Chapter Volunteers Judge Science and Engineering Expo

Chapter volunteers braved bad weather to serve as volunteer judges at the Anne Arundel County Regional Science and Engineering Expo in March. The expo is dedicated to promoting science education and recognizing and rewarding student achievement in science. Chapter volunteers interviewed 19 students with projects covering various STEM domains, such as mathematics, systems software, engineering and intelligent machines. First place middle school awards were given in the mathematics and intelligent machines categories. First, second and third place awards were given to high school students. Arundel High School junior Andrew Karam received the chapter's first place award. This is the second consecutive year he has won the award. Andrew's project, "Concealed Weapon Detection Using Infrared/Thermal Image Processing and Machine Learning," created a neural network to detect a concealed weapon. Andrew and South River High School senior Helen Dover, the chapter's third place winner, shared the expo's Grand Award with South River senior Simone Evans. Each earned the right to represent Anne Arundel County Public Schools at the International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) next month in Pittsburgh. Maya Albayrak from Chesapeake Science Point High School won the chapter's second place award. She also won a Grand Award Honorable Mention for her project, "A Tweet a Day Keeps the Doctor Away," and was invited to participate in Intel ISEF as a student observer. Chapter volunteer judges included Michael and Kathleen Berganski, Sarah Ramnarine, Jennifer Kielman, Russ Jones, David Knopp, Dan Noppinger and Terry McKinney.