Grand prize winner Annie Ostojic was awarded the Samueli Foundation Prize for her mastery of STEM principles and team leadership, demonstrated throughout the rigorous weeklong competition. Her science fair project expanded upon knowledge she accumulated in prior competitions to apply science and engineering to innovating a more energy-efficient microwave design. Ostojic performed complex experiments and designed prototypes to achieve the next level of creative solutions for environmentally friendly microwave cooking.

A three-time Broadcom MASTERS participant, Ostojic won the Rising Star award as a 2014 Broadcom MASTERS finalist and represented the United States as one of 24 delegates from 14 countries at Broadcom MASTERS International this year. Ostojic competed against more than 2,200 entrants to return as a finalist of the 2015 Broadcom MASTERS.

 

 

Sebastian Mellen was awarded the Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation for his vision and promise as an innovator who, in the spirit of radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi, demonstrated aptitude and skill in technical and mathematical concepts both with his science fair project and throughout team challenges.

Mellen was inspired by teachers who struggle with grading students’ self-written examinations and classmates who wrestle with math and physics homework. To make their lives easier, Mellen applied his math and engineering acumen to design and develop an Android app that can do a broad range of algebra calculations routinely used in math, physics and other sciences.

 

 

 

 

First place: Maximilian Du, of Manlius, N.Y., for his project on a new method to extract caffeine from drinks.

 

 

Second place: Hannah Cevasco, of San Carlos, Calif., for her research on the healing properties of honey.

 

 

First place: Manasa (Hari) Bhimaraju, of Cupertino, Calif., for her project on a low-cost animated teaching tool for the study of elements in the periodic table with an interface for the visually impaired.

 

 

Second place: Anusha Zaman, of Baton Rouge, La., for her project on the potential health effects of betel nut use.

 

 

First place: Avery Clowes, of Bolton, Mass., for his project on an electrostatic generator.

 

 

Second place: Soyoun Choi, of Melbourne, Fla., for her project on the effect of bilingualism on cognitive development in adolescents.

 

 

First place: David Yue, of Plano, Texas, for his project on 3-D reconstruction processing and its application to cancer prevention.

 

 

Second place: Madison Toonder, of St. Augustine, Fla., for her project on the study of the effect of sunblock nanoparticles on oysters’ ability to filter bay water.

 

 

Evelyn Bodoni, of Centennial, Colo., (pictured, left) and Anish Singhani, of San Ramon, Calif., (pictured, right) win a trip to the 2016 Intel ISEF, the world’s largest international high school science fair competition as U.S. Delegates to Broadcom MASTERS International, in recognition of their work throughout the Broadcom MASTERS finals, as well as their projects on the reasons underlying why students cheat, and a brain-wave controlled electronic system, respectively.

 

 

The Broadcom MASTERS Team Award was awarded to the Red 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®. (Red Team members, pictured with Raspberry Pi Foundation cofounder Eben Upton, from left to right: Naya Menezes, Glenn Grimmett, Elizabeth Kinsey, First-Place Math Award Winner David Yue and Rising Star Award Winner Anish Singhani.)

 

 

The Scott A. McGregor Leadership Award is presented to the finalist who is elected by his or her peers to represent them as their Broadcom MASTERS Class Speaker. Avery P. Clowes, of Bolton, Mass., was elected as the first recipient of the award after the weeklong competition in which he demonstrated the talent, enthusiasm, collegiality and generosity of spirit of a leader.

This award honors Broadcom President and Chief Executive Officer and founding Chairman of the Broadcom Foundation Scott McGregor, who enthusiastically championed the Broadcom MASTERS and is passionate advocate for science fair competition and project-based learning as essential to development of 21st century skills. (From left to right: McGregor, Clowes and California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson)