Meet the 2021 Winners

The Samueli Foundation Prize: $25,000

 
Winner: Akilan Sankaran
 
Project: On the Exploration and Analysis of Highly Divisible Numbers
 
Akilan, 14, Albuquerque, New Mexico, won the $25,000 Samueli Foundation Prize, for his computer program that can calculate “highly divisible numbers,” sometimes called antiprimes, more than 1,000 digits long as well as his leadership, collaboration and critical thinking skills. 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.

 

DoD STEM Talent Award: $10,000

 
Winner: Camellia Sharma
 
Project: FishPopAI: Counting Fish Population using Artificial Intelligence
 
Camellia, 14, Henrico, VA, 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. Camellia built a 3D-printed aerial drone/boat that can fly to a spot, land on the water and take underwater photos. Her software can then count the fish living there.
 

Lemelson Award for Invention: $10,000

 
Winner: Prisha Shroff
 
Project:  AI-based Wildfire Prevention System
 
Prisha, 14, Chandler, Arizona, 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. Prisha developed an AI-based wildfire prevention system that uses satellite and meteorological data to identify fire-prone locations and deploy drones there.
 

Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation: $10,000

 

Winner: Josephine E. Schultz

Project: Effect of Light Pollution on Chrysalis Stage of Painted Lady Butterfly

Josephine, 14, San Antonio, TX, 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. Jo studied painted lady butterflies and found that changes in light patterns can affect their emergence from their chrysalises by up to two days.

 

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

 
Winner: Ryka C. Chopra
 
Project: Does the Tail Wag the Dog, After All? Obesity Clusters & Their Influence on Predatory Location Choice of New Fast-Food Chain Franchisees
 
Ryka, 13, Fremont, 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. Ryka geocoded the locations of fast-food restaurants to see if they are built near populations of obese people, perhaps contributing to the obesity cycle.
 

 

Broadcom Coding with Commitment Award: $5,000

 
Winner: Hailey Miya Van
 
Project: Multi-stressor Analysis of Carbon Dioxide on Oceanic Ecosystems: Using Climate Change Modeling to Study Hypoxia and Acidification, won the Broadcom Coding with Commitment Award, which recognizes a finalist whose project and performance combines expert STEM knowledge and passion for helping or improving one’s community through coding.
 
Hailey, 14, Irvine, California, won the Broadcom Coding with Commitment Award for a project titled Multi-stressor Analysis of Carbon Dioxide on Oceanic Ecosystems: Using Climate Change Modeling to Study Hypoxia and Acidification. This award recognizes a finalist whose project and performance combines expert STEM knowledge and passion for helping or improving one’s community through coding.
 

 

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 received $2,500 to be used toward a STEM summer camp experience, with top awards in math sponsored by Robert John Floe, President Floe Financial Partners.

Science Award

First place: Atreya Manaswi, Finding the Best Novel, Safe, and Organic Treatment to Attract Small Hive Beetles and Improve Honey Bee Strength (Year 2 Study)

Second place: Elizabeth Reilly, The Role of Leech Saliva and Shisho in the Inflammation and Healing of Diabetic Wounds

 

Technology Award

First place:  Ansh Sehgal, Bike to Bike System for Visually Impaired

Second place: Praneel Anil Shah, Utilizing a Bioelectrochemical System with Phototrophic Bacteria to Generate Clean Water and Electricity

Engineering Award

First place: Avi Patel, Bike to Bike System for Visually Impaired

 

Second place: Clara Choi, EEG Study of Virtual Learning Demonstrates Worsened Learning Outcomes and Higher Mirror Neuron Activation

Mathematics Award

First place: Eamon Gordon, Assessing the Effect of Voice Onset Time on the Perception of English Consonants

 

Second place:  Sohan Govindaraju, A Novel Mathematical Approach to Predict the Spread of a Wildfire Using the SIR based Model

 

Rising Stars Award

In recognition of their promise as two of the youngest competitors, two Rising Stars win the opportunity to represent the U.S. as a delegate to Broadcom MASTERS International. Delegates will attend the 2022 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the world’s largest international high school science fair competition.

Sebastian Rae Alexis, Quantifying the Effectiveness of Lockdown Measures Using Effective Reproduction Number (Rt) of SARS-CoV2 

Judy Eliana Bai, Computational Prediction of COVID-19 Risky Genes Associated with Lung Cancer 

Team Award, sponsored by TIES

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. The team award is sponsored by TIES, Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM.

White Team: Ryka C. Chopra, Atreya Manaswi, Avi Patel, Samhita Pokkunuri and Elizabeth Reilly

Broadcom Leadership Award:

The Broadcom Leadership Award is bestowed upon the Broadcom MASTERS finalist elected by their 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.

Prisha Shroff, AI-based Wildfire Prevention System

2021 Broadcom MASTERS finalists
Name Hometown Project
Arjun Agarwal OR
A Machine Learning-Based Innovative Approach for Early Detection and Forecasting of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs)
Sebastian Alexis CA Quantifying the Effectiveness of Lockdown Measures Using Effective Reproduction Number (Rt) of SARS-CoV2
Judy Bai MI Computational Prediction of COVID-19 Risky Genes Associated with Lung Cancer
Clara Choi CA EEG Study of Virtual Learning Demonstrates Worsened Learning Outcomes and Higher Mirror Neuron Activation
Ryka Chopra CA Does the Tail Wag the Dog, After All? Obesity Clusters & Their Influence on Predatory Location Choice of New Fast Food Chain Franchisees
Katherine Gilchrist PA Dress for Success: Which Fabric Drapes Best?
Eamon Gordon CA Assessing the Effect of Voice Onset Time on the Perception of English Consonants
Charles Gorman CA Pump & Circumstance
Sohan Govindaraju OR A Novel Mathematical Approach to Predict the Spread of a Wildfire Using the SIR based Model
Gabriela Guerra Sanchez
TX Can You Hear That? What Do You See?
Anneliese Hsiao FL The Effect of a Hot Car Interior on Hand Sanitizer Alcohol Content
Lucas Katz CA
Underwater Wireless Transmission of Data and Energy Between an Underwater Robot and a Floating Base-Station
Atreya Manaswi FL Finding the Best Novel, Safe, and Organic Treatment to Attract Small Hive Beetles and Improve Honey Bee Strength (Year 2 Study)
Vihaan Paliwal OR Don't Drive That Way, Have Another Day!
Avi Patel NJ The B2B System for the Visually Impaired
Samhita Pokkunuri NJ A Novel Graph Neural Network for De Novo Drug Discovery: A Case Study on Glioblastoma
Nipun Rajan TN Personalizing Masks for Optimal Results Using Computer Algorithms
Elizabeth Reilly TX The Role of Leech Saliva and SHISHO in the Inflammation and Healing of Diabetic Wounds
Akilan Sankaran NM On the Exploration and Analysis of Highly Divisible Numbers
Josephine Schultz TX Effect of Light Pollution on Chrysalis Stage of Painted Lady Butterfly
Ansh Sehgal NJ Bike to Bike System for Visually Impaired
Praneel Shah CA Utilizing a Bioelectrochemical System with Phototrophic Bacteria to Generate Clean Water and Electricity
Camellia Sharma VA FishPopAI: Counting Fish Population Using Artificial Intelligence
Prisha Shroff AZ AI-based Wildfire Prevention System
Joseph Simak MD Evaluation of Acute Toxicity of Common Motor Vehicle Water Pollutants in Artemia salina Nauplii Model
Raunak Singh NJ Apollo: A Beacon of Light
Maya Tang OH How Do Mask Types and Instrument Covers Affect Aerosol Spread and Sound Level During Music Performance?
Lucy Teng KY The Effects of SARS-CoV2 Non-structural Proteins on Cytokine Induction
Hailey Van CA Multi-stressor Analysis of Carbon Dioxide on Oceanic Ecosystems: Using Climate Change Modeling to Study Hypoxia and Acidification
Angela Zhan UT Biological Transformer: Constructing Novel Microbial Cell Factories to Convert Plastic Wastes to Environmentally Friendly Bioplastic
US BROADCOM MASTERS ALUMNI