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By Tony Rice, NASA Ambassador

101 high school students from across North Carolina presented their work at the North Carolina Science and Engineering Fair (NCSEF) on Saturday. Each earned their spot after winning their category at one of the nine regional fairs in February. These are the best of the best of the more than 1600 students that compete in local fairs.

Brevard High School was well represented, particularly in biological and environmental science categories, sending nine project. Marvin Ridge High School in Waxhaw sent five projects across several categories while their neighbors to the north at Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte sent four engineering and technology projects. The North Carolina School of Science and Math students compete in their own regional level fair before they sent 16 projects onto the state level.

The pandemic didn't just move this year's fair online, it moved students out of the lab and onto their computers. Fair organizers along with many of the 100+ volunteer judges noticed a shift in projects to machine learning and other computer modeling techniques. Projects ranged from computer generated art "indistinguishable from a human's work" to modeling resistance to antibiotics.

The 2020 fair was canceled as global pandemic shut down schools across the state.

"There wasn't time to figure out virtual instruction on this scale." said Judy Day, NCSEF director. "We always think about students that don't have access to broadband. Libraries and coffee shops that would have served as hotspots for students quickly closed down last year", she added.

NCSEF organizers received grants to supply some participants and their school districts with hotspots to enable them to participate. One student presented her work from a wifi equipped county school bus. Organizers also planned for technology problems, adding slots at the end of the day to give students who encountered technology problems the chance to talk with judges.

"The materials students had to prepare were completely different" said Day, "but there were some positives." Judges normally get their first look at projects, their posters and other materials on the day of the fair. "Judges liked being able to review the materials in greater detail ahead of time."

Some students looked to solve problems on Mars.

Graham Green and Isaiah Lefler of Brevard High School looked at growing spinach using (simulated) Martian soil and (simulated) urine. Isabella Hardy of Gryphon Academy in Newland, NC studied how different fertilizers performed looking at resulting nitrogen, potassium and pH levels. Shishira Somashekar, Pranet Sharma, and Parth Shirolkar of the NC School of Science and Mathematics developed a machine learning model to identify when the fine Martian dust that plagues NASA's robots needs to be cleaned from solar panels.

Others looked to solve problems closer to home, especially those brought to light in the past year.

Mia Mattern, Brealin Maya of Avery County High looked to improve virtual instruction for special needs students, studying how effective text-to-speech technology is in helping students with reading difficulties. Cheyenne Rogers of Mellennium Charter Academy in Mount Airy studied how the pandemic has impacted the mental health of her peers.

After wading through projects with words like Temporomandibular, Spectrophotometricm and Acetylcholinesterase, judges got a welcome pallet cleanser with the physics of making the best ice cream from Martin Inman if Foresetview High in Gastonia.

Winners in each of the seven categories, along with winners of special awards from organizations like NASA, NOAA, the US Navy, Army and Air Force as well as professional science organizations like the American Meteorological Society and Association for Women Geoscientists will be announced in an online awards ceremony Sunday afternoon.

Twelve projects will also be submitted to go on to compete in early May at the International Science and Engineering Fair(ISEF), which will also be conducted online.

All projects are available for public viewing on NC Science and Engineering Fair website. The virtual awards ceremony is open to the public via Zoom beginning at 3pm on Sunday, March 28.

Plans are already underway to return the fair to the campus of NC State in 2022.

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North Carolina Science and Engineering Fair moves online - WRAL.com