Grand prize winner Holly Jackson has loved to sew since the fourth grade, when she learned to construct dolls and clothing. She has long been fascinated with the idea of testing the strength and the best applications for various stitches. Using different fabrics and threads, Holly decided to test which type of lockstitch, a stitch made from two interlocked threads, would be strongest: straight, stretch, zigzag or three-point zigzag. She found that polyester thread failed, as hypothesized, and that a straight stitch was strongest on average. Holly’s project taught her stitch strength is crucial, and that it is important that a seam is as strong as it can be—especially in devices like parachutes and seat belts where a person’s life may be dependent on the strength of a seam.

She was selected for the Samueli Foundation Prize based on her mastery of STEM principles during the weeklong competition. Holly has exemplified how research and innovation are dependent on the integration of these disciplines as well as the impact they collectively have on our everyday lives.

 

 

Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation winner Sahar Khashayar was inspired to study wildfire detection after hearing about Arizona’s deadly Yarnell Hill fire in 2013. She was moved to explore whether a mix of hardware and software could spot the early signs of a fire better than humans could. Sahar created a device using temperature and gas sensors, along with an infrared sensor and processor board to detect the three main signatures of fire: heat, smoke and infrared radiation. She also wrote a program to send a warning via Bluetooth® to a smartphone if her detector measured any values suggestive of a fire. She concluded that deploying a network of her $60 early wildfire detection devices could save lives and property.

Sahar was selected because she demonstrates both vision and promise as an innovator, and in the spirit of radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi, has shown aptitude and skill in applied electrical engineering concepts in her science project and in the STEM challenges throughout the week.

 

 

 

 

First place: James Roney, of Santa Barbara, Calif., for his project on how ants use pheromones to communicate the quality of potential food sources.

 

 

Second place: Daniel Bruce, of San Diego, Calif., for his project on how the presence of humans affects the flight behavior of lagoon birds in coastal Southern California.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Broadcom MASTERS Team Award was awarded to the White Team for demonstrating their ability to work together, solve problems through shared decision making, communication and scientific and engineering collaboration. Each received an iPod nano and wristband. (Pictured, left to right: first place Engineering Award winner Chythanya Murali, Caroline Edmonds, Ben Chrepta, Floyd Greenwood and Aditya Sivakumar)