The 2024 Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair was held last week with approximately 350 of the brightest middle and high school STEM students from across the state. Students initially competed virtually during preliminary judging rounds in hopes of being invited to present their projects in person at the finals on Wednesday, March 13 at Quinnipiac University. A record number of six students from Middlebrook School were named finalists for their projects spanning the fields of life science, environmental science, computational bioinformatics, physical science and biotechnology. After showcasing their projects to over 100 judges and industry sponsors, all six Middlebrook students were recognized with top honors at the state level and an additional student received a special category award during a celebratory awards ceremony this past weekend.
Kabir Rokkam and Shushruth Balaji’s 7th-grade team project, “Beat the Peat: Rice Husk, the Sustainable and Eco-friendly Alternative to Peat Moss” received some of the fair’s highest recognition, including first place in both the Boehringer Ingelheim Life Science Award and the Connecticut Association of Conservation and Inland Wetlands Commission Environmental Science Award. They were also named second for the 7th grade Alexion Biotechnology Awards and received the prestigious nomination to compete nationally in the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.
Eighth grader Jackson Norful received numerous awards for his project, “Burnt: Coding a Web-based Application to Help Adolescents Self-assess and Screen for Stress and Mental Health.” He was awarded second place across the state for the Pfizer Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Award and third place overall for the Infosys Foundation Computer Science Award. In addition, he was awarded fourth place in the 8th-grade individual Connecticut Science Fair Association Physical Science awards and was a CSF Medallion Finalist for the Alexion Biotechnology Awards.
Arav Gupta and Gopika Kaimal, received third place overall for the 8th-grade team Connecticut Science Fair Association Life Science Award for their project “Growing Pleustrus Ostreatus Mycelium with Full Synthetic Engine Lubricant to Create Biodegradable Alternatives to Supersede Environmentally-Harmful Substances.”
Kanira Baskar’s project “Finding Energy Content in Food using Calorimeters” was awarded fifth place for the 7th grade Connecticut Science Fair Association Physical Science Award.
Seventh grader Ishan Chugh received the Office of Naval Research-Middle School Special Category Award for his project, “Wireless Power Transfer — The Future of Energy.”
To add to the excitement, Middlebrook School received the Connecticut Science Fair Association “Perpetual Plaque.” This honor recognizes a school’s commitment to science fair participation and supporting the next generation of STEM leaders.
Student participation in the state fair was made possible by the generous sponsorship of the Wilton Education Foundation and Middlebrook PTA. Congratulations to these rising scientists and engineers.