BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho STEM Action Center announced students from Timberline and Boise High School took home top honors at the Western Idaho Science and Engineering Fair Friday.
2022 marked the sixth annual Western Idaho Science and Engineering Fair. The event brought in 40 high school students from around the region and students created 34 projects.
According to a news release, students were judged in the four following categories; animal, biomedical and microbiological sciences; behavioral and social sciences; earth, environmental and plant sciences; and physical sciences, engineering and computer science.
Timberline High School junior Luke Bousfield and senior James Liu were one of two groups to win best in fair Friday for their project, "Novel Machine Learning Algorithms to Efficiently Approximate the Shortest Vector Problem in Post-Quantum Cryptography."
Another Treasure Valley standout - Boise High School junior Wency Suo, also took home top honors for her project, "Identification of Potential Inhibitors of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Envelope Protein Ion Channel Activity Using Machine Learning Techniques."
Treasure Valley Math & Science Center freshmen Amulya Tanikella and Kiana Mohammadi earned fair runner-up honors for their project, "Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in Agricultural Waste Water Compared to River Water Samples."
Idaho Virtual Academy and teacher Janna Privette won the 'top school award' at the Western Idaho Science and Engineering Fair. The best in-category winners for Friday night's event are listed below, separated by the four different categories.
- Animal, Biomedical, and Microbiological Sciences: Emmett High School junior Emma Myers for her project, "How Does Temperature and the Amount of Dissolved Oxygen Affect a Crayfish's Ability to Filter Blood?"
- Behavioral and Social Sciences: Idaho Virtual Academy junior Lyric Mitchell for her project, "The Effect of Weight on Idaho Teenagers' Perceptions of Intelligence"
- Earth, Environmental, and Plant Sciences: Treasure Valley Math & Science Center freshmen Amulya Tanikella and Kiana Mohammadi for their project, "Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in Agricultural Waste Water Compared to River Water Samples"
- Physical Science, Engineering, and Computer Science: Timberline High School junior Luke Bousfield and senior James Liu for their project, "Novel Machine Learning Algorithms to Efficiently Approximate the Shortest Vector Problem in Post-Quantum Cryptography"
This year's event took place at the Simplot Ballroom in Boise State University's Student Union Building. The Western Idaho Science and Engineering Fair is one of three regional events hosted by the STEM Action Center statewide each spring.
Last year, the events took place virtually due to COVID concerns. Friday's competition had judges from an array of STEM-related fields and industry leaders such as Micron and Clearwater Analytics.
The STEM Action Center said winning teams from each regional event earn all-expense pair trips to Atlanta May 7-13 to compete in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist:
