Hawai'i teens take honors at international science fair

Advertiser Staff

Hawai'i students brought home nine awards from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held this month in Louisville, Ky.

They were among 17 Hawai'i finalists competing against more than 1,200 of the top student scientists worldwide.

The award winners are:

• Matthew Douglas Apau Jachowski, 16, Maui High School, Kahului, a $5,000 scholarship and $1,000 for the student's school science department from the American Astronomical Society and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and one of four $1,000 third-place awards in Earth and Space Science, for "Effect of Observation Timing on Initial Orbit Determination Accuracy."

• Kimberly Elise Reinhold, 14, St. Joseph Junior and Senior High School, Hilo, $1,000 for the best projects in computer science with an artificial intelligence component, from the American Association for Artificial Intelligence; honorable mention award for students under 16 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and $500 from the DuPont Excellence in Research Award, all for "Artificial Neural Networks: Mechanisms of Pattern Recognition and Learning."

• Richard Jean Rodrick, 16, Kapa'a High School, $1,000 in crops from the American Society of Agronomy, for "Analysis of a Possible Aphid Toxin in Zuuiki Taro (Locasia gigantea), Year 2: Toxin Isolation and Trait Transference via Inter-specific Hybridization."

• Kiani Anela Jeniah Arkus, 16, Kamehameha Schools, $500 for projects involving the study of natural products from the American Society of Pharmacognosy, for "Hala and HELA: Inhibitory Effect of Pandanus odoratissimus on the Growth of Human Cervical Cancer Cells."

• Liang (Charlie) Wang, 17, Waiakea High School, Hilo, one of seven $500 fourth-place awards in biochemistry for "Will Excessive Concentrations of Antioxidants Prevent Programmed Cell Death in Caenorhabditis elegans?"

• Yu-Tzu (Debbie) Liu, 17, St. Andrew's Priory, one of seven $500 fourth-place awards in microbiology for "Annotating and Analyzing 140 Kbp Region of Newly Identified Bacteria."