Last month, 17 LMHS students, ten freshmen, five sophomores, and two juniors, competed at the Montgomery County Science Fair. 14 of them received monetary awards, and 12 moved on to the next round, the Delaware Valley Science Fair (DVSF), which included competitors from the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware areas.
The DVSF, held annually at the Philadelphia Expo Center, is one of the largest and most competitive science fairs in the region. Students compete for nearly $2 million in scholarships and prizes, with the top winners earning the chance to represent the region at the International Science and Engineering Fair.
Here are just a few of the projects that were presented last month.
Julia Cavallo
Among the LMHS competitors was Julia Cavallo, who took 1st place at the Montgomery County Science Fair. This qualified her for the Delaware Valley Science Fair, where she went on to win 3rd place. Julia entered the behavioral and social sciences category with a project focused on neuroscience. Julia’s research investigated how the human brain responds to different sensory conditions, specifically in Virtual Reality experiences and 2D videos that intentionally mismatch audio and visual cues.
These scenarios were designed to test the McGurk Effect, a psychological phenomenon where conflicting audio and visual information can alter perception. Julia collected participants’ brain wave data to analyze their neural responses under these conditions.
Reflecting on her experience, Julia said: “Just reading other projects and getting to know them made my day! I loved that everyone had a unique project that matched them!”
Patrick Xie
Patrick Xie brought a data-driven approach to the fair with his project that applied machine learning to American football injury trends. Patrick developed a web application that allows users to:
- Explore historical injury data and
- Generate future injury predictions based on age, diagnosis, and seasonality.
Patrick’s Finished Trifold at Montco
His model uncovered patterns such as higher injury rates during football season and age-related differences in injury types. Notably, while concussions remain a concern, Patrick’s analysis revealed a downward trend in many other injuries, possibly reflecting improved safety measures in the sport. The adaptable design of his tool means it could be used in other sports or healthcare settings to forecast injuries and support prevention efforts.
Patrick’s project earned him 1st place at the Montgomery County Science Fair, qualifying him for the Delaware Valley Science Fair, where he went on to win 3rd place.
Mehtaab Singh
Freshman Mehtaab Singh earned 2nd place at the Delaware Valley Science Fair after earning 1st place at Montco with his innovative project testing which type of algae is best for biofuel production. He cultivated and tested five different algae types using equipment such as a growing light and water tanks to measure their growth and potential for energy use.
Through his experiments, Mehtaab discovered that Nannochloropsis is the most effective algae for biofuel production and that saltwater algae grow faster than freshwater varieties. His findings offer exciting possibilities for more sustainable energy sources in the future!
Arwa Muneeruddin
Arwa Muneeruddin achieved outstanding recognition for her project on enhancing aircraft stealth technology. She earned 1st place at the Montgomery County Science Fair and went on to receive an Honorable Mention at the Delaware Valley Science Fair. Her research focused on increasing an aircraft’s invisibility to radar by altering its shape to include sharp angles, similar to those found on military aircraft like the Lockheed Martin F-16 and F-117. She discovered that these sharp angles help redirect radio waves, making detection by radar much more difficult.
Reflecting on the significance of her work, Arwa said, “In the chaos of battle, military survivability hinges on the perfect fusion of strategy, resilience, and technology, and within technology lies vehicle detection, making capitalizing on stealth a non-negotiable.” Regarding her experience at the science fairs, she stated: “This experience was both fun and rewarding, and I look forward to participating again in the future.”
Congratulations to all the participants from LMHS! We can’t wait to see what you come up with next year!
(left to right) Leora Brodsky, Josiah Thottukadavil, and Natalya Abraham at DVSF
