Continuing a multi-year tradition, the Omaha Section of ACS supported this year’s Metro Science and Engineering Fair. This year, MSEF had a total of 175 presentations, with 44 chemistry-related projects: 8 in senior division and 36 in junior division.
The winners were:
Junior division: 1st place – Breathe Green by Carson Thorberg, 2nd place – Conserving Silica Sand by Thanvi Bhat.
Senior Division: 1st place – An Electron Microscopy and Image Processing Method for Characterizing 3D-Printable Glass Nanoparticles by Shruti Garapati, 2nd place – Chemical Synthesis and Characterization of a Long Acting Tenofovir Phosphonate Prodrug by Shelby Lee.
Honorable mentions: Junior Honorable Mention – Enzyme Catalase Reactions by Jasmine O’Connor; Senior Honorable Mentions – Cloning a Streptavidin-Binding Protein Involved in DNA Packaging Using Mutagenesis by Ella Holtzclaw and Caffeine and its Effects on Heart Rate and Blood Pressure by Fran Brannen.
The winners in both divisions were awarded with a $50 cash prize and the ACS beaker mug, and the runner-ups were awarded with a $25 cash prize and the ACS beaker mug. Honorable Mentions were awarded with the ACS beaker mugs.
Thank you to our ACS Section’s volunteers who helped with judging: Ganesh Naik (College of St. Mary), Joel Destino (Creighton University), Arindam Malakar (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), Rich Lomneth (University of Nebraska Omaha, retired), Ian Hall (Creighton University), and Adrian Draney (Creighton University).