Hawai'i students earn 13 science fair awards

Advertiser Staff

Hawai'i students brought home 13 awards from the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held this month in Cleveland, Ohio.

They were among 16 Hawai'i finalists competing against more than 1,300 of the top student scientists worldwide.

The award winners are:

• Kimberly Reinhold, 15, St. Joseph Junior and Senior High School, Hilo, one of four $1,500 second-place awards in computer science; $2,500 and a high performance computer for the Intel Foundation Women in Engineering and Computational Sciences Award; a $500 Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development Award; and a $150 second-place award from the Patent and Trademark Office/U.S. Department of Commerce, all for "Artificial Intelligence: A Model of Perception by the Visual System."

• Jill Harunaga, 18, Kamehameha Schools, one of five $1,500 second-place awards in medicine and health for "Damnacanthal and the Cytoskeleton: Noni Anthraquinone Normalizes the Cancer Cell Phenotype."

• Richard Rodrick, 17, Kapa'a High School, Kapa'a, one of five $1,000 third-place awards in botany for "Analysis of a Possible Aphid Toxin in Zuuiki Taro (Colocasia gigantea), Year Three: Continued Toxin Isolation and Progeny Testing for Trait Transference."

• Matthew Jachowski, 17, Maui High School, Kahului, one of four $1,000 third-place awards in earth and space science; and an expense-paid trip to attend the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., and a certificate of excellence from NASA, all for "Evolution of Initial Orbit Determination Error Correction Functions by Genetic Programming."

• Kiana Frank, 16, Kamehameha Schools, one of 10 $1,000 third-place awards in environmental science and a $150 second-place award from the Patent and Trademark Office/U.S. Department of Commerce, both for "The Effect of Agricultural and Residential Runoff on the Microbiology of a Hawaiian Ahupua'a."

• Karen Tumaneng, 18, Waipahu High School, one of six $500 fourth-place awards in biochemistry for "The Role of Anthaquinone in the Chemotherapy Effect of the Leaves of Morinda citrifolia."

• Whitney Haraguchi, 16, Kapa'a High School, one of six $500 fourth-place awards in botany for "Mineral Uptake and Accumulation in Lowland Taro (Colocasia esculenta var. Maui Lehua) as Affected by Elevated Levels of Copper Sulfate."

• The team of Carrie Esaki, 15, Samual Moats-Messing, 16, and Jeremy Albano, 16, Kapa'a High School, $1,000 first-place award from the Weed Science Society of America for "Isolation and Characterization of Possible Allelo-Chemicals in Buffalo Grass (Buchloe dactyloides) and Ti (Cordyline terminalis), Second Year Study."