Congratulations to all of our SARSEF Winners!

We saw so many of you at the Awards Ceremony and Expo, where we distributed awards. If you were unable to collect your award at Reid Park on March 11, we will be delivering all unclaimed awards to students’ schools March 17th-27th. We are so proud of all of the students who showed their work at the SARSEF Fair this year!

Winning Projects

(listed by school)

Teacher and School Awards

Education Advocate of Science and Engineering

• Ann Peterson, Satori Charter School, Teacher
• Anna Heyer, Flowing Wells Unified School District, Science Specialist
• Cristina Hernandez, Sonoran Science Academy, Teacher
• DaNel Hogan, Waters Center for Systems Thinking, Learning Officer
• Jule Abeytia, Homer Davis Elementary, Fair Director
• Karen Maninang, Harvest Preparatory Academy, Teacher
• Kate Schladweiler, Homer Davis Elementary, Fair Director
• Paula Sotelo, Innovation Academy, Teacher
• Rachelle Ferris, Innovation Academy, Teacher
• Savannah Fuqua, University of Arizona Fellow in Rural High School Research Program

SARSEF Champion Educator of Science and Engineering

• Andrea Lopez, Lineweaver Elementary School
• April Spencer, Homer Davis Elementary School
• Feven Afewerki, Mary Belle McCorkle Academy of Excellence K-8
• Gavin Lehr, Sahuarita High School
• Nova Kline, Drexel Elementary
• Patricia Garcia, Cibola High School

SARSEF-Endorsed Teacher Award

• Alfred Santos, Harvest Preparatory Academy
• Jessica Jankowski-Gallo, Emily Meschter Early Learning Center

SARSEF-Endorsed School Award

• Winifred Harelson Elementary School
• Willcox Middle School 
• Sahuarita High School

Top Schools for the 2023 SARSEF Regional Fair

• Helen Keeling Elementary School
• St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School
• BASIS Tucson North

Elementary Grand Awards (grades PreK–5)

Academy of Mathematics and Science

Cold as Ice	Mrs. Shellie Ryff class	2nd Place
Ice Cube Race	Mrs. Rebecca Hale class	1st Place

Agua Caliente Elementary School

Fish Poop: The Future of Farming	Deb Goepfrich class	1st Place
Who Has the Cleaner Mouth – Dogs or Humans?	Kathryn Tompkins class	1st Place

Anthem K-8 School

Water Spinning Energy

Maxwell Crowder

1st Place

Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind

Plants, Water, and Soil	Latrina Lewis class	2nd Place
Solar Oven	Susan Pearson class	2nd Place

BASIS Oro Valley

Baby Shark Doo Doo!!!	Varni Modi, Aishwarya Rao	1st Place
My Little Sprout House	Bansri Modi	1st Place
Skyscraper’s Hidden Triangle	Varni Modi, Aishwarya Rao	3rd Place

BASIS Scottsdale Primary

Traffic Powered Wind Turbine – With Improved Design

Rishi Setia

2nd Place

Booth-Fickett Math and Science Magnet School

Through Thick and Thin: Osmosis of a Cell

Linda Ozuna

3rd Place

Canyon View Elementary School

Do You Eat With Your Eyes?	Audrey Wild	2nd Place
Does Wearing Your Mask Effect Intensity In Your Voice?	Saheli Waggoner, Ivy Jensen	3rd Place
Everything Recycling	Alexander Boerup	2nd Place
Now You See It, Now You Don’t	Amelia Holmes	2nd Place
Paper Airplanes Take Flight!	Khalil Shehab	2nd Place
The Lion Project	Myla Closterman	1st Place
What fruits make a persimmon ripen faster	Darby Lin	2nd Place
What is the best way to grow a plant from a cutting on a windowsill?	Abby Henson	1st Place

Carden Christian Academy Central

Can A Brownie Made with Cricket Flour Taste As Good As One Made with All-Purpose Flour?	Mrs. Helen Castillo class	1st Place
Can An Egg Hold More Weight On Its Side or Standing Up?	Trishia Jackson	3rd Place
Is Seeing Believing?	Mrs. Dianna Marquez class	3rd Place

Casas Christian School

Colors 2 The Eye	Asandro Otero	2nd Place
Neurons	Elijah Hernandez	1st Place

Castlehill Country Day School

Color – Its for the Birds!	Ryder Thouin	1st Place
Do Algorithms Stay on Topic?	Evan Bunch	3rd Place
Happiness During Covid	Shelly Gisches	2nd Place
Hydrate Your Heart Rate	Rudy Saffer	2nd Place
Mold Growth on Raspberries	Ava Borders	2nd Place
Shake It Up	Rainey Saffer	3rd Place
Taste – The Nose Knows	Sachin Shroff	1st Place
Training Cats to Save Themselves	Frannie Guzman	1st Place

Centennial Elementary School

Gila Woodpecker	Mr. Lee Roop class	3rd Place
Northern Cardinal	Mr. Lee Roop class	3rd Place

Cochise Elementary School

Just Around the Riverbend: An Experiment on Erosion and Riverbeds

Arya White

1st Place

Continental School

We Can Build a Tower to the Ceiling	Mrs Jenny Lichtsinn class	1st Place
What Floats, What Sinks	Mrs. Jenny Lichtsinn class	1st Place

Copper Creek Elementary School

Best DIY Fire Starters for Camping	Landyn Barnett	1st Place
Creating a Glue Force Field For Glass	Oz Folkman	2nd Place
Making Casein Plastic from Milk	Susan Latin class	3rd Place
Saving Water with Recycled Textiles	Alyna Barnett	2nd Place
Worms are eating our leftovers!	Tara Wieber class	1st Place

Copper Ridge Elementary

Cold or Hot – Make Your Best Shot	Isaac Rodriguez	3rd Place
Floating Buttons!	Mrs. Danielle West class	3rd Place
How Effective is Soap at Destroying Germs?	Ms. Kristin Powell class	1st Place
How’s Your Honey?	Arlo Davidson	1st Place
Music and Academic Success	Mrs. Amy Sheppard class	2nd Place
Solar Splash	Naomi Larson	1st Place
The “”Prezar!””	Liam Pentland	3rd Place
The Animal Project	Jimi Equitz	2nd Place
Which Method Makes the Cake?	Ethan Goral	2nd Place
Winnie and the Beanstalk	Wensleigh Feagley	1st Place

Cottonwood Elementary School

Craft Drone Vs Lego Drone	Jude Hermosa	2nd Place
Fruit Snack Ingredient Testing	Sarah Metcalf class	1st Place
Long Lasting Flavor?	Abigail Cardenas class	3rd Place
Parachute Project	Martha Tanner class	2nd Place
Speedy Legs	Latricia Ferguson class	2nd Place
The Colorful Celery Experiment	Lorena Fronseca class	2nd Place
The Magic Milk Experiment	Cassidy Kalinowski class	2nd Place

Da Vinci Tree Academy

Fabulous Fossils

Mrs. Karen Martell class

3rd Place

Desert Willow Elementary School

Conductive Playdough	Melanie Livingood	1st Place
Dirty Hands Made Clean	Lauren Dennis, Ethan Dennis	3rd Place
Making a Robot Out of Mostly Recycled Materials	Olexandr Borboa	2nd Place
Soil Erosion	Aubrey Dell	3rd Place
What Type of Snack do Ants Prefer?	Katherine Wilson class	1st Place
Will it Sink or Float	Sharon Beck class	1st Place

Dove Mountain CSTEM School

Alert or Not	Ms. Teresa Belden class	1st Place
Bubble Drop	Mrs. Kimberly Reynolds class	2nd Place
Can it be Stopped?	Mrs. Andrea Velazco class	1st Place
Don’t Get Caught Germ-y Handed!	Mrs. Charlene DeWitt class	1st Place
Earth, Wind, & Flower: Plants Effects on Erosion	Benjamin Wiggins	2nd Place
GERMS, GERMS, EVERYWHERE!	Mrs. Maria Fallon class	2nd Place
Grow Plants Grow	Mrs. Daisy Robledo class	1st Place
How can you change saltwater into drinking water?	Gabriella Lopez	3rd Place
How Does Plastic Affect Brine Shrimp	Finnegan de Masi	2nd Place
It’s Electrifying	Teagan Yauch	3rd Place
Let’s Bundle Up!	Ms. Kristin Stutzman class	2nd Place
Mold, Mold, Go Away!	Christine Yuan, Emily Marshall	2nd Place
Organic vs Non-organic soil, which plant will grow faster?	Gabriela Martinez Santana	2nd Place
Pidget	Madison Divijak, Ellie Divijak	1st Place
Plant Growth with Limited Water	Liam Crum	2nd Place
Slippery Slides	Mrs. Tricia Johnson class	3rd Place
Snowflake Fun	Mrs. Brittney Morse class	3rd Place
So Many Seeds	Ms. Sierra Pederson class	1st Place
Suck it Up, Buttercup: Which paper towel sucks up the most water?	Thomas Wiggins	1st Place
The Hook – A Coat’s Dilemma	Miss Kristy Hollandsworth class	3rd Place
The Potential of Mousetraps	Weston Booth	2nd Place
What Color of Light is the Easiest to Hide?	Barrett Mortenson	3rd Place
Where Have All the Erasers Gone?	Mrs. Maribelle Leyvas class	1st Place
Which boat can float?	Mrs. Kristen Reyes class	2nd Place
Wishy-Washy	Jocelyn Cravens	2nd Place

Dreams of Sunshine Playground

How Fast Do Water Beads Grow

Yunde Dalton Chan

2nd Place

Emily Meschter Early Learning Center – Top Pre-Kindergarten Program

How Many Surfaces Can a Germ Travel To?	Ms. Jessica Jankowski-Gallo class	1st Place
Is There Room on the Shelf?	“Mister Ben” Collinsworth class	1st Place
Polar Brrrr	Miss Nicole Davis class	1st Place
Shining Light on Shadows	Liz Pumarol and Jessica Caramella class	1st Place
SOAK IT UP!	Jennifer Oquendo class	1st Place

Esmond Station Iron Horses K-8

How BIG Can He Get?	Landon Tankersley	2nd Place
Make My Garden Grow	Lillian Murphy	3rd Place

Fletcher Family Homeschool

Pop, Pop, No Pop!

Sylvia Fletcher

1st Place

Fruchthendler Elementary School

An Apple A Day	Elizabeth Angiulo	3rd Place
Bats and Balls	Emil Olsen	3rd Place
Catching Carbon	Alexander Angiulo	3rd Place
Do Hummingbirds Prefer Red?	Bentley Desjardin	3rd Place
Do mealworms have personalities?	Nina Hipps class	2nd Place
Flaming Hot or Freezing Cold: How Far Will the Baseball Go?	Nate Marenfeld	1st Place
How’d You Sleep?	Parker Hudson	2nd Place
Just Enough Light: Does the Placement of Windows in an Underground House Matter?	Toben Dorsey-Sanchez	1st Place
Light up my plants	Logan Benneyworth	3rd Place
Magnetic Force Field	Matthew Keller	1st Place
Making a Magnetic Levitation Device to see if Magnets can be Levitated using an Electric Current	James Bird	2nd Place
Plastics: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly	Lillianna Rodriguez	1st Place
Project SuMS: Submarine Motor Seal	Jacob Keller	2nd Place
Retarding a Fire	Gabriel Sadza	2nd Place
The Luck of the Dice?	Isaac Ornstein	2nd Place
The Pandemic’s Effect on Elementary Age Students	Carly Coy	3rd Place
UV Efficient	William Goodenow	2nd Place
Water balloon drop	Caroline Benneyworth	2nd Place
What Soil Material is Best for Growing a Plant From Seed?	Olivia Baron	3rd Place
Wind Effects On People Around Skyscrapers	Stefan Perry	1st Place

Gowan Science Academy

I Can Breathe in Masks	Liv Kaynak	2nd Place
What Did You Leave Behind	Rory Pond	1st Place

Highland Free School

Which Mask Best Prevents the Sharing of Germs

Sofia Diaz

2nd Place

Homer Davis Elementary School

Deep Seeds	Jule Abeytia class	2nd Place
Tummies Touching Tables	Mrs. Jessica Howe class	1st Place

Immaculate Heart Elementary and Middle School

Science for snoozing

Jessica Reichling class

2nd Place

Innovation Academy – Top Elementary School

2 times the fun!!	Ashlee Watson class	1st Place
3-2-1 Blast Off! Rocket Launching	Drake Taylor	1st Place
All You Seed Is Love	Sayuri “Ellie” Carter-Rogel	2nd Place
Best booger blowout!	Johnny Luecke	2nd Place
Can You Hear Me?	Mrs. Niki Tilicki class	2nd Place
Don’t Throw it, Coat It!	Aaron Eager	1st Place
Enrichment for Tigers	Mila Madeka	2nd Place
Fabric Strength	Mabel Rivera class	1st Place
Face Mask Extravaganza	Sabina Vaswani class	2nd Place
Freeloading Chicken on the Loose	Isabella Gruenwald	1st Place
Germs in Space	Daniel Dowling, Asher Overfield, Amelia Weede	3rd Place
Got to Wear My Shades	Leopoldo Delgado	1st Place
Grow Boxes	Rachelle Ferris class	3rd Place
Growing in a Bubble: A Balloon Greenhouse Effect	Pamela Barrett class	2nd Place
H2Whoa! See How We Grow!	Mrs. Patricia Patchin class	1st Place
Intentionally Kind Kids	Niki Tilicki class	1st Place
Keeping Ants out of our PANTS and our PLANTS	Danielle Swartz class	1st Place
Knit, Knot Stress	Mabel Rivera class	3rd Place
Let it Grow!	Mabel Rivera class	1st Place
Marine Mass and Models	Griffin Ferris	1st Place
Moody News: Does medial consumption impact the mood of adolescents?	Colin Cordell class	3rd Place
No More Litter!	Elisabeth Gingrich class	2nd Place
Pollinator Palooza	Shannon Maxon class	2nd Place
Pop! Are you Paying Attention?	Lori LaRussa class	1st Place
Reach for the Stars	Niki Tilicki class	2nd Place
Reflux Hurts (HELP!) : Does the PH level in my favorite foods affect my reflux/GERD?	Talan Freytag	1st Place
Rocks in the Soil vs Plain Soil	Elias Theiss	2nd Place
Seizing Space	Ella Taliaferro	3rd Place
Slow Progress is Still Progress	Sydney Albers	1st Place
Something Fishy is Going On!	Mason Rehm	1st Place
STEP INTO IT: Helping our Health	Rachelle Ferris class	1st Place
The Art of Data	Dylan Spiker, Carley Soldat-Valenzuela, Siena Ballmann	2nd Place
The Chip Problem	Patrick Sotelo	2nd Place
The Fun Sun	Rachelle Ferris class	1st Place
The Germ Project	Hailey Hakala	1st Place
The Lid Cooler	Frankie Mendez, Boran Hu	1st Place
The Scorpion Reservoir	Vincent Poyas	2nd Place
These Hands Are Made For Washing	Susan Steen class	1st Place
Warming My Pool Not My Planet	Breckyn Koenig	1st Place
We Axolotl Questions	Mrs. Mandi Cordell class	1st Place
Who Let the Air Out?	Ashlyn Lehwald class	1st Place
Will you be Right Guessing Jellies by Sight?	Addison Zimmerman	2nd Place

International School of Tucson

Adding Light Bulbs to an Electrical Circuit	Santiago Moreno	1st Place
Beyblades and Friction	Mohamed Alhag	2nd Place
Biodegradation in the Desert	Jonathan Deimen	2nd Place
Flowers Make the World a Better Place	Drew Kouts	2nd Place
Is the Top of the Hill Colder than the Bottom of the Hill?	Presley Knappenberger	1st Place
Orbeez Size and Minerals	William Krizman-Rauh	2nd Place
Who Ordered Pizza?	Kyen Ding	3rd Place

J. Robert Hendricks Elementary School

Backyard Bird Feeders	Mrs. Sarah Hitcings class	1st Place
Backyard Birding	Missy Siegel class	1st Place
Backyard Birding Builders	Mrs. Kaitlyn Capas class	1st Place
Cats Right or Left Handed?	Ian Plumlee	2nd Place
Erosion Explosion	Henry Heyer	1st Place
Freeze Drink	Wilson Perkins	3rd Place
Keep It Cool	Mrs Cherie Creager class	3rd Place
No Seam Dream!	Naomi Gutierrez	1st Place
Rollie Pollie Residence	Mrs. Kelsi Strickland class	3rd Place
Save The Pill Bugs!	Ms. Susanne Segroves class	1st Place
Say Watt!	Jessica Wendt class	1st Place
Water Harvesting Playscape	Mrs. Vanessa Schiess class	1st Place

Legacy Traditional School

Bowl Wars

Haley Lewis class

1st Place

Lim Home School

Changing Water – Sink or Float

Addilyn Lim

3rd Place

Lineweaver Elementary School (SARSEF Endorsed School)

Don’t Judge A Juice By Its Color	Christy Masengarb class	2nd Place
Friction	Madhavi Rachakonda class	1st Place
Hohokam Tools vs. Modern Tools	Sylvan LaRoche	1st Place
No More Excuses-Homework Paper Investigation	Jennifer Metzler class	2nd Place
Spinning Swings	Carson Gutenkunst	3rd Place
The Great Pencil Balancing Trick	Lily Cummins class	1st Place
Too Much Trash	Janine Malkin class	2nd Place
Water Loss in Leaves	Cleo Gelt	3rd Place

Lulu Walker Elementary School

Cookies Slam Dunk	Susan Luciano class	1st Place
One Little Seed	Nicolas Kelley	1st Place
Rise and Slime	Aurora Shepherd	3rd Place
So Many Chargers, So Little Time	Ethan Shepherd	3rd Place

Manzanita Elementary School

Hissers and Dubias: The Bacteria Test

Mrs. Maura Baker class

3rd Place

Mary Belle McCorkle Academy of Excellence K-8

Dirty and Clean Hands Experiment with Rice

Feven Afewerki class

1st Place

Mesquite Elementary School

Environmentally Safe Plastic From Milk	Leilani McComisky	3rd Place
Humps, Bumps, or Rumbles…Traffic Calming – Does it Work?	Kaylee Clor	1st Place
Ice Melters	Emma Hough	3rd Place
The Eggsperiment	Raphe Sherfield	3rd Place

Mountain Vista School

Plastic Milk	Rowen Egan	2nd Place
Touch Down – Our Amazing Sense of Touch	Christine Perryman Maki class	2nd Place

Ocotillo Ridge Elementary School

Arctic Animal Adaptation Exploration	Ms. Haley Jensen class	2nd Place
Bubblegum Bonanza	Ms. Nikki Bailey class	1st Place
The Scoop	Bode Buenger	3rd Place
Tooth EGGSperiment	Ms. Danielle De Alba class	3rd Place
Vanishing Vitamins	Kailyn Kleinburg	1st Place
Written Into Memory	Ms. Ashley Campos class	1st Place

Olsson homeschool

Magnetic life saver: Protecting astronauts from moon dust	Kent Olsson	1st Place
Octocopter’s mission: A drone that collects hot lava for space science	Ed Olsson	1st Place

Polk Home School

A Need for Speed

Lily Polk

1st Place

Rattlesnake Ridge Elementary

Brick By Brick

Andrew Banzhaf

3rd Place

Richard B. Wilson School

It’s Snot A Problem If You Don’t Touch Your Face	Ty Wayment	3rd Place
Magical Roofs	Amelia Meadows-Wallace	3rd Place

Robert Richardson Elementary School

Apple Mummies	Olivia Oswald	2nd Place
Dissolving Gummy Bears	Mrs. Jennifer Stretton class	2nd Place
Eyes or Ears? Which Way Do You Remember Best?	Mrs. Corrie Shaar class	2nd Place
It’s Eroding Away	Mrs. Michelle McWilliams class	3rd Place
The Plant Pollution Project	Mr. Lukas Maroney class	3rd Place

Rohrbach Redshift Academy

How does guitar sound change with cost? Using a spectrum analyzer to measure the sound of guitars of different prices.

Isaac Rohrbach

1st Place

Saint Joseph Catholic School

Don’t Be A Rookie, Bake the Perfect Cookie!	Rafael Meza	3rd Place
The Shhh…arpener Project	Ms. Eileen Miller class	3rd Place

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School

Can Video Games Be Good For You?	Zachary Daou	2nd Place
Dancing Electrons	Mrs. Emily Penning class	1st Place
Does Music Affect How we Concentrate?	David Cardenas	1st Place
Eating Iron	Katalina Maldonado	3rd Place
Electrical Conduction with Different Wire Size	Olivia Toureno	3rd Place
Home Sweet Home	Johnathan Raymond	1st Place
Strongest Starch	Mrs. Emily Penning class	2nd Place
The Crazy Slide Transportation- Mountain Engineering Project	Ms. Abigail Molina class	1st Place
The Floating Egg	Mrs. Yvette Urcadez class	2nd Place

Sam Hughes Elementary School

Are Cheap Sunglasses Blinding My Dad?	Simone Smith	1st Place
Carrot Crew: Finding the Right Sized Carrot	Jennifer Graber class	1st Place
Ready, Set, Melt! Which Type of Chocolate Melts Faster: Dark, Milk or White?	Jacob Douglas	3rd Place
Snuggles and Puggles	Rosie Newell	2nd Place
What Absorbs Heat Faster, Dirt or Water?	Mrs. Kathleen Patterson class	3rd Place

San Simon School BIE

Bubble-ology	John Patten	2nd Place
How To Build On Mars!	Ms. Pam Buchanan class	1st Place

Satori Charter School

Exploring plastic and magnetic properties to save the world’s ocean

Insee Ekstrom

1st Place

Senita Valley Elementary School

Battle of the Masks	Mrs. Brandi Sutterly class	3rd Place
Penguins and Gravitational Waves	Alper Guvenc	1st Place
Sink or Float	Ms. Shaylyn Grow class	3rd Place
The Water Bottle Holder 5000	Mrs. Maggie Gamble class	1st Place
What kind of Fabric Sticks to Cholla the Best?	Isabelle Lefforge	1st Place
Which Version of Building Blocks snap Together the Best?	Caleb Lefforge	1st Place

St. Cyril School

Wrath of the Mask

Ryan Douville

2nd Place

St. Michael’s School

Optimizing Your Zeer Pot

Helena Loewenstein

3rd Place

Sunrise Drive Elementary

Aerodynamics – The tail of my Kite	Amelie Puell	1st Place
Bouncy or Not	Aneira White	2nd Place
Cider Mysteries	Taric Bruckner	3rd Place
Cookies!	Liliana Ruiz	3rd Place
Jellyfish and Pollution	Nurhan Shirazi	2nd Place
The Dirtiest Area I Touch Everyday in my Classroom	Aaheli Shil	1st Place

Sycamore Elementary School

Can 2nd Graders Change Water Density	Kristy Gossen class	2nd Place
Candy Hearts Dissolve!	Jennifer Johnson class	2nd Place
Fun With Glow Stick Colors	Isabella Wilson	2nd Place
Ice, Ice, Baby	Mrs. Theresa Stone class	3rd Place
Movable Coat Rack	Emmalyn Hopper	3rd Place
Pictures or Music: Which Affects You More?	Evelyn Tosseth	1st Place
Power Punches: the physics of karate	Xander Powell	3rd Place
Sustainable Hair Gel	Torrin Potter	2nd Place
What Natural Preservatives Work Best?	Emily Kahl	2nd Place
What’s a Bird’s Favorite Color?	Gwendolyne Macias	1st Place
Will Buffelgrass Keep Plants From Growing	Anne Marie Wages	1st Place
Will Speed or Traction change using different gases in a Go Kart tire?	James Ferrin	2nd Place

Tanque Verde Elementary School

Do Cars Travel Different Distances on Different Textures?	Monet Pender	1st Place
Dog Fur, Dirt, and Dust Removal Tool	Kaylee Blotkamp, Ava Haggard	2nd Place
Life is Like a Box of Chocolates…Or is it?	Miss Stacy Marr class	1st Place
Snack Bot	Ryan Sutterly, Noah Burrows, Gerimiah Andrews	3rd Place
The Tragon (Trash Wagon)	Paige Trimble, Penelope Holland	3rd Place
Zoom Broom	Tinley Gooch	2nd Place

Tanque Verde Luthern Church Preschool

Will it Sink or float?

Amyra Kotadia, Jayneel Patel

1st Place

The Montessori Schoolhouse

Different Ways to Water Pothos

Alejandro Perez

3rd Place

Tucson Hebrew Academy

Flip Book Mania	Mrs. Jessica Robinson class	2nd Place
Here Comes the Sun!	Ms. Mollie Ramos class	1st Place
How Weight Affects Flight: Can It Go The Distance?	Mrs. Melissa Landau class	3rd Place
Juice Box Racers	Mrs. Stephanie Buchler class	1st Place
Stop, Drop, and Listen	Ms. Adina Karp class	2nd Place
The Giganto Slide Experiment: How to Dress for Maximum Speed	Ivan Moravec, Miles Hansen	1st Place

Twin Peaks Elementary School

Guinea Pig Maze	Jessica Holtrop Osuna	3rd Place
If I drink this water will it kill me?	Matthew Miller	1st Place
Kids Play Safe- Geofenced Scooter	Prajit Mani	2nd Place

Vail Academy and High School

What Foods Power a Potato Clock Better than a Potato

Hunter E. Woodworth

2nd Place

Ventana Vista Elementary

Desalination Of Ocean Water	Zeke Bialis	2nd Place
Mite-y Cockroaches	Mrs. Maura Baker class	2nd Place

Walter Douglas Elementary

Gummy Bears

Jessica Roberts class

2nd Place

Willcox Middle School

Florescent Flowers

Aleesa Sanchez

1st Place

Winifred Harelson Elementary School

A Salty Surprise	Harper McDermed	2nd Place
Bird Seed Preferences of Arizona Birds	Ashlyn Perkins	3rd Place
Colony Morphology: Identifying Microbial Diversity	Mrs. Susie Herman class	1st Place
For Nature By Nature: Can Desert Plants Stop Soil Erosion?	Mrs. Robyn Yewell class	1st Place
Javelina Javelin-A	Gavin Cook	1st Place
Pounds Per Square Inch and Bike Tire Speed	Violet Rambaud	3rd Place
Seedy Soccer: Which materials will prevent burs from the field on different textiles?	Mrs. Sarah Nystedt class	1st Place
The Homework Folder Reminder	Gabriel Mora	2nd Place
The Thorny Transplanter	Maizie McIntosh	3rd Place
What Will Slow Down Mold on Strawberries?	Audrey Mandel	1st Place

Winter Homeschool

Am I more dirty after a day at school?	Ella Winter	1st Place
Which substances on hands affect glucometer readings?	Lilah Winter	1st Place

Middle and High School Grand Awards (grades 6–12)

Academy of Mathematics and Science

Approachability based off body language	Ciylin Caid	3rd Place
Surface Bacteria	Kailee Lauscher	2nd Place

Agua Caliente Elementary School

Cartoon vs Photograph: How Images Affect Interest and Action in the Conservation of Eryngium Sparganophyllum	Noemi Celani	2nd Place
Tap vs. Bottled: Which Has Less Contaminants?	Nia Meredith	1st Place
What Lure Color is Best?	Miles Gerl	1st Place

Anza Trail Middle School

Trouble-chuting

Rome Sexton

2nd Place

BASIS Oro Valley

Slowing Down Ice Melt Using Eco-Friendly, Sustainable Eggshells Towards Mitigating Global Climate Crisis	Matthew Kim	3rd Place
Which treatments are most effective at improving cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients 50 years and older?	Daveena Biswas	3rd Place

BASIS Tucson North

Factors that affect Cancer Metastasis	Shivam Kedia	3rd Place
Packaging waste reduction: right-sized box packaging by using volume bounding box algorithm	Jimmy Kwon	1st Place

Bonita Elementary School – Willcox

Dirt Slide	Braeden Nielson	2nd Place
Don’t Blow it Regrow it	Emilia Warner	1st Place
Shake It	Mikaela McClaine	3rd Place

Booth-Fickett Math and Science Magnet School

Best Containers for Ice Cream	Dr. Adelle McNiece class	2nd Place
How does soda brand affect how fast it goes flat?	Dr. Adelle McNiece class	1st Place
How Does Your Age Affect Your Lung Size?	Dr. Adelle McNiece class	3rd Place
Natural Food Coloring	Ms. Jessica Gonzalez class	1st Place

Canyon del Oro High School

The Role of Hypoxia and Tyrosine Kinases on Breast Cancer Cell Migration

Zander Dickey

3rd Place

Catalina Foothills High School

Agrivoltaics in the Time of Water Restrictions	Henry Roth Gordon	1st Place
Assessing Urban vs. Rural Historical Temperature Trends	Emily Kamp, ASHLEY Mannenbach	3rd Place
Effects of Sceloporus virgatus (Striped Plateau Lizard) Cloacal Bacteria on Fungal Growth	Jeronimo Barela	1st Place
Hypo- and hyperglycemia Stimulate PKC-δ+ Neurons In The CEl	Zachary Keyes	2nd Place

Cibola High School

Comparison of Struvite and Chlorella vulgaris Solution to Phosphorus Water Pollution	Savannah Botello	1st Place
Kinetics of Polymer Degradation with Tenebrio Molitor – Using Mealworms to Stop Plastic Waste	Hailey Chulamorkodt	3rd Place
Seaweed BIochar Filtration	Cole Steinmetz	2nd Place
Wastewater-Based Epidemiological Tracking of SARS-CoV-2: Determining Unreported Cases and Clinical Data Lag Time	Quinn Nemeth	1st Place
Demographics of Vaccination Status	Amritjot Singh	1st Place
Reactive Nitrogen species: does it kill bacteria in wounds?	Brenna Aspinwall	3rd Place

City High School

An Emotional Solar Coaster

Ursula Denholm

2nd place

Colonel Smith Middle School – Ft. Huachuca

Don’t Eat Flies	Riley Northrup	3rd Place
Elevation Equals Energy	Abigail Bynum	3rd Place
Fun Fertilizers	Brayden Kamachi	2nd Place
pHan Pedro River	Cassandra Comolli	1st Place
UV n’ trouble? Nailed it!	Brennyn Livesey	3rd Place

Corona Foothills Middle School

Cat-A-Pult

Katie Hecht

3rd Place

Coronado K-8 School

Do Greenies actually clean our pet’s mouth	Penny Sinohui	1st Place
Mask Mania how do they protect?	Aaron Hanks	3rd Place
The effects of chicken sandwich packaging	Jack Pletnick	3rd Place

DeGrazia Elementary School

What’s in Your Water Arizona?

Alexander Hernandez

1st Place

Dodge Traditional Magnet Middle School

Flour Power	Samantha Beutel	2nd Place
Global Abundance of Microplastic in Beach Sands	Henry Root	1st Place
Mushrooms and Decomposition	Leela Rajagopal Ridgway	2nd Place

Doolen Middle School

Egg Sell-By Dates: Are They Accurate?	Chloe Howell	2nd Place
Equality in Hiring: How Gender Affects Hireability	Ella Stoddard	2nd Place
Escape the Maze: AI in Robotics	Olin Jones	3rd Place
Golf Clubs, Distance, Loft and Angle	Maxim Rutkowski, Cole Jenia	3rd Place
Measuring Carbon Dioxide Concentrations in Different Classrooms	Benjamin Wexler	1st Place
Pandemic Infection: An Analysis of How Germs Spread Through Different Forms of Greeting	Ben Brumley	3rd Place
Preventable Erosional Forces	Quinlan McCormick	2nd Place
Quality Masks	Alex Molina-Macholtz	2nd Place
Sound of Silence	Zachary Dye	1st Place
Sound vs. Materials	Aidan Fuller	1st Place
The Bright Green Hope: Does the Surface Area of the Container Matter in Growing Algae?	Ellen Dorsey-Sanchez	1st Place
The Effects of Desert Plant Extracts on Crickets	Sabrina Wexler	1st Place
What Items Can Deflect a Magnetic Field?	Oliver Mason	2nd Place
What Soil Types Resist Erosion the Most?	Mason Huey	2nd Place

Dove Mountain CSTEM School

Which Will Be The Berry Best vol. 2

Abigail Ditsch

2nd Place

Emily Gray Junior High – Top Middle School

A-Bird – Automated Bird Recognition Device	Finnegan McGill	1st Place
Beyond the Blaze	Ben Head	3rd Place
Chair Socks	Santino Celani	1st Place
Do Computers Run Better with Clean Air?	Grant Orvik	2nd Place
Hovercraft: The Scalloper	Logan Nielsen	2nd Place
How Mulch Does It Help?	Garrett Fry	3rd Place
Just Drain It!	Siena Contreras	1st Place
Silence is Golden	Savannah LaPorte	3rd Place
Solar Water Heater	Samantha Judnich	3rd Place
The Happiness Effect	Alex Provenzano	1st Place
The Solar-Cell	Gavin Panttila	2nd Place
What deters desert rodents best?	Calvin Driskill	1st Place

Empire High School

Horizontal Transmission of the Obligate Symbiont Burkholderia in the Leaf-Footed Bug, Leptoglossus zonatus (Hemiptera: Coreidae)	Isabelle Lopez	1st place
Plantibiotics	Dawson Jones	2nd Place
Which Food Source Makes The Biggest Hornworm?	Marisa Freeman	2nd Place
Which One is Better, Spray or Gel Hand Sanitizer?	Connor Homes	2nd Place

Eritrean Church

Performance of Trichoderma Fungi on Various African and Native Arizona Plants vs Control

Ms Danielle Corbett class

1st Place

Esmond Station Iron Horses K-8

Oxygen Through the Shell	Addison Robison	2nd Place
The Germination of Beans	Graciela Huerta	3rd Place
Unbelieva-bubble The Science of Soap Bubbles	Amelia Barrett	2nd Place

Esperero Canyon Middle School

Is is Possible to Use Mars to Live on Mars?

Ethan Bialis

3rd Place

Gowan Science Academy

Do Soil Biostimulants Produce Higher Crop Yields?	Melanie Moore	1st Place
Effect on Solar Cell Efficiency by a Magnifying Glass	Aiden Daniel	3rd Place
Harnessing the Saguaro Cactus to Treat Skin Infections – Antimicrobial Properties of the Carnegiea Gigantea Seed Extract	Samantha Chulamorkodt	1st Place
Nuts Battle Of the Kilocalories	Erick Figueroa orozco	2nd Place

Harvest Preparatory Academy (SARSEF Endorsed School) – Top High School

Antimicrobial Potentials of Ayurvedic Products Extracts and Streptomycin Against Necrosis Causing Bacteria in Saguaro Cactus.	Ana Navarro	2nd Place
CREATING ANTIMICROBIAL LIPSTICKS USING DYES FROM NATURAL SOURCES	Josselyn Hernandez	1st Place
EFFECTS OF LYSINE AND PHENYLALANINE ON THE GERMINATION AND GROWTH OF PHASEOLUS VULGARIS	Julissa Ceballos, Miranda Ruiz	3rd Place
ENGINEERING OF ANTIMICROBIAL BIOPLASTICS FROM INVASIVE ALGAE CAULERPA PROLIFERA, UNDARIA PINNATIFIDA, AND WASTE CORN COBS	Julianna Serna-Ortiz	1st Place
EXOGENEOUS NIACIN AND ZEAXANTHIN TREATMENT TO INCREASE THE STRESS TOLERANCE AND LIGHT ABSORBANCE CAPACITY OF MICROALGAE CHLORELLA VULGARIS UNDER AN ENGINEERED MARTIAN ENVIRONMENT	Christopher Miranda	1st Place
IMPROVING THE DENTAL HEALTH IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WITH A TOOTHPASTE INFUSED WITH PSIDIUM GUAJAVA AND ACMELLA OLERACEA EXTRACTS AGAINST TOOTH DECAY CAUSING BACTERIA STREPTOCOCCUS MUTANS	Ashley Valencia	1st Place
IMPROVING THE WATER POTABILITY OF WATER FOUNTAINS IN SAN LUIS, AZ USING CITRUS PEELS AND MORINGA SEEDS	Itzel Bustos	2nd Place
Investigating the Effects of Native Sonoran Desert Plants on Enhancing the Effects of Different Antibiotics Against E. coli	Andrea Romero	1st Place
MITIGATING OCEAN ACIDIFICATION BY INCREASING THE PHOTOSYNTHESIS RATE OF MACROALGAE ULVA LACTUCA USING PHYCOBILIN, CAROTENE, AND COUMARIN​	Jimena Uribe Lin	3rd Place
OBSERVING THE EFFECTS OF ADDING BETA CAROTENE ON THE GROWTH OF MICROALGAE VIA SPECTROPHOTOMETRY	Mercedes Castro, Shantee Thomas	3rd Place
The Feasibility of Creating a Solar Panel that can Harness UV lights during Cloudy Days Using Luminescent Extracts from Agrowaste	Hannah Tapia	2nd place

Immaculate Heart Elementary and Middle School

Banana Bash	Paul Fellinger	3rd Place
Do You Collect More Rain By Walking Or Running?	So Jung Lee	3rd Place
Mo’ Rebounding, Mo’ Problems	Hunter Asplin, Luke Johnson	3rd Place
The Untold Truth Of A Shopping Cart	Ngoc Bui	1st Place

Immaculate Heart High School

The Effect of Landscape Gravel on Ambient Air, Surface, and Soil Temperature

Elizabeth Haloftis, Phuong Bui

2nd Place

International School of Tucson

What filtration material gives you the cleanest drinking water?	Rochelle Lauzon	1st Place
What Type of Egg Dissolves in Vinegar Faster?	Yuzuki Espinosa, Destani McKenna	3rd Place

Khalsa Montessori School

Perceiving Different English Accents	Fabiola Weiss-Cortes	2nd Place
Potato Plastic	Laszlo Thomas	3rd Place
Potato Power	Zarya Vinal	2nd Place
To Mulch Or Not To Mulch?	Clement Fleury	3rd Place
Working Out With Caffeine?	Pre Simonson	2nd Place

L. W. Cross Middle School

“Reely Easy” Automatic Reeling Device	Brandon Payne	1st Place
A World on Fire 2, How to replant forests after wildfires; like those in Australia and California and now here in Oro Valley?	Gabriel Vaughn	2nd Place
Innovating Solar Panels to Remotely Send Solar Energy	Juliet Iadevaia	1st Place
Lysol Spray vs Lysol Wipes Starring Money	Elle Lu Thompson	2nd Place
MiscO3nceptions of AQUEOUS OZONE	Hassan Lorenzo Lopez	2nd Place
Sensitive Plants	Vivienne Yewell	1st Place
Tech Suits, Are They Worth The Expense?	Jacinda Belle Jordison	1st Place
The Magnetic Free Fall Experiment	Sawyer Drake McDermed	1st Place
UAV Submarine	Augustus Mitchell	2nd Place
What Drug Use Effects Will Deter Middle Schoolers’ From Using Drugs?	Cecily May Stiening	1st Place

Legacy Traditional School

CSI Science: Blood Spatter And Its Patterns	Rebekah Humphries	2nd Place
Do Caterpillars have a Color Preference?	Austin Axtell	2nd Place
Puncture Proof??	Morgan Garcia	2nd Place

Mica Mountain High School

Craquelure Classification of European Regional Paintings Using Convolutional Neural Network

Mason Fosdick

3rd Place

Mountain Vista School

Musicians and Lung Capacity	Mylee Hendrix	3rd Place
Salt and Water	Kadyn Husted	2nd Place

Nelson Home School

Analysis of pollen-pistil interactions to model reproductive thermotolerance in tomato

Alexander Nelson

1st Place

Olsson homeschool

Are There Native Fish in La Milagrosa Canyon?

Wade Olsson

1st Place

Orange Grove Middle School

Investigating Biophilia: Do Plant or Water Images Reduce Stress?

Sophie Roth Gordon

1st Place

Our Mother of Sorrows

Mad Magler	Sophia Washburn	3rd Place
Scoliosis Super Shirt	Mallory McRee	1st Place
Solar Panel Energy Generation	Jamison Ramsower	3rd Place
Sunny Shade	Jennifer Coronato	2nd Place

Pistor Middle School

A Pocket Sized Alert	Jacob “JJ” Valenzuela	3rd Place
Are More Expensive Acrylic Paints Better?	Natalia Nunez	3rd Place
Total Meltdown	Joel Perez-Garcia	3rd Place

Presidio School

Homemade Battery

Sajjad Al-Sinayyid

3rd Place

Quest for Education and Arts

Nouveau-AI-Plastic-Degen: A novel approach using AI-based enzyme engineering to design New and Highly Efficient Marine Plastic Degrading Enzymes	Arjun Gupta	1st Place
Stressing Out?	Linnea Thim	3rd Place

Rincon Vista Middle School

Effects of Fundamental Motion Patterns on VR Cybersickness

Okan Guvenc

2nd Place

Robert Richardson Elementary School

Collect the rain and you’ll make a great plain	Isla Young, Jaelyn Foster, Janisa Yanez	2nd Place
Two Story indoor planter	Santiago Racina	3rd Place

Rohrbach Redshift Academy

What can we learn about spacecraft design from commercial electronics? Exposing commercial electronics to alpha particles emitted from a uranium ore sample.

Samuel Rohrbach

1st Place

Sahuarita High School

Distribution of Oak Tree species in Southeastern Arizona

Mr. Gavin Lehr class

2nd Place

Saint Joseph Catholic School

There and Back Again – A Seedling’s Tale

Katya Stickney

1st Place

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School

Helpful or Harmful?

Addison Cummings

3rd Place

San Luis High School

How Does The Use of NSAIDs Affect Empathy?

Itzel Andrade, Jesus Cadena

2nd Place

San Simon School BIE

Why Do Some Fruits Turn Brown?	Ms. Pam Buchanan class	2nd Place
Yummy Juice Balls: The Science of Spherification	Lynnae Eleando	1st Place

Satori Charter School

Could Superworms Solve Our Pollution Problem?

Matheo Richman

2nd Place

SEAS Catholic School

Can’t Stand the Heat? Get out of the Solar Oven!	Elizabeth Ennis	2nd Place
Do athletes have better lung capacity than non-athletes?	Danny Green	2nd Place
DRAG ME DOWN	Justin Dinh	3rd Place

Sonoran Science Academy – Davis Monthan

Automatic Dog Door Using an Arduino

Erica Highlander, Bea Goco

2nd Place

Sonoran Science Academy – East

Fibonacci In Nature	Zane Martin	3rd Place
The Musical Heart	Maya Rocha	3rd Place

St. Cyril School

Cool Cleats: Solutions to Keep Feet Cool in Soccer Cleats	Molly Murry	2nd Place
Do different shade of eyes see illusions differently?	Juani Niyonkuru	1st Place
Does the amount of sleep you get affect your memory	Soleil Bonneau, Caden White	3rd Place
Find Your Focus	Cecilia Gaspers	3rd Place
Liar Liar Pants on Fire	Reagan Burgle	1st Place
Screens: How Do They Affect Your Sleep?	Natalie Sivilli	3rd Place
Self-Cleaning Birdcage	Alanna Lopez-Adkins	3rd Place
Stealth: They Never Saw It Coming!	Taran Hogan	1st Place
The Leader of the Pack: an observational study of captive African Wild Dogs	Jackson Lipsy	1st Place
The Stress Test: The Impact of Stress on Body Temperature	Mia Thomas, Isabella Murphy	2nd Place
Waiting for the Floods	Catherine Sztan	1st Place

St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School

Are Child Proof Locks Really Child Proof?	Isabella Alvarez	3rd Place
Can Sheep Recognize “Ewe”?	Giada Freeman	3rd Place
Curveball!	Mauricio Hernandez	2nd Place
Different type of music and its effect on burning calories	Natalie Chavez	3rd Place
Do Different Types of Sunscreens Matter?	Lucas Freeman	2nd Place
Does A Specific Colored Surface Affect Bacterial Growth?	Maria Mexia	2nd Place
Does Fed Bacteria Produce More Energy than Unfed Bacteria?	Aiden Evangelista	3rd Place
Does Highlighting Actually Help?	Taryn Stevenson	1st Place
Does noise affect coordination?	Kiley Nguyen	3rd Place
Gas in Drinks	McKenzie Avelar	3rd Place
How do different genres of music (rock, country, hip hop, and electronic) affect heart rate?	Emily Olsen	3rd Place
Lettuce eat salad	Kelsie Harrison	2nd Place
Muffin Makin’	Kianna Alvarez	3rd Place
Tamarix v. Native Plants	Coco Moreno	1st Place
Water in your ears?	Olivia Taylor	2nd Place
Which Brand of Leg Protection Boot gives my horse his Best Performance?	Ramsey Harrison	2nd Place
Which Swimsuit Makes You Faster In The Water	Eamon McCallen	2nd Place

St. Michael’s School

Double the Light Double the Power!	Oliver Lewis	1st Place
How Protected Are You?	Max Puntenney	1st Place
What Effect Does Color Have On Urban Temperatures?	Zoe Ana Brosanders	2nd Place
What Protects Plants From Acid Rain the Best?	Claire Zeiller	3rd Place

Sunnyside High School

Antibiotic Activity in Soil Bacteria	Cynthia Bujanda class	1st Place
Effects of stimulated drug addiction on the neural spike activity of Gromphadorhina portentosa and their applications in the identification and treatment of addictions	Victor Vigbedorh, Joann Valenzuela	2nd Place
Exploration of Chaotic Orbits Using the Lyapunov Exponent in the Restricted Three-Body Problem	Yaritza Durazo	1st Place

Tanque Verde Elementary School

Are Magnets Affected by Temperature?	Jackson Guerrero	3rd Place
Go Solar	Elijah Moe	1st Place
Goal Rebounder	Mackenzie Sutterly, Zoe Rowden	3rd Place
How to Save Half an Avocado	Remi Johnson, Holland Nye	3rd Place
If you Play Sports are your Reflexes Different than if you Don’t Play Sports?	Aubrey Skaggs	3rd Place
Manpower VS Machine: Laundry Edition	Shannon Martinez	2nd Place
The Chicken Cooler	Noah McGill, Luca McGill	1st Place
What Color are Bees Most Attracted to?	Natalie Pacios, Charlotte Harris	3rd Place

Tanque Verde High School

Rare Immune Cells Significantly Associated with Severe COVID-19 Cases

Karah Mayer

1st Place

The Gregory School

Effect of Velvet Mesquite Trees on Tucson’s Urban Climate	Mrs. Kelly Smith class	3rd Place
Impact of a Changing Climate	Mrs. Kelly Smith class	1st Place
Tucson’s Urban Heat a Material Science Investigation	Mrs. Kelly Smith class	1st Place
Water Usage in Restaurants	Sage McClure	1st Place

The Montessori Schoolhouse

HOW TO REUSE DISHWATER TO WATER PLANTS

Lilie Lavo

3rd Place

Tucson High Magnet School

Cockroaches on Caffeine: Behavioral analysis of the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach(Gromphadorhina portentosa) after a long term Caffeine Supplemented Diet.	Liam Superville, Adrian Miller	2nd Place
Socially Exposed: Investigating the relationship between the social behaviors of mammals and their viral exposure.	Jessamine Tadeo	1st place
The Cheapette: An Affordable Micropipette For The Masses	Charles Becker	1st Place

Twin Peaks Elementary School

Acids and Bases	Mateo Berry, Elias Berry	1st Place
Aqua Shock	Ryan Boyle, Hudson Hamilton	3rd Place
Chlorophyll Properties – Same or Different?	Anna Zhilina	3rd Place
SARSEF Bridge Engineering Project	Tyler Mann	1st Place

University High School – Top High School

A preliminary study into rapidly deployable barrier systems using origami techniques	Alex Woodford	2nd Place
Bilingualism’s Effect on Memory	Kristin Jung, Karen Nguyen	2nd Place
Comparing Different Machine Learning Approaches to Assess Frailty Among Geriatric Patients Using Upper-Extremity Function	Ananya Munjal	3rd Place
Contemporary and Projected Climate Changes across the Southwestern United States Relative to the Last 24,000 Years	Nathaniel van der Leeuw, Lily Wood	1st Place
Effectiveness of sous vide cooking with sunlight	Rohan Rajagopal	3rd Place
Effects of the ratio of xanthan gum to oat and tapioca starch flour on the density of gluten free bread as compared to glutinous white bread	Adelaide Glockner, Trey Harrison, Kevin Bates	2nd Place
Effects of Varying Processes on Camellia Sinensis on Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast Growth	Audrey Juneman	3rd Place
Effects on Lavandula Angustifolia and Mentha Piperita Essential Oils on Epipremnum Aureum Radicle Growth​	Lily Martinovich	3rd Place
Effects on Lumbricina Diet in Relation to Soil Nutrients (pH) and group mass	Nereyda Retana	3rd Place
Finding the Relationship Between Strength in the Barbell Bench Press and the Dumbbell Bench Press	Alex Brewton	3rd Place
Hedgehog Signaling Mediates the Dysregulation of Adrenocorticotropin Hormone Secretion and Somatostatin Receptor Expression in Cushing’s Disease	Saptarshi Mallick	1st Place
Identifying Likely Active Binding Pockets in all Human Proteins	Elliot Wheeler, Marta Wrzeszcz	1st Place
Investigation of Retinal Energetics with Novel OPLS Force Fields Applied to a Full-Retinylidene System	Nathan Kuo, Jade Kuan	2nd Place
Music preferences during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: How countries reacted to a changing world	Patricio Madera Tejeda	2nd Place
Quantifying and Interpreting Bias Towards the Perception of Immigrants​	Devak Shah, Nicolas Rivera	3rd Place
The Effect of Various Over-the-Counter Pharmaceuticals on Phaseolus vulgaris Pinto Group Growth	Amber Li	3rd Place
The effects of artificial stimulation of motor neurons in the face on emotions.	Aubrey kopp, diego Gonzalez	1st Place
The Effects of Common Substances Found in Urban Runoff on the CO2 Intake and Productivity of Brassica Oleracea Var. Sabellica	Brooklyn Faye Piscitelli, Clara Rocha	3rd Place
The Effects of Ebullition on the Corolla of a Flower to Produce Paint	Lilly Kornfeld, Taylor Kleefeld	3rd Place
The evaluation of potential ion toxicity (ppm/ppb) within personal care products	Sierra Titus, Aria Eyde, Ava Garcia	2nd Place
The influence of LED lights on Acheta domesticus compared to the ways in which Noctuidae and Drepanidae are attracted to light.	Mercedes Shay	2nd Place

Vail Academy and High School

Genetic Algorithms in Falling Paper	Hyrum Powell, Dominic Williams	2nd Place
Let’s Get Down to the Nitty Gritty	Isabel Dancil, Lauren Thomas	1st Place
Robot Wheels vs Nature	Benjamin J. Patla	1st Place
Sounds, Pictures, and Memory	Curtis Rawlings	2nd Place
What is the Best Alternate Football to NFL Cowhide Footballs?	Matthew Bissi	3rd Place

Vail Innovation Center

Exploring the Visualization of ASMR Sounds Using a Tonoscope and Chladni Plate

Sebastian Cooksey

1st Place

Valencia Middle School

What does sand have to do with a horse’s colon?

Kash Horn

3rd Place

Veritas Academy

Aloe Vera Flower Stalk: A Novel Packing Material

Abigail Amante

2nd Place

Veritas Christian Community School

Radiation Revelations

Isabell Gavin

3rd Place

Willcox Middle School

FLAT!	Mark Wilson	1st Place
Weld it	Nathan Riggs	1st Place

Winifred Harelson Elementary School

Do Dogs Have a Paw Preference Like Humans?	Hayli Knight	2nd Place
Game Time	Brayden Carr, Dominick SanAngelo, Jackson Cole	2nd Place
Introverts vs Extroverts: What Do You Recall?	Mrs Lindsay Wong class	1st Place
Sanitizer Wars	Jaxyn DeCastro	2nd Place
What’s In Your Wallet?	Mrs Lindsay Wong class	1st Place

Woodard Junior High School

Effects of Heat Stress on a Patient with Salt-wasting Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

Alexis Batres

3rd Place

Sponsored Awards (All grade levels)

Agua Caliente Elementary School

Fish Poop: The Future of Farming	Deb Goepfrich class	Youngest and Best Elementary Project
Tap vs. Bottled: Which Has Less Contaminants?	Nia Meredith	Arizona Hydrological Society

Anthem K-8 School

Water Spinning Energy

Maxwell Crowder

TEP Award of Excellence, Hogan Energy Hero Award

BASIS Oro Valley

Baby Shark Doo Doo!!!	Varni Modi, Aishwarya Rao	TEP Award of Excellence
Slowing Down Ice Melt Using Eco-Friendly, Sustainable Eggshells Towards Mitigating Global Climate Crisis	Matthew Kim	Texas Instruments 3rd Place High School Award, American Meteorological Society Outstanding Achievement Award

BASIS Scottsdale Primary

Traffic Powered Wind Turbine – With Improved Design

Rishi Setia

TEP Award of Excellence, TACO Team’s, Put the “C” in TACO Award, Hogan Energy Hero Award

Billy Lane Lauffer Middle School

Dahliah: A Sustainable Circular City	Alina Gutierrez, Maribel Robles, Nayelli Guzman	Cox Conserves Award
Everything Old Can Be Made New Again	Leyna LaPierre, Dante Escobar, Eli Hernandez Jr.	Cox Conserves Award
The Circular City (Waste Management – Biomass Energy – Urban Lungs – Circular Economy)	Tal Medeiros, Elias El Onache, Alexander Murua	Dr. Uhl Exemplary in STEM

Bonita Elementary School – Willcox

Saddle Up, Buttercup

Taylor Warner

“Mr Mac” Memorial Award

Booth-Fickett Math and Science Magnet School

The Power of Potatoes	Paris Torres	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
Through Thick and Thin: Osmosis of a Cell	Linda Ozuna	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
What is a Mobius Strip? ​	Miley Lopea	SARSEF Board of Directors Award

Canyon View Elementary School

Dog Germ Busters	Caris Wiegand	Polymer Chemistry Innovations Rising Female Chemist
Dog Talk	Alex Myers	Sir Charles Beerferoni’s Super Scientist Award
The Lion Project	Myla Closterman	Saguaro National Park Award, Pima County Chapter Arizona Master Naturalists Ecology of the Sonoran Desert

Casas Christian School

You Are What You Eat!

Ethan Pogue

Beyond Foundation Health Science Award

Castlehill Country Day School

Mold Growth on Raspberries	Ava Borders	University of Arizona Food Safety Consortium Sponsored Elementary School Award, Women’s Chemistry Group Best Female Project 3rd Grade, SaferFood Cats Food Safety Award – Honorable Mention
Training Cats to Save Themselves	Frannie Guzman	AZAALAS Special Award of Merit

Catalina Foothills High School

Agrivoltaics in the Time of Water Restrictions	Henry Roth Gordon	NASA Earth System Science Award 2022, TACO Team’s, Put the “C” in TACO Award
Assessing Urban vs. Rural Historical Temperature Trends	Emily Kamp, ASHLEY Mannenbach	AWG Student Award for Geoscience Excellence (SAGE), American Meteorological Society Outstanding Achievement Award
Effects of Sceloporus virgatus (Striped Plateau Lizard) Cloacal Bacteria on Fungal Growth	Jeronimo Barela	Tucson Herpetological Society Outstanding Project
Neuropharmacology: Effect of Caffeine and Nicotine on Gromphadorhina portentosa Neural Activity	Joseph han	Society for In Vitro Biology Most Outstanding Project

Cibola High School

Particulate Monitoring of UAS	Oren Sutphin, Ethan Jantzi	NOAA Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award
Plastic Infiltration on Planarian Worms	Esperanza Guizar, Rodrigo Guizar	Dead Skunk Enterprises Studying things that “stink”
Seaweed BIochar Filtration	Cole Steinmetz	Honorable Mention – Friends of Agua Caliente Award
Superworms	Sedona Bermudez, Mauricio Rodriguez, Caroline Beltran	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
Wastewater-Based Epidemiological Tracking of SARS-CoV-2: Determining Unreported Cases and Clinical Data Lag Time	Quinn Nemeth	Arizona Hydrological Society

Cienega High School

Demographics of Vaccination Status	Amritjot Singh	USAID Science Champion Award
Effects of the Bighorn Fire on Bird Species in the Santa Catalina Mountains	Isabel Ross	Ruby Prize
Hidden Gender Norms and Stereotypes: Then vs. Now	Allison Akers	SAPA Excellence in Behavioral Science Award
Reactive Nitrogen species: does it kill bacteria in wounds?	Brenna Aspinwall	Helping Humans, The UACC Award for Early Scientific Inquiry

City High School

An Emotional Solar Coaster

Ursula Denholm

RICOH Sustainable Development Award, TEP Award of Excellence

Cochise Elementary School

Just Around the Riverbend: An Experiment on Erosion and Riverbeds

Arya White

Tucson Gem & Mineral Society, Women’s Chemistry Group Best Female Project 2nd Grade, Arizona Hydrological Society

Colonel Smith Middle School – Ft. Huachuca

pHan Pedro River	Cassandra Comolli	Environmental Ecology, Arizona Hydrological Society 1st Place
Power Up!	Aaden Fisher	SARSEF Board of Directors Award, TEP Award of Excellence
The Power Of Plants	Emily Perez	SARSEF Board of Directors Award, Passion for Science Award: In honor of Rachel Tankersley and Tonya Connelly, Hogan Energy Hero Award

Continental School

Wheat Grinder Bike	Layna Lathen, Kiarelis Torres	Persistence Pays Off, Live Long and Prosper Award
Wildlife Escape Ramp	Tessa McGibbon	AZAALAS Special Award of Merit

Copper Creek Elementary School

Crystals and How they are Formed	Lilly Clauer	Tucson Gem & Mineral Society
Saving Water with Recycled Textiles	Alyna Barnett	ASQ Tucson Sponsored Award, Arizona Hydrological Society

Copper Ridge Elementary

Catching the Wind	Makenzie Spies	TEP Award of Excellence
Solar Splash	Naomi Larson	TEP Award of Excellence
The Animal Project	Jimi Equitz	Sky Island FotoFauna Young Naturalist Award
Winnie and the Beanstalk	Wensleigh Feagley	SARSEF Board of Directors Award

Corona Foothills Middle School

Water Conservation Shower Timer

Emma Kirberger

TEP Award of Excellence, Girls Who Engineer

Cottonwood Elementary School

The Colorful Celery Experiment

Lorena Fronseca class

Arizona Hydrological Society

DeGrazia Elementary School

What’s in Your Water Arizona?

Alexander Hernandez

University of Arizona Food Safety Consortium Sponsored Middle School Award

Desert Willow Elementary School

Are you taller or wider?	Megan Hope Dennis	Children’s Museum Tucson
Conductive Playdough	Melanie Livingood	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
ECO Pet AC	Sebastian Pacheco	Future Time Smith award for Excellence in Engineering to address health concerns with rising temperature over time

Doolen Middle School

Egg Sell-By Dates: Are They Accurate?	Chloe Howell	Leonore and Jack Mayer Memorial Award
Escape the Maze: AI in Robotics	Olin Jones	Texas Instruments 3rd Place Middle School Award, Space X – To Infinity and Beyond Award
Put Your Mind to the Test	Mercy Joel	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
Sound vs. Materials	Aidan Fuller	Texas Instruments 2nd Place Middle School Award

Dove Mountain CSTEM School

Don’t get caught with Germy Hands, take 20 seconds and wash them	Averiana McGrew	Exceptional First Year Award
Flybot	Ada Salazar	Space X – To Infinity and Beyond Award
How does the 5 second rule affect food?	Antonio Perez	SaferFood Cats Food Safety Award – Second Place
What do you think will have a bigger reaction?	Logan Gardner	Exceptional First Year Award

Dreams of Sunshine Playground

How Fast Do Water Beads Grow

Yunde Dalton Chan

STEM Super Heroes

Elgin School/Sonoita Elementary

Chicken Radio-Frequency Identification Door

Julie Rodriguez

Department of Navy Naval Science Award, Texas Instruments 1st Place Middle School Award

Emily Gray Junior High – Top Middle School

Get Moving in a Different Way!	Sophia Pelletier	Leonore and Jack Mayer Memorial Award
The Happiness Effect	Alex Provenzano	Ben’s Bells Science of Kindness Award
Understanding Germs	Vishwa De Silva	SaferFood Cats Food Safety Award – Honorable Mention

Emily Meschter Early Learning Center – Top Pre-Kindergarten Program

How Many Surfaces Can a Germ Travel To?	Ms. Jessica Jankowski-Gallo class	SaferFood Cats Food Safety Award – Third Place
Shining Light on Shadows	Liz Pumarol and Jessica Caramella class	TEP Award of Excellence

Empire High School

Aquatic Plants Against Acid Rain	Madeline Ray McCaskill	Third Place – Friends of Agua Caliente Award, American Meteorological Society Outstanding Achievement Award
Audio and Art: A Comparison of Auditory and Visual Stimuli on Human Emotions	Eva Ramirez, Laurel Gray Burkholder	SAPA Excellence in Behavioral Science Award
Horizontal Transmission of the Obligate Symbiont Burkholderia in the Leaf-Footed Bug, Leptoglossus zonatus (Hemiptera: Coreidae)	Isabelle Lopez	Society for In Vitro Biology Most Outstanding Project
The Effect of Elevation on Water Quality in the Sonoran Desert	Shelby Wraith	SARSEF Board of Directors Award, Saguaro National Park Award
The effect of temperature on the pH of saltwater: implications for predicting climate change	Remy M. Seltzer	SARSEF Board of Directors Award, Arizona Hydrological Society 2nd Place

Esmond Station Iron Horses K-8

Where does the cleanest water come from, and what makes water different?

Symmone Jackson

Arizona Hydrological Society 2nd Place

Esperero Canyon Middle School

Is is Possible to Use Mars to Live on Mars?

Ethan Bialis

Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Certificate of Achievement, ASCE SAB Excellence in Engineering Awards

Fletcher Family Homeschool

Pop, Pop, No Pop!

Sylvia Fletcher

Passion for Science Award: In honor of Rachel Tankersley and Tonya Connelly, Polymer Chemistry Innovations Rising Female Chemist

Fruchthendler Elementary School

Just Enough Light: Does the Placement of Windows in an Underground House Matter?	Toben Dorsey-Sanchez	Society of American Military Engineers Award, Texas Instruments 1st Place Elementary Award
Magnetic Force Field	Matthew Keller	Texas Instruments 3rd Place Elementary Award
Project SuMS: Submarine Motor Seal	Jacob Keller	TEP Award of Excellence, Texas Instruments 2nd Place Elementary Award

Gowan Science Academy

Harnessing the Saguaro Cactus to Treat Skin Infections – Antimicrobial Properties of the Carnegiea Gigantea Seed Extract	Samantha Chulamorkodt	Tucson Botanical Gardens Outstanding Plant Project, Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society 1st Place
My Neighborhood Rocks	Penelope Backs	Tucson Gem & Mineral Society
Some Numbers have Interesting Properties	Jay Chandra	Youngest and Best Elementary Project
The Cat’s Meow	Miles Kaste	Passion for Science Award: In honor of Rachel Tankersley and Tonya Connelly

Harvest Preparatory Academy (SARSEF Endorsed School) – Top High School

Antimicrobial Potentials of Ayurvedic Products Extracts and Streptomycin Against Necrosis Causing Bacteria in Saguaro Cactus.	Ana Navarro	Tucson Botanical Gardens Outstanding Plant Project, Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society 2nd Place, UA Plant Sciences Planting the seed: Excellence in plant sciences research 1st Place
CREATING ANTIMICROBIAL LIPSTICKS USING DYES FROM NATURAL SOURCES	Josselyn Hernandez	ASM Materials Education Foundation Most Outstanding Exhibit in Materials Science, Texas Instruments 2nd Place High School Award
EFFECTS OF LYSINE AND PHENYLALANINE ON THE GERMINATION AND GROWTH OF PHASEOLUS VULGARIS	Julissa Ceballos, Miranda Ruiz	UA Plant Sciences Planting the seed: Excellence in plant sciences research 2nd Place
ENGINEERING OF ANTIMICROBIAL BIOPLASTICS FROM INVASIVE ALGAE CAULERPA PROLIFERA, UNDARIA PINNATIFIDA, AND WASTE CORN COBS	Julianna Serna-Ortiz	ASM Materials Education Foundation Most Outstanding Exhibit in Materials Science, Dr. Uhl Exemplary in STEM
EXOGENEOUS NIACIN AND ZEAXANTHIN TREATMENT TO INCREASE THE STRESS TOLERANCE AND LIGHT ABSORBANCE CAPACITY OF MICROALGAE CHLORELLA VULGARIS UNDER AN ENGINEERED MARTIAN ENVIRONMENT	Christopher Miranda	Yale Science and Engineering Association Outstanding Exhibit in Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics
IMPROVING THE DENTAL HEALTH IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WITH A TOOTHPASTE INFUSED WITH PSIDIUM GUAJAVA AND ACMELLA OLERACEA EXTRACTS AGAINST TOOTH DECAY CAUSING BACTERIA STREPTOCOCCUS MUTANS	Ashley Valencia	SARSEF Board of Directors Award, USAID Science Champion Award
Investigating the Effects of Native Sonoran Desert Plants on Enhancing the Effects of Different Antibiotics Against E. coli	Andrea Romero	Second Place – Friends of Agua Caliente Award, Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society 3rd Place
MITIGATING OCEAN ACIDIFICATION BY INCREASING THE PHOTOSYNTHESIS RATE OF MACROALGAE ULVA LACTUCA USING PHYCOBILIN, CAROTENE, AND COUMARIN​	Jimena Uribe Lin	U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize, NASA Earth System Science Award 2022
MYCOREMEDIATION OF OCEANS OIL SPILL AND MICROPLASTIC POLLUTION USING PESTALOTIOPSIS MICROSPORA FUNGI	Sheyla Solorzano	U.S. Metric Association Outstanding Use of International Metric System, U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize, AWG Student Award for Geoscience Excellence (SAGE)
OBSERVING THE EFFECTS OF ADDING BETA CAROTENE ON THE GROWTH OF MICROALGAE VIA SPECTROPHOTOMETRY	Mercedes Castro, Shantee Thomas	Microbial Discoveries
The Feasibility of Creating a Solar Panel that can Harness UV lights during Cloudy Days Using Luminescent Extracts from Agrowaste	Hannah Tapia	RICOH Sustainable Development Award, TEP Award of Excellence, USAF Certificate of Achievement, Live Long and Prosper Award
Vigorous Plants	Ella Noelle Parry	Exceptional First Year Award

Highland Free School

Which Mask Best Prevents the Sharing of Germs

Sofia Diaz

TEP Award of Excellence

Homer Davis Elementary School

Tummies Touching Tables

Mrs. Jessica Howe class

Class Award of Engineering Design Excellence

Immaculate Heart High School

The Effect of Landscape Gravel on Ambient Air, Surface, and Soil Temperature

Elizabeth Haloftis, Phuong Bui

Honorable Mention – Friends of Agua Caliente Award, U.S. Metric Association Outstanding Use of International Metric System, American Meteorological Society Outstanding Achievement Award

Innovation Academy – Top Elementary School

2 times the fun!!	Ashlee Watson class	ASQ Tucson Sponsored Award
All You Seed Is Love	Sayuri “Ellie” Carter-Rogel	TEP Award of Excellence
Don’t Lose it! Reuse it!	Morgan Friezen	Women’s Chemistry Group Best Female Project 4th Grade
Don’t Throw it, Coat It!	Aaron Eager	Polymer Chemistry Innovations Innovative Chemistry Award – 2nd Place
Enrichment for Tigers	Mila Madeka	Sharing The Planet
Fabric Strength	Mabel Rivera class	The Earnest House LLC Helping Hands Award
Green Power: A Sustainable Energy Alternative	Clinton Willey	Cox Conserves Award
Growing in a Bubble: A Balloon Greenhouse Effect	Pamela Barrett class	UA Plant Sciences Planting the seed: Excellence in plant sciences research 1st Place
Knit, Knot Stress	Mabel Rivera class	The Earnest House LLC Helping Hands Award, Ben’s Bells Science of Kindness Award
Let it Grow!	Mabel Rivera class	The Earnest House LLC Helping Hands Award
Magnetic Structures	Ella Schulzkump	Pima County Fair Mechanical Excellence Award
Pitch Perfect Baking	Adalee Watson, Audrey Alameda, Kalia Lopez	Rockefeller Award
Pop! Are you Paying Attention?	Lori LaRussa class	TEP Award of Excellence
Reach for the Stars	Niki Tilicki class	Excellence in Earth and Space Science
Tangled Part 2	Faith Thomas	Pima County Fair Excellence in Robotics
The Scorpion Reservoir	Vincent Poyas	TEP Award of Excellence
We Axolotl Questions	Mrs. Mandi Cordell class	ASQ Tucson Sponsored Award, Tucson Herpetological Society Outstanding Award, Best Pun Super Star Award

International School of Tucson

Adding Light Bulbs to an Electrical Circuit	Santiago Moreno	Mildred & Dildred’s Imagination Award
Orbeez Size and Minerals	William Krizman-Rauh	Arizona Hydrological Society
Plant Growth and Light Timing	Nadia Combs	Future Time Smith award for Excellence in Research on timing and time perception in non-human organisms, Esther Chapman Memorial Award for Curiosity in Plant Sciences

J. Robert Hendricks Elementary School

Erosion Explosion	Henry Heyer	Society of American Military Engineers Award
The No-Go Collar	Addisyn Arvig	Exceptional First Year Award
Water Harvesting Playscape	Mrs. Vanessa Schiess class	Arizona Hydrological Society, Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society Honorable Mention
Water Wash Trash Net	Emma Petroshus	TEP Award of Excellence, Department of Navy Naval Science Award

L. W. Cross Middle School

A World on Fire 2, How to replant forests after wildfires; like those in Australia and California and now here in Oro Valley?	Gabriel Vaughn	TACO Team’s, Put the “C” in TACO Award
Bam! Speed of a Gun	Blake Pierpont	Safety in Physics Award
Dog toys: Does Color and Size Matter	Camryn May Gross	SARSEF Board of Directors Award, Department of Navy Naval Science Award
Geodes; How to Tell what is Inside	Aliza Jayani Alcoser, Madilyn Allison Stevens	Southern Arizona Grotto RISING STALAGMITE AWARD, Tucson Gem & Mineral Society
Innovating Solar Panels to Remotely Send Solar Energy	Juliet Iadevaia	TEP Award of Excellence
It’s Card To Choose a Game..	Gabriel Vaughn	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
Special Moons: One End of the Rainbow to the Moon	Lily Weleck	Robin M. Cattler Innovation Award
Swimming Caps and How They Affect the Speed of Swimmers	Anamaria Elez	SARSEF Board of Directors Award, Department of Navy Naval Science Award
UAV Submarine	Augustus Mitchell	Department of Navy Naval Science Award, USS Tucson 770 Club Outstanding project in nautical or submarine sciences

Lineweaver Elementary School (SARSEF Endorsed School)

Fight or Flight: Is the Game to Blame?	Madilyn Lesniak	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
How Does Heat Effect Cold?	Avery Toomey	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
How Does Wind Affect the Rate of Evaporation?	Maeve Russell-Goodman	SARSEF Board of Directors Award, ASQ Tucson Sponsored Award
What is the Best Type of Paper Airplane?	Eddie Garcia	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
What Type of Liquid Makes Flowers Live Longer?	Krystal Carrillo Sanchez	SARSEF Board of Directors Award

Lulu Walker Elementary School

Making My Own PH Test

Levi Miller

Kids’ Chemical Solutions Excellence in Chemistry

Mary Belle McCorkle Academy of Excellence K-8

Dirty and Clean Hands Experiment with Rice	Feven Afewerki class	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
Project Strike Force	Lorenzo Brusoe	SARSEF Board of Directors Award

Mesquite Elementary School

Environmentally Safe Plastic From Milk	Leilani McComisky	Dead Skunk Enterprises Studying things that “stink”
Healthy Vegetations Effect on Soil Erosion Caused by Flood	Isabel Rauckman	Langham Environmental Engineering Award, Esther Chapman Memorial Award for Curiosity in Plant Sciences
The Science of Masks and Respirators	Yunming Ray Chan	Super Cool Science Kid Award, Super Cool Fun Award

Mountain Vista School

Water Source

Amber Santillana

Arizona Hydrological Society 1st Place

Native American Science & Engineering Program (NASEP)

Are Community Wells Safe on the Navajo Nation	Autumn Russell	SARSEF Board of Directors Award, SaferFood Cats Food Safety Award – Third Place
Soil Quality with Respect to the Environment and Public Health	Yanaba Schroeder	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
Water Filter: Is it Necessary in my Home	Natasha Thompson	SARSEF Board of Directors Award

Nelson Home School

Analysis of pollen-pistil interactions to model reproductive thermotolerance in tomato

Alexander Nelson

USAID Science Champion Award

Olsson homeschool

Are There Native Fish in La Milagrosa Canyon?	Wade Olsson	Tucson Herpetological Society Outstanding Award
Octocopter’s mission: A drone that collects hot lava for space science	Ed Olsson	Proper Villains’ Evil Genius Award

Our Mother of Sorrows

Greywater’s Effect on Flowers	Cassidy Dickherber	Arizona Hydrological Society 2nd Place
Tiny Robot Dancers	Samantha Slaiwa	SARSEF Board of Directors Award

Patagonia High School

What’s Your Age Baby: Quantifying and Graphing the Age of the universe as Constrained by Joint/Separate probes

Nicholas Dekhtyar

Excellence in Earth and Space Science

Pistor Middle School

Guinea Pigs For the Win!	Madeline Smith	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
Oh Chute, Don’t Fail Me Now!	Elijah Pursell	AIAA Award for Excellence in Science or Engineering Project

Quest for Education and Arts

Nouveau-AI-Plastic-Degen: A novel approach using AI-based enzyme engineering to design New and Highly Efficient Marine Plastic Degrading Enzymes

Arjun Gupta

Tucson Metro Chamber’s Innovation & Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, RICOH Sustainable Development Award, Department of Navy Naval Science Award, USAF Certificate of Achievement, U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize, NASA Earth System Science Award 2022

Richard B. Wilson School

Magical Roofs

Amelia Meadows-Wallace

TEP Award of Excellence

Robert Richardson Elementary School

It’s Eroding Away

Mrs. Michelle McWilliams class

Esther Chapman Memorial Award for Curiosity in Plant Sciences

Rohrbach Redshift Academy

What can we learn about spacecraft design from commercial electronics? Exposing commercial electronics to alpha particles emitted from a uranium ore sample.

Samuel Rohrbach

AIAA Award for Excellence in Science or Engineering Project

Rose Homeschool

How Prickly Pear Can Lower Low-Density-Lipoproteins (the “bad” cholesterol)

Maximus Rose

Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society 3rd Place

Sabino High School

The Relationship Between Photosynthesis, Cellular Respiration and Wet Biomass in Egeria densa

Preston Stricker

First Place – Friends of Agua Caliente Award

Sahuarita High School

Identification and Phylogeny of Unknown Cucurbitaceae Seeds

Abbey Mandell, Maiya Matthews

SARSEF Board of Directors Award

Saint Joseph Catholic School

Hover On!	Kylee McCool	Pima County Fair Excellence in Robotics
The Shhh…arpener Project	Ms. Eileen Miller class	Class Award of Engineering Design Excellence

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School

Cigarettes- What Stays in Your Body after Cigarettes?

Luna Curtner

Leonore and Jack Mayer Memorial Award

Sam Hughes Elementary School

Snuggles and Puggles

Rosie Newell

Dr. Uhl Exemplary in STEM

San Luis High School

How Does The Use of NSAIDs Affect Empathy?

Itzel Andrade, Jesus Cadena

SARSEF Board of Directors Award

Satori Charter School

Exploring plastic and magnetic properties to save the world’s ocean	Insee Ekstrom	Society of American Military Engineers Award, Arizona Hydrological Society
Trash Trials	Kyrie Knapp	ASCE SAB Excellence in Engineering Awards

SEAS Catholic School

Can’t Stand the Heat? Get out of the Solar Oven!

Elizabeth Ennis

ASCE SAB Excellence in Engineering Awards

Senita Valley Elementary School

Science Fair Project	Audrey Lefforge	Lola’s Legacy
What kind of Fabric Sticks to Cholla the Best?	Isabelle Lefforge	Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society Honorable Mention

Sonoran Science Academy – Davis Monthan

How could depression affect a teenager?

Joshua Monsees

Zach Giron Memorial Award

St. Cyril School

Liar Liar Pants on Fire	Reagan Burgle	TEP Award of Excellence
That’s SNOT Funny	Alessabetta Ruboyianes	Children’s Museum Tucson
The Leader of the Pack: an observational study of captive African Wild Dogs	Jackson Lipsy	Sharing The Planet

St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School

Are fingerprints inherited?	Andrea Castillo	Leonore and Jack Mayer Memorial Award
Can Sheep Recognize “Ewe”?	Giada Freeman	The Brave Brays’ Award for Female Animal Scientists
Does Fed Bacteria Produce More Energy than Unfed Bacteria?	Aiden Evangelista	TEP Award of Excellence
How does the blade direction affect the energy output on a wind turbine?	Genevieve Fernandez	TEP Award of Excellence
How long do you have to ferment kimchi to perfect its taste?	Kiera Nguyen	Polymer Chemistry Innovations Innovative Chemistry Award – 1st Place
Lettuce eat salad	Kelsie Harrison	Leonore and Jack Mayer Memorial Award, SaferFood Cats Food Safety Award – Third Place
Tamarix v. Native Plants	Coco Moreno	Native Plant Studies Award
When In Doubt, Brush It Out	Rebecca Garcia	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
Which Brand of Leg Protection Boot gives my horse his Best Performance?	Ramsey Harrison	Ronstadt Insurance The Grit Award

St. Michael’s School

Cow Manure or Chicken Manure?	Adalyn Chue, Bella Pendolino	TEP Award of Excellence
Double the Light Double the Power!	Oliver Lewis	TEP Award of Excellence
Preservatives: Keeping Your Food Safe!	Piper Kukla	SaferFood Cats Food Safety Award – First Place
To Drink Or Not To Drink	Thomas Walsh, Chase Puntenney	SaferFood Cats Food Safety Award – Second Place

Sunnyside High School

Exploration of Chaotic Orbits Using the Lyapunov Exponent in the Restricted Three-Body Problem

Yaritza Durazo

USAF Certificate of Achievement, Mu Alpha Theta Award, Live Long and Prosper Award, Excellence in Earth and Space Science, Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Certificate of Achievement, First Place – AZ Psychological Association Science Award, AIAA Award for Excellence in Science or Engineering Project, AIAA Award for Excellence in Science or Engineering Project

Sunrise Drive Elementary

Aerodynamics – The tail of my Kite	Amelie Puell	Women’s Chemistry Group Best Female Project 1st Grade
Shooting and Passing in Soccer	Eli Le Peau	Zach Giron Memorial Award
What Material Makes Ice Melt the Fastest?	James Jacobsen	ASQ Tucson Sponsored Award

Sycamore Elementary School

Building a Trebuchet	Christian Pena	Pima County Fair Excellence in Robotics
Hydroponics vs Soil: Which grows faster?	Faith Francisco	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
My Homemade Flashlight	Justin Curtis	TEP Award of Excellence
What’s a Bird’s Favorite Color?	Gwendolyne Macias	Robin M. Cattler Innovation Award, Passion for Science Award: In honor of Rachel Tankersley and Tonya Connelly
Will Buffelgrass Keep Plants From Growing	Anne Marie Wages	SARSEF Board of Directors Award, Saguaro National Park Award, Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society Honorable Mention

Tanque Verde Elementary School

Do Cars Travel Different Distances on Different Textures?	Monet Pender	Women’s Chemistry Group Best Female Project Kindergarten
Snack Bot	Ryan Sutterly, Noah Burrows, Gerimiah Andrews	Pima County Fair Excellence in Robotics
Sweeper Scooper Upper 3000	Miele Martin, Brookly Reay	Science is Everywhere Award

Tanque Verde Luthern Church Preschool

Will it Sink or float?

Amyra Kotadia, Jayneel Patel

STEM Super Heroes

The Gregory School

Effect of Velvet Mesquite Trees on Tucson’s Urban Climate	Mrs. Kelly Smith class	UA Plant Science Planting the seed: Excellence in plant sciences research 2nd Place
Impact of a Changing Climate	Mrs. Kelly Smith class	NOAA Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award
Water Usage in Restaurants	Sage McClure	Innovative Inquiry & Passion for Science

Tucson Hebrew Academy

Here Comes the Sun!

Ms. Mollie Ramos class

Future Time Smith award for Excellence in Research on objective and subjective measures of time

Tucson High Magnet School

Concussion Chronicles: Analyzing IMPACT concussion trends across Tucson High School Athletics from 2008 to present.	Christopher Cota, Aidan Chanez	The UACC Award for Early Scientific Inquiry
Coniochaeta The Super Fungi	Yissis Hernandez, Laylalanai Gocobachi	AWG Student Award for Geoscience Excellence (SAGE)
The Cheapette: An Affordable Micropipette For The Masses	Charles Becker	Department of Navy Naval Science Award
The Lost Planet: Using theoretical orbital data to improve the search for Planet 9	Sean Lyon	Mu Alpha Theta Award, Second Place – AZ Psychological Association Science Award, AIAA Award for Excellence in Science or Engineering Project

Twin Peaks Elementary School

Chlorophyll Properties – Same or Different?	Anna Zhilina	UA Plant Sciences Planting the seed: Excellence in plant sciences research 1st Place
In the Mothlight	Henry Turner, Trevor Turner	Passion for Science Award: In honor of Rachel Tankersley and Tonya Connelly, TEP Award of Excellence
Is it Really Biodegradable?	Alexis Windsor, Bria Papin, Sara Edmonds	Dead Skunk Enterprises Studying things that “stink”

University High School – Top High School

Analyzing Patterns in Music Composition within the Film Industry	Lily Figueroa, Angelina Garcia, Malak Elfarmaoui	American Psychological Association Outstanding Achievement Award
Analyzing SARS-Cov-2 Related Genomic Traits Among Chiroptera and Other Mammals	Hendrick Read, Natalie Son	Sharing The Planet
Analyzing the Percolation Rate of Chemicals through Soil	Jesus Mendoza-Villela	Arizona Hydrological Society 1st Place
Bilingualism’s Effect on Memory	Kristin Jung, Karen Nguyen	American Psychological Association Outstanding Achievement Award
Clorox Killed My Friends: Evaluating the effects sodium hypochlorite, benzalkonium chloride, and hydrogen peroxide on the quantification of bacteria on common kitchen surfaces.	Michelle Ngo, Salma Pedersoli, Aiko Levine	Society for In Vitro Biology Most Outstanding Project, SaferFood Cats Food Safety Award – Honorable Mention
Comparing Different Machine Learning Approaches to Assess Frailty Among Geriatric Patients Using Upper-Extremity Function	Ananya Munjal	Department of Navy Naval Science Award
Comparison Between the Effects of Chlorella Vulgaris and Spirulina Platensis on the Bioremediation of Wastewater Pollutants	Isabella Mixton-Garcia, Auhona Shil	U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize
Contemporary and Projected Climate Changes across the Southwestern United States Relative to the Last 24,000 Years	Nathaniel van der Leeuw, Lily Wood	TEP Award of Excellence, That’s Geography! – Cultivating Empathy for the Earth Award Rubric – 2022, NOAA Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award
Effect of Temperature on Rust Formation	Andre Celaya, luis fiool, Gabrielle Estrella	USS Tucson 770 Club Outstanding project in nautical or submarine sciences
Effectiveness of sous vide cooking with sunlight	Rohan Rajagopal	SARSEF Alumni Award, Texas Instruments 1st Place High School Award
Effects of Varying Processes on Camellia Sinensis on Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast Growth	Audrey Juneman	University of Arizona Food Safety Consortium Sponsored High School Award, SaferFood Cats Food Safety Award – Second Place
Inquiry into a possible correlation between political orientation and identification of misinformation	Christian Beenken, Alec Shepp, Maximilian Romero	SAPA Excellence in Behavioral Science Award
Music preferences during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: How countries reacted to a changing world	Patricio Madera Tejeda	American Psychological Association Outstanding Achievement Award
Quantifying and Interpreting Bias Towards the Perception of Immigrants​	Devak Shah, Nicolas Rivera	Super DEI Award
Subjective Commitment in Homo Sapiens	Isabella Huerta, Aurora Dunn	Department of Navy Naval Science Award
Synthesis of Next Generation Plastic Optics: Polymerizations with Sulfenyl Chlorides	Maggie Fu	ASM Materials Education Foundation Most Outstanding Exhibit in Materials Science, Polymer Chemistry Innovations Award – First Place
The effectiveness of conventional Anti-Browning methods on the Enzymatic Browning of different types of apples.	Taylor DeVore	Polymer Chemistry Innovations Rising Female Chemist
The Effects of Climate and Solar Elevation Angle on Intensity of Ultraviolet Radiation	Miranda Moore	American Meteorological Society Outstanding Achievement Award
The Effects of Lavender, Eucalyptus, Lemongrass, and Cinnamon Essential Oils on E. coli and S. aureus	Audrey Winkle	SaferFood Cats Food Safety Award – First Place
The influence of LED lights on Acheta domesticus compared to the ways in which Noctuidae and Drepanidae are attracted to light.	Mercedes Shay	Southern Arizona Chapter of the International DarkSky Association Award
The Trend in Mojave Desert Tortoise (Gopherus Agassizii) Population Demography in Relation to Road Density​	Sofia Arambula	SARSEF Board of Directors Award, U.S. Metric Association Outstanding Use of International Metric System

Vail Academy and High School

How does the Temperature of Water Affect a Plants Growth	Collin Kerby	UA Plant Sciences Planting the seed: Excellence in plant sciences research 2nd Place
How Fast do Different Size Comets Melt?	Matthew Bowling	Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association Certificate of Achievement
Let’s Get Down to the Nitty Gritty	Isabel Dancil, Lauren Thomas	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
Rubber Band Science	Oliver Michael Feagley	TEP Award of Excellence

Vail Innovation Center

Exploring the Visualization of ASMR Sounds Using a Tonoscope and Chladni Plate

Sebastian Cooksey

Langham Creative Project Award, SARSEF Board of Directors Award

Veritas Christian Community School

Fibonacci Solar Panels

Juliannah Gavin

Department of Navy Naval Science Award, Mu Alpha Theta Award, Hogan Energy Hero Award, Third Place – AZ Psychological Association Science Award

Willcox High School

Beetlemania Returns	Naomi Hernandez	Saguaro National Park Award
Testing Absorption of Carbon Dioxide Reaction With Water and Basalt	Karissa Riggs, Alexis Hernandez	Honorable Mention – Friends of Agua Caliente Award, American Meteorological Society Outstanding Achievement Award

Willcox Middle School

FLAT!	Mark Wilson	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
Magic Clean	Valerie Rodarte	SARSEF Board of Directors Award
Sugar Cube Cave	Carl Wyatt	Southern Arizona Grotto RISING STALAGMITE AWARD
Weld it	Nathan Riggs	Award of Engineering Design Excellence
Will the different types of ice cream flavors melt at the same time?	Shelby Helstand	SARSEF Board of Directors Award

Winifred Harelson Elementary School

A Salty Surprise	Harper McDermed	Women’s Chemistry Group Best Female Project 5th Grade
Cart Wash	Harper Francom	Science Superstar
Coolbelt	Noah Fouts	TEP Award of Excellence
Furcycler and Shelter Blankets/Beds	Natalie Lowe	The Earnest House LLC Helping Hands Award
Javelina Javelin-A	Gavin Cook	Robin M. Cattler Innovation Award, TEP Award of Excellence
Rrrecard$	Emmy Sieminski	Award of Engineering Design Excellence
The DeBurrer	Lukas Paulos	TEP Award of Excellence
The Thorny Transplanter	Maizie McIntosh	Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society Honorable Mention
What Will Slow Down Mold on Strawberries?	Audrey Mandel	SaferFood Cats Food Safety Award – First Place
Wind Turbine vs. Blade Placement	Livia Aronson	Robin M. Cattler Innovation Award

Top Awards (All grade levels)

BASIS Tucson North

Packaging waste reduction: right-sized box packaging by using volume bounding box algorithm

Jimmy Kwon

Raytheon Excellence in Engineering Design Scholarship

Catalina Foothills High School

Agrivoltaics in the Time of Water Restrictions	Henry Roth Gordon	TEP Bright Mind Award
Effects of Sceloporus virgatus (Striped Plateau Lizard) Cloacal Bacteria on Fungal Growth	Jeronimo Barela	Wallace Foundation’s Excellence in Critical Thinking

Cienega High School

Demographics of Vaccination Status

Amritjot Singh

APS Foundation Award

City High School

An Emotional Solar Coaster

Ursula Denholm

Simon Strauss Engineering Award

Dodge Traditional Magnet Middle School

Global Abundance of Microplastic in Beach Sands

Henry Root

TEP Brilliant Mind Award

Emily Gray Junior High – Top Middle School

A-Bird – Automated Bird Recognition Device

Finnegan McGill

Broadcom Coding with Commitment, APS Exceptional Engineering Design

Gowan Science Academy

Harnessing the Saguaro Cactus to Treat Skin Infections – Antimicrobial Properties of the Carnegiea Gigantea Seed Extract

Samantha Chulamorkodt

DoD STEM Leadership Prize

Harvest Preparatory Academy (SARSEF Endorsed School) – Top High School

Investigating the Effects of Native Sonoran Desert Plants on Enhancing the Effects of Different Antibiotics Against E. coli	Andrea Romero	SARSEF Foundation Scholarship Excellence in Research
IMPROVING THE DENTAL HEALTH IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WITH A TOOTHPASTE INFUSED WITH PSIDIUM GUAJAVA AND ACMELLA OLERACEA EXTRACTS AGAINST TOOTH DECAY CAUSING BACTERIA STREPTOCOCCUS MUTANS	Ashley Valencia	ISEF Finalist and UA Scholarship, Roche Diagnostics Tom Grogan Award for Scientific Excellence
EXOGENEOUS NIACIN AND ZEAXANTHIN TREATMENT TO INCREASE THE STRESS TOLERANCE AND LIGHT ABSORBANCE CAPACITY OF MICROALGAE CHLORELLA VULGARIS UNDER AN ENGINEERED MARTIAN ENVIRONMENT	Christopher Miranda	Jack Johnson Arizona Excellence in Science Award, ISEF Finalist and UA Scholarship
ENGINEERING OF ANTIMICROBIAL BIOPLASTICS FROM INVASIVE ALGAE CAULERPA PROLIFERA, UNDARIA PINNATIFIDA, AND WASTE CORN COBS	Julianna Serna-Ortiz	ISEF Finalist and UA Scholarship, Roche Diagnostics Best of Chemical and Material Sciences Award

J. Robert Hendricks Elementary School

Say Watt!

Jessica Wendt class

Caterpillar Foundation’s Building Arizona’s Future Award

L. W. Cross Middle School

A World on Fire 2, How to replant forests after wildfires; like those in Australia and California and now here in Oro Valley?

Gabriel Vaughn

Lemelson Early Inventor Prize

Nelson Home School

Analysis of pollen-pistil interactions to model reproductive thermotolerance in tomato

Alexander Nelson

Alex and Winn Lindsay Award, ISEF Finalist and UA Scholarship, Phi Beta Kappa

Quest for Education and Arts

Nouveau-AI-Plastic-Degen: A novel approach using AI-based enzyme engineering to design New and Highly Efficient Marine Plastic Degrading Enzymes

Arjun Gupta

ISEF Finalist and UA Scholarship, Phi Beta Kappa

Satori Charter School

Exploring plastic and magnetic properties to save the world’s ocean

Insee Ekstrom

TEP Brilliant Mind Award

Sunnyside High School

How does the presence of plants around a trap affect the number of bees collected?	Kayo Haven, Ramon Armando Martinez-Celaya, Adrianna Castro	Pima Community College Foundation Top STEM Student of Promise
Exploration of Chaotic Orbits Using the Lyapunov Exponent in the Restricted Three-Body Problem	Yaritza Durazo	ISEF Finalist and UA Scholarship

Tanque Verde High School

Rare Immune Cells Significantly Associated with Severe COVID-19 Cases

Karah Mayer

ISEF Finalist and UA Scholarship, Roche Diagnostics Best of Cellular & Microbiological Sciences Award

Tucson High Magnet School

The Cheapette: An Affordable Micropipette For The Masses

Charles Becker

Raytheon Excellence in Engineering Design Scholarship

University High School – Top High School

Contemporary and Projected Climate Changes across the Southwestern United States Relative to the Last 24,000 Years	Nathaniel van der Leeuw, Lily Wood	ISEF Finalist and UA Scholarship
Identifying Likely Active Binding Pockets in all Human Proteins	Elliot Wheeler, Marta Wrzeszcz	Caterpillar Foundation’s Building Arizona’s Future Award
Comparing Different Machine Learning Approaches to Assess Frailty Among Geriatric Patients Using Upper-Extremity Function	Ananya Munjal	Roche Diagnostics Best of Engineering, Robotics and Computer Sciences Award
Hedgehog Signaling Mediates the Dysregulation of Adrenocorticotropin Hormone Secretion and Somatostatin Receptor Expression in Cushing’s Disease	Saptarshi Mallick	SARSEF Foundation Scholarship Excellence in Research, 2022 Regeneron Biomedical Science Award

Vail Academy and High School

Solar Power Heater	Amara Perez	TEP Top Middle School Project Award
Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder	Hayley Carpenter	Pima Community College Foundation Top STEM Student of Promise

Top Teacher Awards

Educator Advocate of Science and Engineering

Adam Norzagaray

Ana Castro-Eubanks

Cindy Adkins

Cindy Bujanda

Dan McAlees

Elisabeth Gingrich

Ellen Samuelsen

Heather Madrigal

Jackie Nichols

Janine Malkin

Jennifer Kaste

Jessica Caramella

Laura Miller

Lisa Baker

Mandi Cordell

MariAnn Slater

Michael Frank

Monique Berry-Kelley

Oguz Guvenc

Pam Buchanan

Pam McGuire

Perla Villa

Rebecca Bhasme

Robyn Yewell

Tara Archuleta

Ty White

Verdean Smith

Yvonne Youngquist

SARSEF Champion Educator of Science and Engineering

Alexandria Vaughn

Alfred Santos

Annette Koweek

Deb Goepfrich

Elyse Wexler

Jaime Camero

Jennifer Metzler

Lisa Nielson

Patricia Garcia

Rita Wilhite

Rosina West

Vicki Peterson

SARSEF Endorsed Teacher Award

Cindy Bujanda

LeeAnn Howell

Treasures 4 Teachers of Tucson Membership Award

Brenda Lundt

CIndy Bujanda

Feven Afewerki

Georgina Matzkin

Ivan Yocum

Jocelyn Smerz

Kelly Milani

Mister Ben Collinsworth

Steve Beall

Ty White

White Stallion Ranch Teacher Excellence Award

Ms. Dee Padilla

Equity is a core value our organization strives to achieve daily. However, equity in education, science and engineering will never be achieved without action and a broader recognition of the impact racial injustice has in our daily lives.

As SARSEF families and community members, we teach our kids to make observations, ask questions, collect data, and form their own conclusions. As images of protests and police violence flash across our screens, many of us grapple with how to talk to kids about what they’re seeing and what it means for our nation. This can feel like a difficult conversation to start.

But these conversations are crucial. Adults and children alike need to take the last step in scientific research – the hardest one – using what they learn to build a better future.

The data has been gathered, for decades, for centuries. The conclusion is clear – systemic racism exists and has fatal consequences. Now is the time for action. Black Lives Matter.

If you are a parent, caretaker or teacher looking for ways to talk to kids about racism, here is a resource that might help.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/family/in-the-news/talking-about-race/

Dear SARSEF Community,

It is my distinct pleasure to introduce you to SARSEF’s next CEO, Julie Euber.

SARSEF has been a critical part of my life for twenty-five years. Over that time, I have watched it transform from a week-long celebration of the brightest minds in Southern Arizona run by a group of passionate volunteers, into an incredible organization focused on education equity where every child owns their potential and makes a difference in their world. As a student competitor, SARSEF taught me that my brain has value, and my voice has impact. As SARSEF’s first full-time staff member, I quickly recognized that passion can only get an organization so far and vowed that my work would not be done until SARSEF was truly sustainable.

When I became CEO, my goal was clear. I would make sure that SARSEF had a culture where people would not want to leave, but if they chose to, we would be able to celebrate their contributions because the organization would be established enough for their legacy to live on.

I am incredibly proud to have reached my goals for this amazing organization.

It was not until my position as CEO that I truly understood the value of the skills that SARSEF taught me in my formative years. I could not help but smile as I applied science and engineering practices daily, eliminating variables and making data-based decisions. I used critical thinking and problem solving skills to keep us thriving through the pandemic as well as the data and communication skills to articulate our impact.

I couldn’t have met my goals without your support. I encourage you to join me in celebrating what we’ve been able to accomplish together, and what’s to come, by making a donation at sarsef.org/donate. Please feel free to let me know you are giving in celebration of our work together in the comment box of our donation form so that I can thank you.

Fortunately, SARSEF has an incredibly strong incoming CEO who will continue this legacy. When I became CEO, I hired Julie Euber as COO with our succession plan in mind. Her remarkable leadership skills, keen eye for strategy, discipline for planning, and passion for equity were qualities I knew would be essential in the next SARSEF CEO. In the two years she has been with our organization she has far surpassed my own, and our Board’s, ideal expectations for a successor.

After she was unanimously selected, our SARSEF board expressed utmost confidence in Julie’s ability to maintain SARSEF’s growth trajectory, assuring a high level of service to our many stakeholders. Her mix of experience in science, education, and the nonprofit sector make her uniquely qualified.

I first met Julie while working alongside her at both the State and International Science Fairs, where her commitment to putting students first was clear. Each decision she made and action she took embodied SARSEF’s commitment to our core values of Innovation, Equity, and Engagement. I later learned that it was her own experience with science education equity that drives her. After Julie earned her MA in Anthropology with a focus in Bioarchaeology from Arizona State University, she served as Manager of Education and Outreach at the Phoenix-based biomedical research nonprofit TGen. During that time, she pursued further training and education in nonprofit management and became the President of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Phoenix.

Julie shared, “I look forward to continuing SARSEF’s long tradition of supporting and celebrating opportunities for Arizona students to get involved in science and engineering. It has been an incredible opportunity working with the SARSEF staff, board, and volunteers over the last two years. Their dedication and thoughtful work are making science and engineering more accessible to all students. I can’t wait to continue my work with them.”

Julie will officially start as SARSEF CEO in October, and I encourage you to take the time to welcome and get to know her. To do so, schedule a 15-minute virtual meet-and-greet here: https://calendly.com/julie-euber/meet-the-new-sarsef-ceo.

It is time for a new generation of leadership to carry SARSEF to its next phase, and I cannot wait to see what it becomes.

With gratitude for all you have done to make this journey truly remarkable,

Liz Bowman

SARSEF is encouraging community members to leave a note of congratulations, well wishes or a favorite memory of Bowman at the following link: https://forms.gle/5B7s2gpD19Ra4tiJ6.

Press Release – PDF

June 8, 2021

In May, eight Southern Arizona students competed as finalists at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF) for $5 million in awards and prizes. The students qualified to participate in the competition at the SARSEF Regional Science and Engineering Fair.

Regeneron ISEF 2021 included 1,833 finalists representing 49 states and 64 countries from across the world. This year marked the first time in the competition’s more than 70-year history that the event took place virtually.

Of the eight Southern Arizona students who competed at Regeneron ISEF, six won awards. You can find the full list of finalists below:

Aaron Trinh, Grade 12

Canyon del Oro High School, Tucson, AZ

Project Title: The Feasibility of the Extraction of (2E)-3-phenylprop-2-enal from Cinnamomum cassia Bark Using Water and Aqueous Ethanol as Solvents in Distillation

Alexander C Nelson, Grade 11

Nelson Home School, Tucson, AZ

Project title: mRNA Sequence Analysis to Determine Genes Causing Unilateral Incompatibility in S. lycopersicum and S. pennellii

Winner of a University of Arizona $10,000 Renewable Scholarship

 

Amanda R Whalen, Grade 12

Veritas Christian Community School, Sierra Vista, AZ

Project Title: Making a Saguaro H.A.W.T. (Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine)

Winner of an ASU Renewable Scholarship and a University of Arizona $10,000 Renewable Scholarship

Andrea Romero, Grade 10

Harvest Preparatory Academy, Yuma, AZ

Project Title: Effects of Prosopis glandulosa leave Extract on Lowering the Antibiotic Resistance of Escherichia coli, Sarcina lutea, and Staphylococcus Epidermidis

Winner of a University of Arizona $10,000 Renewable Scholarship

Esha Mathur, Grade 12

University High School, Tucson, AZ

Project Title: Prophages Within Symbiotic and Free-Living Terrestrial Cyanobacteria

Winner of a University of Arizona $10,000 Renewable Scholarship

Ethan Lee, Grade 12

University High School, Tucson, AZ

Project Title: Fabrication of a Bioprinted Scaffold Cuff: Implications for Tissue Engineering of an Implantable Organ

Isabel Ross, Grade 11

Cienega High School, Vail, AZ

Project Title: Green Infrastructure Impacts on Carbon Cycling: Evaluating Changes in Soil Microbial Composition and Function

Winner of a University of Arizona $10,000 Renewable Scholarship

Karah Mayer, Grade 11

Tanque Verde High School, Tucson, AZ

Project Title: In Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Patient Tissue, UG Rich RNA Is Not Preferentially Soluble as Predicted

Winner of an ASU Renewable Scholarship and a University of Arizona $10,000 Renewable Scholarship

For more information about the students’ work and accomplishments, contact SARSEF COO Julie Euber at julie@sarsef.org.

Media Contact:  

Julie Euber, COO

SARSEF

812-340-8663

julie@sarsef.org

Press Release – PDF

Press Release – Español – PDF

May 26, 2021

(Tucson, AZ) Over the past school year, Ricardo Dominguez interned with the local nonprofit SARSEF, giving them the bandwidth to better track school involvement in their programs and assisting with the transition between virtual and in-person events.

Dominguez interned through the University of Arizona College of Education’s Paul Lindsey Internship Program. Lindsey interns are students of education who build leadership and management skills through real-world experiences in their funded work with community outreach programs, museums and a variety of local agencies.

SARSEF creates Arizona’s future critical thinkers and problem solvers through science and engineering, a mission that Dominguez feels a strong connection to.

“As a first-generation college student, my STEM foundation has always given me the confidence to be passionately curious,” Dominguez shared.

Dominguez is a proud graduate of the Sunnyside School District. He attended The University of Arizona directly out of high school and faced the endless challenges of a first-generation college student. Through his struggles, he was lucky enough to have caring educators who gave him the confidence to continue school even though his route was not a straight path. From this experience, he found a love of education and has devoted his career to doing just that – guiding first-generation students through higher education learning.

Currently, Dominguez serves as a College and Alumni Counselor for San Miguel High School. With the intention to make a real difference in Arizona education, he decided to pursue a Master’s in Education Policy at the University of Arizona, and through the College of Education, he was granted a Paul Lindsey Internship Scholarship, connecting him to SARSEF.

“What I love about SARSEF is its mission to nurture curiosity and make science learning fun. Although I was an intern this year, I also considered myself a student in the program, and I benefited greatly from the amazing educators working at SARSEF,” said Dominguez.

During his time with SARSEF, Dominguez analyzed program data, assisted with the Virtual SARSEF Fair, performed safety checks on solar-powered go-karts for Racing the Sun, and interviewed ISEF finalists selected at the SARSEF Fair to highlight their accomplishments.

As the school year wrapped up, Dominguez had the opportunity to reflect on his time as an intern with SARSEF.

“In a year of unknowns, my internship at SARSEF provided much-needed value to my days at home. When I reflect on my SARSEF internship, I know I received more from the program than what is said on paper. SARSEF is proof that educators come in all forms and that a passion for learning is what you need to do anything you want. From the first-year scientist at the Fair to our board members, there’s a clear passion for curiosity. That is what STEM and SARSEF are all about.”

Media Contact:  

Julie Euber, COO

SARSEF

812-340-8663

julie@sarsef.org

Press Release – PDF

May 7, 2021

(Tucson, AZ) After two years of waiting, high school students from across the state participating in SARSEF’s Racing the Sun finally had their day to race the solar-powered go-karts they designed and built as teams with the help of their coaches and community mentors.

On April 24, 56 high school students gathered at Musselman Honda Circuit to evaluate their karts for safety and race. Due to the pandemic, Race Day 2020 was canceled, and so this year’s Race Day included Karts from both school years.

Nine teams from six schools competed at Race Day 2021. Teams were evaluated on the presentation of their design and build process, participation throughout the school year, and the performance of their kart during the race.

Students raced both standard and maker go-karts. Standard karts use a pre-fabricated steel frame chassis, while maker karts are for teams who build the kart from the ground up. At this year’s competition, Blue Ridge High School in Pinetop, AZ used the tail end of a helicopter as a lightweight chassis on their maker kart.

The Grand Champion of Racing the Sun 2021 was Salpointe High School’s Standard Kart. The Innovation Award went to Blue Ridge High School’s Maker Kart.

In the Standard Kart Division, the Efficiency Award went to Tanque Verde Solar Flares with Salpointe High School in second place. The Endurance Award went to Center for Academic Success with Tanque Verde Solar Flares in second place. The Speed Award went to Center for Academic Success with Salpointe High School in second place.

In the Maker Kart Division, the Efficiency Award went to Salpointe High School with Blue Ridge High School in second place. The Endurance Award went to Shadow Ridge High School with Center for Academic Success in second place. The Speed Award went to Shadow Ridge High School with Salpointe High School in second place.

After an exciting ending to a long season, teams are already signing up to join the program for the 2021-2022 school year. For more information on how to start a team or get involved, contact SARSEF’s Chief Program Officer, Brooke Meyer, at brooke@sarsef.org.