Meet the 2020 Winners

The Samueli Foundation Prize: $25,000

 
Winner: Ishana Kumar
 
Project: Color is in the Eye of the Beholder: The Role of Retinal Fatigue on Imaginary Fechner Colors
 
Ishana Kumar, 12, Chappaqua, New York, won the $25,000 Samueli Foundation Prize for her project using optical illusions to better understand cognitive processing, 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: Julian Olschwang
 
Project: Talk To The Hand
 
Julian Olschwang, 14, Los Angeles, CA, won the $10,000 Lemelson Award for Invention, awarded by The Lemelson Foundation to a young inventor creating promising product-based solutions to real-world problems. In his project, Julian developed a low-cost glove that could convert sign language to text or speech.
 
 

Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation: $10,000

 

Winner: Kai Vernooy

Project: Hacking The Election: Measuring and Solving Gerrymandering in Today’s Political System

Kai Vernooy, 14, Niskayuna, NY, 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. The finalist demonstrates both vision and promise as an innovator, in the spirit of radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi. For his project, Kai studied gerrymandering and used a mathematical algorithm to draw voting districts that are more fair.

 

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Advancement: $10,000

 
Winner: Zoe Weissman
 
Project: 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
 
Zoe Weissman, 14, Plantation, FL, 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. Through her research, Zoe learned that most clinical trials for new drugs use more male subjects than female subjects; as a result more pain medicines are geared towards men. Zoe worked to identify natural alternatives to opioids that could help both sexes.
 

 

STEM Talent Award, sponsored by DoD STEM: $10,000

 
Winner: Charlotte Lenore Simon Michaluk, 14, Pennington, NJ
 
Project: Simulating Slipping Snails: Mitigating Climate Change and Oceanborne Invasive Species Transport With Biomimicry
 
Charlotte Lenore Simon Michaluk, 14, Pennington, NJ, won the $10,000 DoD STEM Talent Award 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. In her project, Charlotte found that combining a silicone type called PDMS with 3D models mimicking the Mako shark teeth would improve the coating for cargo ship hulls by limiting biofouling and in the transfer of invasive species.

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: Logan Silvea, 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)

Second place: Madilyne Kay Beaudry, Bioplastic Development; Yielding Lactic Acid Using Compost

 

Technology Award

First place: Amelia Belle Curran, Comparing the Efficiency, Free Fatty Acid Percentage, and Carbon Dioxide Emissions of Waste Vegetable Oil and Ethiopian Mustard (Brassica carinata) Biodiesels

Second place: Pauline Victoria Allasas Estrada, Real-Time Detection of Drought Stress in Plants Using a Custom-Built Infrared Sensing Rover

Engineering Award

First place: Anita Gaenko, Not All That Is Yellow Is Turmeric: Designing Analytical Chemistry Methods and Photometric Circuitry to Detect Lead Chromate Adulteration of Turmeric

 

Second place: JT Mulvihill, Designing a Football Helmet Lining and Coating for Maximum Rotational and Linear Impact Force Reduction

Mathematics Award

First place: Sina Sean Kassayan, Biometric Authentication in a Heartbeat: An Artificial Intelligence Deep Learning-Based Heart Sound Authentication System

 

Second place: Joshua W. Cox, Lift Off! Finding Rockets Using Sound Waves

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.

Lucas Katz, A Spherical Omnidirectional Motor for Electric Vehicles

Snigtha Mohanraj, Effectiveness of the Organic Polymers for Removing Microplastic in an Aqueous Solution

Team Award

Each member of the team that best demonstrates the 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.

Silver Team: Ishan Ahluwalia, Vivaana Haval, Kai Vernooy, Abhijeet Ghosh and Charlotte Lenore Simon Michaluk

Broadcom Leadership Award:

The Broadcom Leadership Award is bestowed upon the Broadcom MASTERS finalist elected by his or her peers to speak on behalf of their class at the Awards Ceremony. The Class Speaker demonstrates the collegiality and spirited leadership that has earned the collective esteem of the class throughout the Broadcom MASTERS competition and united them around common goals.

Agastya Sridharan, Quantifying the Impact of Search-Order Bias on Voting Preferences Using a Simulated Web Environment

2020 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
US BROADCOM MASTERS ALUMNI