Texas' Top Science Students Receive Honors at the 2005 ExxonMobil Tex

    Energy Editors/Education Editors
    2005 ExxonMobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair

    SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 11, 2005--Nearly 200 Texas students were awarded top honors for their science and engineering projects at the 2005 ExxonMobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair held March 31 - April 2, 2005 at the at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio. The statewide competition, presented annually by the Texas Science Careers Consortium and hosted by The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), drew more than 1,200 students from across Texas.
    Students competed in two divisions -- junior division (grades 6-8) and senior division (grades 9-12). The 19th annual competition recognized all students placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd place or receiving an honorable mention in the fair's sixteen competitive categories. Students qualified for the state competition by placing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in ISEF-sanctioned regional Fairs. A complete list of winners is attached.
    "ExxonMobil congratulates each science fair participant for the hardwork, dedication and creative approach to science and mathematics that led them to participate in this state-wide competition," said Gerald McElvy President of ExxonMobil Foundation. "We are proud to continue our support and encouragement of talented young minds through programs like the ExxonMobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair."
    Two grand prize winners in the senior division received all-expense paid trips that will allow them to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), which will be held May 8 through May 13, 2005 in Phoenix, Arizona. In addition, in the junior division, 1st-3rd place winners were nominated for competition in the Discovery Channel Young Scientists Challenge to be held in Washington, D.C. in October.
    ExxonMobil Foundation, which provided a $60,000 gift to support student prizes, has been the title sponsor of the Fair for five years. "Thanks to the enduring support and generosity of ExxonMobil, this fair continues to provide Texas' most talented science and mathematics students with a forum to showcase their outstanding projects, and the opportunity to win scholarships and awards of academic achievement," said Clyde Phelix, Ph.D., College of Sciences Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas at San Antonio and chairperson for this year's ExxonMobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair.
    The Texas Science Careers Consortium, which represents the science programs of 17 public universities around the state, is the official Texas affiliate for the International Science and Engineering Fair. Operating the state level science competition since 2001, the consortium rotates the Fair location between member universities. The University of Texas at San Antonio will host the Fair through 2007.
    In addition to the lead gift of $60,000 from ExxonMobil, the Texas Science Careers Consortium has also secured $60,000 in other private and public support for the event. Other top contributors to the Fair include: Texas Work Force Commission and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
    ExxonMobil Foundation is the primary philanthropic arm of the Exxon Mobil Corporation in the United States. The Foundation engages in a broad range of philanthropic activities focusing on the communities where Exxon Mobil Corporation has significant operations. In 2004, ExxonMobil Foundation, Exxon Mobil Corporation, and its divisions and affiliates provided $106.5 million in contributions worldwide, with $40 million dedicated to education.
    Additional information on the 2005 ExxonMobil Texas State Science and Engineering Fair is available at http://www.statesciencefair.ttu.edu/.

2005 ExxonMobil Texas Science and Engineering Fair Results

Best Overall Fair Winner Best of Fair Senior Grand Prize Physical Sciences Senior Division Yang Yhou (San Antonio) Mechanical Properties of Isobornyl Methacrylate Modified Liquid Crystal

Senior Grand Prize Life Sciences Senior Division Annick Michelle McIntosh (Houston) Toxic Nanoparticles

All Winners by Category Hometowns are shown in parenthesis following winner's name

Behavioral & Social Sciences Senior Division Second Place Lane Cryar (Salado) Finders Keepers: Losing it in a Large High School

Behavioral & Social Sciences Senior Division Third Place Kerry Wang (Plano) Pure Pwnage: Only Virtual? A Study on Human Spatial Awareness

Behavioral & Social Sciences Senior Division Fourth Place Fredrick Rojas (El Paso) Turn Off The Lights

Behavioral & Social Sciences Senior Division Fifth Place Hubert Montoya (Andrews) We Got the Beat

Behavioral & Social Sciences Junior Division First Place Julie Fortuna (Houston) Let's Face It: How Do Humans Recognize Facial Features?

Behavioral & Social Sciences Junior Division Second Place Victor Caballero, Jr. (Brownsville) The Effects of Color Stimuli on Brain Interference

Behavioral & Social Sciences Junior Division Third Place Andrea Bernal (El Paso) What's that smell? Oh it's me!

Behavioral & Social Sciences Junior Division Fourth Place Madelyn Morgan (Richardson) Does the color of food affect if people will eat it?

Biochemistry Senior Division First Place Nancy Satsangi (San Antonio) A Novel Regeneration Device for Enhanced Biomimetic Response of Bone Stem-cells - A Second Year Study

Biochemistry Senior Division Second Place Karthik Prasad (Houston) Diabetes: What Can Garlic Do For You?

Biochemistry Senior Division Third Place Stephen Li (Friendswood) Effect of Green Tea and Garlic on Cancer Formaion in a Mouse Model

Biochemistry Senior Division Fourth Place Deng Madut (Dallas) Identification and Isolation of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Biomarkers

Biochemistry Senior Division Fifth Place Elizabeth Haro (San Antonio) HPLC Chromatofocusing With Weak Base-Conjugate Acid Buffer Pairs

Biochemistry Junior Division First Place Cyanna Skye Edwards (San Antonio) Of Mice and Supermen: Increasing the Lifespan of Nerves After Trauma Cuts Off Nerve Growth Factor by Placing Nerves from Mice in Different Mediums

Biochemistry Junior Division Second Place Amanda Lu (Plano) Got Milk? Get Fruit: The Effect of Fruit on Hydrolyzing Lactose in Milk

Biochemistry Junior Division Third Place David Lehman (Plano) Dog-On-It! My Lawn's Brown

Biochemistry Junior Division Fifth Place Karen Ayma (Brownsville) Squeeze it, Cool it, Freeze it

Botany Senior Division First Place Srikanth Kodali (Austin) Survival Capacity of R. leguminosarum bv. phaseoli and R. tropici under High Thermal Stress and Interspecific Competition

Botany Senior Division Second Place Chris Lim (Austin) Minimization of Suppression Variability through Multi-species Biocontrol

Botany Senior Division Third Place Michael Montelongo (El Paso) The Lint Factor: Save Water and Money

Botany Senior Division Fourth Place Ashley Kahn (San Antonio) The Effect of Rutin Hydrate on Tomato Plants that have been Exposed to Tobacco Mosaic Virus and Crown Gall Bacteria

Botany Senior Division Fifth Place Javier Stell-Fresquez (El Paso) Carbon Dioxide and Plants

Botany Junior Division First Place Neela Thangada (San Antonio) The Effects of Various Nutrient Concentrations on the Cloning of the Eye of the Solanum tuberosum at Multiple Stages

Botany Junior Division Second Place Rajeev Kinra (College Station) Effect of Magnetic Field on Seed Germination

Botany Junior Division Fourth Place Kimberly Mendez (San Antonio) The Effects of Various Amounts of Gibberellic Acid on the Growth of Geraniums

Botany Junior Division Fifth Place Nicole Kidd (Brownsville) Aloe Vera: "A Healing Gift From Nature"

Chemistry Senior Division First Place Yang Zhou (San Antonio) Mechanical Properties of Isobornyl Methacrylate Modified Liquid Crystal Blends

Chemistry Senior Division Second Place Amelia Lin (Plano) Size Doesn't Matter: A Study on Nanotube Locational Trends and Creation of Artificial Nanotubes

Chemistry Senior Division Third Place Lomotey Tanihu (Dallas) The PEM Fuel Cell System Project!!!

Chemistry Senior Division Fourth Place Jessica Lindsey Svrcek (Austin) The Effect of Common Kitchen Substances on Grease Fires

Chemistry Senior Division Fifth Place Brad Kaufman (San Antonio) Separation of Azeotropic Mixtures Using Fractional Distillation and Salts to Weaken Intramolecular Forces

Chemistry Junior Division First Place Patrick Ramirez (San Antonio) Activity of Metals

Chemistry Junior Division Third Place Megan Kockx (San Angelo) Electric Salt

Chemistry Junior Division Fourth Place Amanda Adams (Coppell) Viscosity and Boiling Point

Chemistry Junior Division Fifth Place Clair McMahon (San Antonio) "Yes We Have No Banana's" Or Strawberries!

Computer Science Senior Division First Place Nam Nguyen (San Antonio) The Use of Random Numbers in Programming Strategic Difficulty

Computer Science Senior Division Second Place Kristopher Micinski (Decatur) Sorting Algorithms

Computer Science Senior Division Third Place Michael Wham (Woodlands) "Getting Alarmed About Wireless Security"

Computer Science Senior Division Fourth Place Dustin Ho (Plano) The Password Problem: A Study of Methods of Password Selection

Computer Science Senior Division Fifth Place Rupak Chakraborty (Missouri City) 3D Digitization Using Structured Light Patterns

Computer Science Junior Division Second Place Rebekah Scheuerle (Austin) Does the Huffman Algorithm or an Extended Huffman Algorithm Compress Files the Most Effectively Computer Science Junior Division Third Place Qiongqiong Yang (Plano) Computer Simulation on How Temperature Affects Snowflake Growth

Computer Science Junior Division Fourth Place Steven Yan (Plano) Scramble and Solve - Computer Modeling of Puzzle Solving Algorithms

Computer Science Junior Division Fifth Place Anthony Freitas (Brownsville) Houston, We Have a Problem

Earth Science Senior Division First Place Gabriel Ha (Plano) Color That Tornado - An Innovative Application of Infrared Technology

Earth Science Senior Division Second Place Jessica Guest (Austin) The Perfect Mud Pie (Soil Plasticity)

Earth Science Senior Division Third Place Kimberly Potter (Spring) Storm Reform: Creating an Atmospheric Chamber to Develop New Hurricane Modification Techniques

Earth Science Senior Division Fourth Place Daniel Betten (Richardson) The Role of Inflow-Perpendicular Shear in Supercell Storms and Tornado Formation

Earth Science Junior Division First Place Katherine James (The Woodlands) Motion in the Ocean

Earth Science Junior Division Second Place Cody Eberhart (Granbury) You Can't Get Blood Out Of A Turnip (But Can You Get Salt Out Of Your Dirt?)

Earth Science Junior Division Third Place Jacque Wakim (Austin) Which Bearing is More Efficient in Withstanding the Force of an Earthquake?

Earth Science Junior Division Fourth Place Audrey Raney (Junction) The Effects of Latitude and Climate on Tornado Formation

Earth Science Junior Division Fifth Place Ethan Goerdel (Justin) GPS vs. Topographical Maps

Engineering Senior Division First Place Steven Mo (Bellaire) Development of Smart Structures

Engineering Senior Division Second Place Ethan Williams (Bryan) Polarimetry of Sugar Solutions

Engineering Senior Division Third Place Kirby Haugland (El Paso) Application of Simple Concert Hall Principles to a Grain Silo

Engineering Junior Division First Place Tim Jenks (The Woodlands) Pendulum Pandemonium

Engineering Junior Division Second Place Spencer Conn (San Antonio) Winging It

Engineering Junior Division Third Place Robert Paul Hartland (Waco) The Need for Speed

Engineering Junior Division Fifth Place Colin Liff (San Marcos) Insulating Factors of Natural Building Materials

Engineering Senior Division Fourth Place Travis Carr (Plantersville) Sounds Cool!

Engineering Junior Division Fourth Place Tyler Panozzo (San Antonio) Breaking the "I"

Environmental Sciences Senior Division First Place Aron Trevino (San Antonio) Estrogen Mimicking Effects of Cadmium on the Mosquito Ochlerotatus atropalpus - Year 2

Environmental Sciences Senior Division Second Place Caren Collins (Garland) The Effects of Road Deicer, MgCl, on Plant Germination and Mitosis

Environmental Sciences Senior Division Fourth Place Tara Gloyna (Salado) Ammonia Emissions from Agricultural Waste

Environmental Sciences Senior Division Fifth Place Anna Panning (Denton) Sediment and Nutrient Pollution in N. Texas: Sampling, Analysis, and Public Awareness

Environmental Sciences Junior Division First Place Ricky Scheuerle (Austin) Survivability, Morphology, Life Cycle and Growth Rate of Mono Lake's Brine Shrimp: A Predictive Model

Environmental Sciences Junior Division Second Place Kalyn Irvin (Rhome) From Plants to Fish-2-O

Environmental Sciences Junior Division Third Place Lisa Newman (El Paso) Purifying Water- The Solor Way

Environmental Sciences Junior Division Fourth Place Kara Zwart (San Antonio) Fluo-Riding-The Wave

Environmental Sciences Junior Division Fifth Place Ali Muhammad-Ali (Houston) Fastest Bioremediation

Mathematics Senior Division First Place Thomas Pardue (Houston) Riemann's Zeta Function: Distribution of the Nontrivial Zeros

Mathematics Senior Division Third Place Sushant Sabnis (Fort Worth) The Performance of the Nation's Economy Over the Years

Mathematics Senior Division Fourth Place Marianna Sofman (Plano) Physics CAN Prove Mathematics

Mathematics Senior Division Fifth Place Jeffrey Lin (Dallas) Fickle Fractals - A Study on the Effects of Angles on Fractal Dimension in Lindenmayer Systems

Mathematics Junior Division First Place Abhishek Jain (San Antonio) Can Computer language Provide a Reasonable Test for Fermat's Last Theorem

Mathematics Junior Division Second Place Luis Garcia (Austin) Area Of Lattice Polygon

Mathematics Junior Division Third Place Ebony Enabulele (Cypress) EFFECTS OF SELF-EFFICACY AND ANXIETY ON MATH PERFORMANCE

Mathematics Junior Division Fourth Place Katherine Adams (Dripping Springs) Another Simple Learning Machine

Mathematics Junior Division Fifth Place Eduardo Barriga (El Paso) How much towel ability

Medicine & Health Senior Division Second Place Triparna Ghosh-Choudhury (San Antonio) The Beneficial Effects of Fish Oil on Breast Cancer: A Fourth Year Study

Medicine & Health Senior Division Third Place Benjamin Tubbs (Hearne) Potty Mouth

Medicine & Health Senior Division Fourth Place Amanda Gregory (Plano) Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Whitest of Them All? A Fifth Year Study

Medicine & Health Senior Division Fifth Place Taylor Robison (Austin) The Effect of Coke, 7up, Milk and Water on Bone Mass

Medicine & Health Junior Division First Place Craig Thomas (San Antonio) Influence of the Contour Line on Heidelberg Retina Tomgraph II Measurements

Medicine & Health Junior Division Second Place Israel Bernal (San Antonio) The Effect of Light on Energy Level: A Second-Year Study

Medicine & Health Junior Division Third Place Grace McLane (San Antonio) The Effects of Repeated Treatment of Antibiotics on Streptoccocus salivarius

Medicine & Health Junior Division Fourth Place Carlos Lira (Brownsville) A Disease From The Future

Microbiology Senior Division First Place Amanda Hartman (China Spring) Prevalence of Salmonella Organisms in Turtle Habitats

Microbiology Senior Division Second Place

Richard Romeo (San Antonio) Advancing Apitherapy Microbiology Senior Division Third Place Shawn Hughey (Navasota) What's in your wallet? An Analysis of Bacteria on Denominations of U.S. currency

Microbiology Senior Division Fourth Place Elise Miller (Fort Worth) Plasmid Mediated Antibiotic Resistance in E. coli

Microbiology Senior Division Fifth Place Kyle Wallace (San Antonio) The 1102phi3-1 Host Takeover Mechanism: A Phage I'm Going Through

Microbiology Junior Division First Place Manpreet Kaur (Houston) How Long to Cook, or not to Cook

Microbiology Junior Division Second Place Camden Miller (Fairview) Bee Smart: The Effects of Ethanol Extracts of Propolis on Gram-positive and Gram-negative Bacteria

Microbiology Junior Division Third Place Julia Fanning (San Antonio) To Kill or Not To Kill...That is the Question: A Study on Echinacea and Antibiotics against Staphylococcus aureus

Microbiology Junior Division Fifth Place Prasad Raman (Austin) A Bugs Life - Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria

Physics Senior Division First Place Arun Venkatraman (Plano) Wireless Blockers: A Study of Wireless Transmissions

Physics Senior Division Second Place Micah Ellowitz (El Paso) Windmills and Electricity

Physics Senior Division Third Place Priya Patel (Fort Worth) Bye Bye Turbulence!!

Physics Senior Division Fourth Place Christina Harding (El Paso) Blow by Blow, What's Protecting You?

Physics Senior Division Fifth Place Varun Koyyalagunta (Houston) Wedge Diffraction in the Far-Field Region

Physics Junior Division First Place Victoria Baldwin (The Woodlands) Sound Advice

Physics Junior Division Second Place Monica Tamil (Plano) Solar Cells Vs. Fuel Cells

Physics Junior Division Fourth Place Nethika Ariyasinghe (Hewitt) The Penetration of Red Light and Green Light in Clear Liquids

Physics Junior Division Fifth Place James Monaco (Austin) The Physics of The Trebuchet

Space Science Senior Division First Place Yan Hui Lye (Houston) Tree Growth and Sunspot Activity

Space Science Senior Division Second Place Emilia Stepinski (Friendswood) Meanders on Mars

Space Science Senior Division Third Place Sasha Rohret (San Antonio) Phaseolus lunatus Growth Patterns in a Simulated Mars Environment

Space Science Senior Division Fourth Place Humberto Mendoza (Brownsville) Determining the Factors of the Aurora Systems Using the System of Elimination: Phase Three

Space Science Senior Division Fifth Place Rachel Epperly (San Antonio) Dark Side of the Sun 2: Solar Latitudes

Space Science Junior Division First Place Alexandra Black (Midland) Analemma

Space Science Junior Division Third Place Cara Hayward (Trophy Club) Is Your Cell Phone Having A Bad Flare Day?

Space Science Junior Division Fourth Place Ayssa Mendez (Brownsville) Impact Craters

Space Science Junior Division Fifth Place Steely Ingham (Sonora) What Grows Down Under

Zoology Senior Division First Place Russell Burrows (San Antonio) The Buzz on Bees: The Effects of Alcohol and Nicotine on Protein Expression in the Brain of the Apis mellifera

Zoology Senior Division Second Place Annick McIntosh (The Woodlands) Toxic Nanoparticles?

Zoology Senior Division Third Place Fleur Leussink (The Woodlands) Looking a Toad in the Eye

Zoology Senior Division Fourth Place Emily Hsu (Carrollton) Math1/nGFP: A Novel Tool for Neurogenesis

Zoology Senior Division Fifth Place Rahil Shah (San Antonio) Mosquitoes at Mitchell Lake

Zoology Junior Division Second Place Eric Flores (Palmview) Power of Lab Lab

Zoology Junior Division Third Place Alison Miller (Boerne) Tachiniid Flies--Butterfly Termiators

Zoology Junior Division Fourth Place Hannah Owen (Houston) Snap To It

Zoology Junior Division Fifth Place Braden Buchanan (San Antonio) Nutritional effects of Cholesterol in rats

Team - Life Science Senior Division First Place Elizabeth Monier (Boerne), Marilynn Tedja (San Antonio), Elise Adcock (San Antonio) The Effects of Suppressing Genes on Lysosomal Production in Wild Type and cup-5 Mutant C. elegans as a Model for the Human Disease Mucolipidosis

Team - Life Science Senior Division Second Place Priscilla Mendoza (El Paso) Potential for Vertical Transmission of West Nile Virus and Western Equine Encephalitis in Culex tarsalis and Culex quinquefascitus

Team - Life Science Senior Division Third Place Neha Jangeti (Plano), Jyothy Punnoose (Plano) Secret Lives Of RBCs: The Impact of Glucocorticoids on Sickled Red Blood Cells

Team - Life Science Senior Division Fourth Place Basil Shadfan (Boerne), Khannan Athreya (San Antonio) The Effect of Supplemental Plant Signaling Compounds on Stress Response in Oryza sativa

Team - Life Science Senior Division Fifth Place Melissa Pina (El Paso), Francisco Chagolla (El Paso), Clarissa Enriquez (El Paso) Efficacy of Apitherapy in the Treatment and Elimination of Bacteria

Team - Life Science Junior Division First Place Anushri Kushwaha (The Woodlands) Big Achievements In A Little World

Team - Life Science Junior Division Second Place Sunny Patel (San Antonio), Paul Guzman (San Antonio) Remember Me???

Team - Life Science Junior Division Second Place Daniel Gutierrez (San Antonio) Rosemarie Mayhan

Team - Life Science Junior Division Third Place Alianna Whiteaker-Chudecke (Cedar Hill), Alexa Hanks (Desoto) "Coo" Key

Team - Life Science Junior Division Fourth Place Kathy Yi (Brownsville), Silvia Sanchez (Brownsville) To Kill or Not To Kill

Team - Life Science Junior Division Fifth Place Drew Johnson (Marion) "Humdinger" - Hummingbird Migration

Team - Physical Science Senior Division First Place Rachel Preston (San Antonio), Elizabeth Roberts (San Antonio), Thomas Meyer (San Antonio) The Effect on Greenhouse Gas Levels by the Modification of Photosynthetic Marine Organisms

Team - Physical Science Senior Division Second Place Summer Sink (Wichita Falls), Crystal Wong (Burkburnett) On Golden Pond: The Study of Micronutrient Deficiency in Golden Alga, Prymnesium parvum

Team - Physical Science Senior Division Third Place Jose Castrellon (El Paso), Alvaro Navarro (El Paso) Methane Fueled Lawn Mower

Team - Physical Science Senior Division Fourth Place Nicole Gonzales (Clint) Viscosity 3

Team - Physical Science Senior Division Fifth Place Chris Harrel (Andrews), Derek Sugg (Andrews), David Cagle (Andrews) The All Seeing Spy

Team - Physical Science Junior Division First Place Alex Abuadas (Houston), Christian Bionat (Houston) Wood Twister

Team - Physical Science Junior Division Second Place Brynn Umbach (The Woodlands), Kevin Lambert (The Woodlands), Cameron Strong (The Woodlands) The Perfect Greenhouse

Team - Physical Science Junior Division Third Place Elliot Yun (Austin) In What Kind of Organic Materials Does the Transformation from Solar Energy to Electrical Energy Occur Best?

Team - Physical Science Junior Division Fourth Place Joseph Kyle (El Paso), James Kyle (El Paso) Disturbance Waves vs. Shoreline

Team - Physical Science Junior Division Fifth Place Kasi McWha (Tyler), Casey Davis (Tyler) Now You See it, Now You Don't

--30--MJR/da*

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KEYWORD: TEXAS INDUSTRY KEYWORD: OIL/GAS EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT ENERGY MANUFACTURING TRADESHOW SOURCE: ExxonMobil

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