2019 Winners
MEET THE 2019 WINNERS
The Samueli Foundation Prize: $25,000
Winner: Alaina Gassler
Project: Improving Automobile Safety by Removing Blindspots
Alaina Gassler, 14, West Grove, Pennsylvania, won the $25,000 Samueli Foundation Prize, for her project reducing blind spots in cars and her exemplary performance during the Broadcom MASTERS’s hands-on challenges. The prize is a gift of Dr. Henry Samueli, Chairman of the Board, Broadcom Inc., and Chair of the Broadcom Foundation and his wife, Dr. Susan Samueli, President of the Samueli Foundation.
Lemelson Award for Invention: $10,000
Winner: Rachel Bergey
Project: Spotted Lanternflies: Stick’em or Trick’em
Rachel Bergey, 14, Harleysville, Pennsylvania, won the $10,000 Lemelson Award for Invention, awarded by The Lemelson Foundation to a young inventor creating promising solutions to real-world problems. Rachel developed a trap made of tinfoil and netting for the Spotted Lanternfly, an invasive species causing damage to trees in Pennsylvania.
Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation: $10,000
Winner: Sidor Clare
Project: Bound and Bricked
Sidor Clare, 14, Sandy, Utah, won the $10,000 Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation, an honor made possible by Samueli’s generous donation of his 2012 Marconi Society Prize Award. Sidor developed bricks that could one day be made on Mars, so that humans would not be required to bring building materials with us in order to build there.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Advancement: $10,000
Winner: Alexis MacAvoy
Project: Designing Efficient, Low-Cost, Eco-Friendly Activated Carbon for Removal of Heavy Metals from Water
Alexis MacAvoy, 14, Hillsborough, California, won the $10,000 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Advancement, which recognizes the student whose work and performance shows the most promise in health-related fields and demonstrates an understanding of the many social factors that affect health. Alexis designed a water filter using carbon to remove heavy metals from water.
STEM Talent Award, sponsored by DoD STEM: $10,000
Winner: Lauren Ejiaga
Project: Ozone Depletion: How it Affects Us
Lauren Ejiaga, 14, New Orleans, Louisiana, won the $10,000 STEM Talent Award, sponsored by DoD STEM, for demonstrating excellence in science, technology, engineering or math, along with the leadership and technical skills necessary to excel in the 21st Century STEM workforce and build a better community for tomorrow. Lauren’s research focused on how current levels of ultraviolet light from the sun due to ozone depletion impacts plant growth and performance.
STEM Award Winners
First and second place winners of STEM Awards demonstrated acumen and promise in science, technology, engineering and math. First place winners were awarded $3,500 and second place winners receive $2,500 to support his or her choice of a STEM summer camp experience in the U.S. Each STEM Award winner also received an iPad. Top awards in math were sponsored by Robert John Floe, President, Floe Financial Partners.
Science Award
First place: Ruhi Yusuf, Effectiveness of Different Plants as Coagulants to Purify Contaminated Drinking Water
Second place: Tyler Bissoondial, Identification and Characterization of Salt-Tolerant (stl) Mutants in Raphanus sativus
Technology Award
First place: Kassie Holt, Bound and Bricked
Second place: Rishab Jain, The Pancreas Detective: A Novel Artificial-Intelligence-Based Post-Biopsy Tool to Screen Genetic Mutations Towards Personalizing Pancreatic Cancer Treatment
Engineering Award
First place: Rylan Gardner, Stall/Spin Recovery Via Increased Lift and Upwards Pitching Moment Using the Magnus Effect
Second place: Mercedes Randhahn, Opioid-Like Deactivation
Mathematics Award
First place: Isabelle Katz, Analyzing Musical Instruments/Voice Using Signal Analysis and A Novel Color-Fingerprinting Technique for Vocal Training
Second place: Johan DeMessie, Salt-Stain Effect for a Rapid, Low-Cost Analysis of Drinking Water
Rising Stars Award
In recognition of their promise as two of the youngest competitors, two Rising Stars win a trip to Anaheim, California in May 2020 as the United States delegate to Broadcom MASTERS International and Official Observer at International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the world’s largest international high school science fair competition.
Mary Shea Ballantine, Automotive Exhaust: Creating a Selective Environment for Bacteria
Kyle Tianshi, A Microscopic Particle Detector Using Laser Microscopy and Image Processing
Team Award
Each member of the team that best demonstrates their ability to work together and solve problems through shared decision making, communication and scientific and engineering collaboration will receive a gift card to a science supply company to support their interests in STEM.
Green Team: Lauren U.C. Ejiaga, Kassie Holt, Alexis Tea MacAvoy, Ashwin Prabhakar and Kyle Tianshi
Scott A. McGregor Leadership Award:
Finalists select one student from the group based on their leadership abilities to represent their class as a speaker at the awards ceremony.
David Anand: Monitoring water quality of the Yellow Creek Watershed using macro-invertebrate sampling and automated continuous testing with a DIY microcontroller for physical and chemical measurements
2019 Broadcom MASTERS finalists
| Name | Hometown | Project |
|---|---|---|
| ISHAN AHLUWALIA | Portland, Oregon | A Real-Time System for Detecting Tire-Road Friction in Different Weather Conditions Using Dynamic Time Warping |
| MADILYNE KAY BEAUDRY | Ogden, Utah | Bioplastic Development; Yielding Lactic Acid Using Compost |
| ANISH SRIRAM BHETHANABOTLA | San Jose, California | AI EYE: Navigation Aid for the Visually Impaired |
| RYLAN EDWARD COLBERT | Hilo, Hawaii | Icequakes |
| AKSHAR COWLAGI | Ann Arbor, Michigan | Not All That Is Yellow Is Turmeric: Designing Analytical Chemistry Methods and Photometric Circuitry to Detect Lead Chromate Adulteration of Turmeric |
| JOSHUA W. COX | Delaware, Ohio | Lift Off! Finding Rockets Using Sound Waves |
| AMELIA BELLE CURRAN | Indialantic, Florida | Comparing the Efficiency, Free Fatty Acid Percentage, and Carbon Dioxide Emissions of Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) and Ethiopian Mustard (Brassica carinata) Biodiesels |
| RICHARD ZILUN DENG | Portland, Oregon | Quantum Motions and Emotions for a Humanoid Robot Actor |
| PAULINE VICTORIA ALLASAS ESTRADA | Fresno, California | Real-Time Detection of Drought Stress in Plants Using a Custom-Built Infrared Sensing Rover |
| ANITA GAENKO | Ann Arbor, Michigan | Not All That Is Yellow Is Turmeric: Designing Analytical Chemistry Methods and Photometric Circuitry to Detect Lead Chromate Adulteration of Turmeric |
| ABHIJEET GHOSH | Marietta, Georgia | Recycling with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics |
| VIVAANA YASHASVI HAVAL | Charlotte, North Carolina | Repurposing Agro-Industrial Wastes to Increase Lipid Production from Scenedesmus dimorphus as a Sustainable Biofuel Feedstock |
| RYAN HONARY | Huntington Beach, California | A Machine Learning Driven IOT Sensor Network for Early Detection and Growth Prediction of Wildfires/COVID19 |
| SHELBY SCOUT HOOBLER | Cheyenne, Wyoming | Leave it to Beaver Dam Analogs…To Change Soil Moisture |
| SINA SEAN KASSAYAN | Menlo Park, California | Biometric Authentication in a Heartbeat: An Artificial Intelligence Deep Learning-Based Heart Sound Authentication System |
| LUCAS SEBASTIAN KATZ | Moraga, California | A Spherical Omnidirectional Motor for Electric Vehicles |
| ISHANA REMYA KUMAR | Chappaqua, New York | Color Is in the Eye of the Beholder: The Role of Retinal Fatigue on Imaginary Fechner Colors |
| CHARLOTTE LENORE SIMON MICHALUK | Pennington, New Jersey | Simulating Slipping Snails: Mitigating Climate Change and Oceanborne Invasive Species Transport with Biomimicry |
| SNIGTHA MOHANRAJ | Hamden, Connecticut | Effectiveness of the Organic Polymers for Removing Microplastic in an Aqueous Solution |
| JOHN TOMAS MULVIHILL | Chandler, Arizona | Designing a Football Helmet Lining and Coating for Maximum Rotational and Linear Impact Force Reduction |
| JULIAN OLSCHWANG | Los Angeles, California | Talk to the Hand |
| ANIKA PALLAPOTHU | San Jose, California | Predict Using AI: Diagnosing of Diabetic Eye Diseases Using Convolutional Neural Networks for Computer Vision |
| ELISE ANGELI RINA | Orlando, Florida | Access Granted |
| LOGAN WILLIAM SILVEA | Melbourne, Florida | Correlation Between Interocular Signal Delay and Luminosity, Measured Through the Perceived Intensity of the Pulfrich Effect, Noting the Impact of Ocular Dominance (2 Year Study — Psychological Adaptations and Optical Illusions) |
| SEBASTIAN PEARCE SKIDMORE | Birmingham, Alabama | Vinegar and Soil: Soil Acidification Improves Growth in Simulated Martian Soil |
| JOANNA LEE SOHN | San Antonio, Texas | The Effect of Probiotics and Metformin on C. elegans After Treatment in a Hypoxia Chamber: Year II |
| AGASTYA SRIDHARAN | San Diego, California | Quantifying the Impact of Search-Order Bias on Voting Preferences Using a Simulated Web Environment |
| KAI AVERY VERNOOY | Niskayuna, New York | Hacking the Election: Measuring and Solving Gerrymandering in Today’s Political System |
| ZOE ELANA WEISSMAN | Plantation, Florida | Testing Phytochemicals for Antinociceptive Properties in Both Female and Male Drosophila melanogaster in Order to Discover a Natural Painkiller and Reduce Bias in the Drug Industry |
| ANGELA ZHAN | Logan, Utah | Discovery of Novel Soil Microbes for Efficient Plastic Degradation |