaurav Behera for research on: Implementing Deep Learning Techniques to Detect Abnormal Cells; and third place went to Joshua Sanders for research on: Designing and Building a Bike Camper to be Weather Resistant.

·    The Beckman Coulter Science award went to first-place middle school student Natalya Franz for research on: How Does a Chalky Environment Affect Lung Capacity; second place went to Ella Brisbois for research on: Should We Worry? How Acids Impact the Growth of Aquatic Plants; and third place went to Carissa Chow for research on: Instant Ice Pack Science. The Beckman Coulter first-place high school student was Hemanth Asirvatham for research on: The Battlefield: Eradicating Invasive Biofilms Via a Unique Non-Contact Electroporation Approach; second place went to Sam Aronson & Alex Cheng for research on: Predicting the Risk of Chemotherapy-Induced Cardiotoxicity in Breast Cancer Patients Using Supervised Machine Learning; and third place went to Michelle Mai for research on: The Development of a High Sensitive Home Diagnosis Kit for Group A Streptococcus Bacteria (Gas).