Where Are They Now?

Many students who participate in USEF go on to do some pretty amazing things. Here's a list of past participants (shown by year) & what they are up to now. If you are a student featured below and would like to update your information, please get in touch.

Click a year below to see participants in each year.

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

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2005

Yvonne Kim

School: West High
Project: Mental Health during Covid-19: The Role of Knowledge and its Sources
Fall 2021: Yvonne Kim is a current senior in the IB program at West High School. She wants to pursue neuroscience in college and is currently working on college applications. She is a cellist, squash player, and a lover of science.

Caleb Grow

School: Jordan High
Project: Locking Down: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Air Pollution in Salt Lake City
Fall 2021:

Nathaniel Loveless

School: West High
Project: Use of Collaborative Robotics in Mass Production of Freehand Components
Fall 2021:

Anastasia Dunca

School: West High
Project: Predicting Molecular Phenotypes with Single Cell RNA Sequencing: an Assessment of Unsupervised Machine Learning Models
Fall 2021:

Aiden Pasinsky

School: Beehive Academy
Project: How do specific mutated genes affect metabolic functioning in Prochlorococcus?
Fall 2021:

Malavika Singh

School: West High
Project: Grasping Gestures: Analyzing the Aesthetics of Dance Through the Lens of Physics & Computer Science
Fall 2021: Malavika (Mala) is currently a senior at West High School. She hopes to eventually become a scientific researcher. Competing in ISEF introduced her to a global network of young aspiring scientists with whom she is still in contact and hopes to meet in person in the near future! Aside from conducting scientific research, Mala enjoys dancing, cooking, pet-sitting, playing jackbox with her friends, and interacting with her community through service. She looks forward to seeing the next year of young scientists rise and bounce back from over a year of virtual science fair. She can be contacted through her email: srilathagsingh@gmail.com.

Jean Yoo

School: West High
Project: Using Machine Learning to Classify Dwarf Galaxy Candidates
Fall 2020:

Christopher Li

School: West High
Project: Applying RNAi Screening to Identify Novel Genes that Control Intestinal Stem Cell Proliferation and Gut Regeneration
Fall 2020: Christopher Li is a student at Harvard University where he is considering concentrating in History of Science, Neuroscience, or Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology. He hopes to pursue an MD or PhD in the future, while also working on healthcare policy initiatives to make care more equitable and accessible. Chris is currently a researcher at the Sinclair Lab at Harvard Medical School investigating epigenetics, a writer for the Harvard Science Review, and a volunteer at the local Boston Chinatown. He enjoys playing basketball, trying to cook, and photography. He can be reached anytime at chrisli@college.harvard.edu and would be happy to talk with you about anything, from sports to science.
Contact: christopherli2021@gmail.com

Keegan Gilbert

School: Juan Diego Catholic High
Project: Characterization of learning and memory dysfunction in mouse models of genetic and acquired epilepsy
Fall 2020: Keegan is currently working on college applications. He also has a manuscript in the process of being written/published, which will hopefully be in a scientific journal at the end of the year/start of next year.
Contact: keegangilbert@sccstudents.org

Tarun Kumar Martheswaran

School: The Waterford School
Project: An Enhanced Early Detection Model of Dengue Fever Outbreaks Using SEIR Infectious Disease Epidemiological Compartments, Generalized Linear Regression Relationships, and Statistical Computing
Fall 2020: Tarun is a senior at The Waterford School. Since ISEF, he has had the opportunity to present his work at several other conferences and competitions. He is currently starting his college application process and playing pickleball as much as he can. He hopes to study Computational Biology/Statistics as an undergraduate student.
Contact: tarun.marthes@gmail.com

Clara Tandar

School: West High
Project: Aurora Kinase Inhibitor Synergy Screen to Enhance Chemotherapeutic Sensitivity
Fall 2021: Clara Tandar is a first-year in Brown University's Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME).

Molly Chien

School: Salt Lake Center for Science Education (SLCSE)
Project: Analyzing the Cortisol Levels of Ochotona princeps and Temperature Trends in the Great Basin Alpine Microclimate Habitats
Fall 2020:

Olivia Slaughter

Anisa Habib

School: West High
Project: An Epidemiological Study Quantifying Differences in Thyroid Cancer Risk Across Birth Cohorts and I-131 Exposure Levels
Fall 2020: Anisa is a freshman at the University of Utah.

Tejita Agarwal

School: West High
Project: An Epidemiological Study Quantifying Differences in Thyroid Cancer Risk Across Birth Cohorts and I-131 Exposure Levels
Fall 2020: Tejita is a freshman at Yale University.

Dua Azhar

School: Beehive Academy
Project: Using Machine Learning Techniques to Predict Mutant p53 Transcriptional Activity
Fall 2020: Dua is a freshman at the University of Utah.

Sanjana Kargi

School: Beehive Academy
Project: Using Machine Learning Techniques to Predict Mutant p53 Transcriptional Activity
Fall 2020: Sanjana is a freshman in college.

Divyam Goel

School: West High
Project: Using a Microtiter Plate Assay and a Novel Simulated Anatomic Plastic Lung Model to Determine the Effectivity of Phage Therapy as a Preventative Measure against Poly-Microbial Biofilms in Cystic Fibrosis Patients
ISEF Awards: 3rd place in Microbiology
Fall 2021: Divyam Goel is a student at the University of Utah where he is finishing up his degree in Philosophy of Science. He hopes to pursue a degree in medicine and is interested in pursuing a combined fellowship in infectious diseases and critical care. Divyam currently works as a psychiatric technician, a manager for an undergraduate peer-reviewed journal, a think-tank writer, and the assistant coordinator for USEF. He is a huge Utah Jazz fan, loves camping, and enjoys pineapple on pizza. Divyam's biggest fears are anything computer science, math or physics related, and, honestly, climate change. He can be reached at divyam.goel@utah.edu and is happy to chat whenever.
Contact: divyam.goel@utah.edu

Madeline Joklik-McLeod

School: Juan Diego Catholic High
Project: p53-bad: a Novel Mitochondrially Targeted Gene Therapy for Ovarian Cancer
Fall 2020: Madeline attends the University of Utah.
Contact: mmcleod929@gmail.com

Christopher Li

School: West High
Project: Utilizing Ligand Structuring Metaservers to Model Pathogenic p16 Mutation Effects on Binding Sites of Cell Signaling Pathways
ISEF Awards: Fourth Place in Category $500
Fall 2020: Christopher Li is a student at Harvard University where he is considering concentrating in History of Science, Neuroscience, or Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology. He hopes to pursue an MD or PhD in the future, while also working on healthcare policy initiatives to make care more equitable and accessible. Chris is currently a researcher at the Sinclair Lab at Harvard Medical School investigating epigenetics, a writer for the Harvard Science Review, and a volunteer at the local Boston Chinatown. He enjoys playing basketball, trying to cook, and photography. He can be reached anytime at chrisli@college.harvard.edu and would be happy to talk with you about anything, from sports to science.
Contact: christopherli2021@gmail.com

Tarun Kumar Martheswaran

School: The Waterford School
Project: A Novel Mathematical Model for the Early Detection of Dengue Fever using SIR Infectious Disease Epidemiological Compartments, Ordinary Differential Equations, and Statistical Computing
ISEF Awards: 1st Place Air Force Special Award
Fall 2020: Tarun is a senior at The Waterford School. Since ISEF, he has had the opportunity to present his work at several other conferences and competitions. He is currently starting his college application process and playing pickleball as much as he can. He hopes to study Computational Biology/Statistics as an undergraduate student.
Contact: tarun.marthes@gmail.com

Shriya Pingali

School: West High
Project: Using Neural Networks to Optimize Key-Length Prediction for Polyalphabetically Encrypted Text
ISEF Awards: Full Scholarship to Drexel University in Philadelphia, Honorable Mention from the National Security Agency Research Directorate
Fall 2021: Shriya is currently studying computer science at Yale and is involved in many software-related extracurriculars. She recently completed a DoD SMART Scholarship-for-Service internship. In her free time, Shriya has been crocheting, reading, drawing, sewing and cooking.

Mia Yu

School: West High
Project: Undetected Suicide: Classification of Undetermined Drug Overdose Deaths Using Machine Learning Techniques
ISEF Awards: 1st place award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Honorable Mention from the American Statistical Association
Fall 2018: Mia is attending the University of Chicago as a sophomore studying history and economics.
Contact: miayu200088@gmail.com.

Marina Gerton

School: West High
Project: Mucoadhesive HA-based film releasing metronidazole to treat bacterial vaginosis
Fall 2021: Marina Gerton is a third-year student at the University of Utah majoring in Chemistry and Biology and minoring in Math. She hopes to pursue a PhD in marine science, specifically focusing on conservation research. Marina currently works in Eric Schmidt’s lab in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, but has also previously worked as a Learning Assistant at the U (and hopes to again). She loves boxing and swimming, but loathes running with a passion, and can’t watch commercials for Best Friends or WWF because they make her cry. Marina does not enjoy pineapple on pizza and wishes she had more time to bake. Feel free to reach out any time, she can be reached at marina.gerton@utah.edu.

Divyam Goel

School: West High
Project: Viruses to the Rescue: Using D. Tsuruhatensis to Demonstrate Phage Therapy's Effectiveness Against Antibiotic Resistant Bacterial Biofilms
ISEF Awards: 3rd place in Microbiology
Fall 2021: Divyam Goel is a student at the University of Utah where he is finishing up his degree in Philosophy of Science. He hopes to pursue a degree in medicine and is interested in pursuing a combined fellowship in infectious diseases and critical care. Divyam currently works as a psychiatric technician, a manager for an undergraduate peer-reviewed journal, a think-tank writer, and the assistant coordinator for USEF. He is a huge Utah Jazz fan, loves camping, and enjoys pineapple on pizza. Divyam's biggest fears are anything computer science, math or physics related, and, honestly, climate change. He can be reached at divyam.goel@utah.edu and is happy to chat whenever.
Contact: divyam.goel@utah.edu

Emma Sun

School: The Waterford School
Project: Externality Framing Effects on Cognition
ISEF Awards: Honorable Mention from the American Psychological Association
Fall 2018:

Daphne Liu

Alexander Cheng

School: Hillcrest High
Project: Automatic Detection of Intravitreal Neovascularization in Retinal Flat Mount Images Using Deep Learning Methods
Fall 2019: Alexander is a freshman at Harvard.
Contact: rivel100@gmail.com

Alex Sun

School: Hillcrest High
Project: Understanding Compassion Fade
Awards: 2nd Place Category Award in Behavioral Science
Fall 2017: Alex, a senior at Hillcrest High School, is working with a University of Southern California professor to publish his and Emma’s research on compassion fade. After he graduates, Alex plans to serve an LDS mission before pursuing a degree in engineering.

Annie Yun

School: West High
Project: Using Machine Learning to Identify Asteroid Collisional Families
Fall 2017: Annie graduated from West High School and was selected as the Wasatch Back Regional Sterling Scholar in Mathematics.

Anna Mancera

School: Salt Lake Center for Science Education (SLCSE)
Project: The Effect of Environmental Factors on the Upregulation of Dicer-2 RNA and Development of Viral Entities within Dicer-1 Inhibited Tetrahymena Cells
Fall 2017: Anna graduated from the Salt Lake Center for Science Education.

Julia Sherman

School: West High
Project: The Correlation Between Presence of Radon Gas in Residences and Diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes
Fall 2017: Julia, a freshman at UC Berkeley studying chemistry and math, participates in many student organizations including the Rally Committee, the Environmental Sciences Student Association, the Association of Environmental Professionals, the Ocean Society of Berkeley, the Biofuels Technology Club, Fossil Free Cal, and a triathlon team. She is interning this semester with the Residential Sustainability Program and hopes to engage in research this upcoming study, believing this may better inform her educational path.

Emma Sun

School: The Waterford School
Project: Understanding Compassion Fade
Awards: 2nd Place Category Award in Behavioral Science
Fall 2017: Emma is working with a University of Southern California professor to publish her and Alex’s research on compassion fade.

Tyrell Floyd

Alexander Cheng

School: Hillcrest High
Project: Analysis of Retinal Fundus Images to Detect Macular Degeneration Using Machine Learning Methods
ISEF Awards: 3rd Place Category Award in Biomedical Engineering
Fall 2019: Alexander is a freshman at Harvard.
Contact: rivel100@gmail.com

Tanisha Martheswaran

School: The Waterford School
Project: Waste Embraced 2.0: A Novel Study of the Effects of Optimized Struvite Precipitation on Biogas Production and Resource Recovery from Municipal Landfill Leachate and Wastewater Centrate
Awards: 4th Place Category Award in Environmental Engineering
Fall 2021: Tanisha is a senior at Harvard University studying Stem Cell Biology and Global Health on the pre-med track. She has continued her love for scientific investigation through both wet-lab and clinical research, and is currently writing a senior thesis surrounding her neuro-ophthalmology research. On campus, she's an EMT and CPR/First Aid instructor, and leads several health and peer education organizations! She is planning on applying to medical school next year and hopefully going into ophthalmology or nutrition medicine, with a focus on community health and education. Feel free to reach out to chat about science or college!
Contact: tanisha.marthes@gmail.com

Anna Sung

School: West High
Project: A Novel Approach to Guiding Neurogenesis: Manipulation of Neural Stem Cell Differentiation and Growth Using Glycan-Based Molecules
Fall 2016: Anna is a senior at West High.
Contact: anna.sung@live.com

Kathy Liu

School: West High
Project: Nature-Based Solid Polymer Electrolytes for Improved Safety, Sustainability, and Efficiency in High-Performance Rechargeable Batteries
ISEF Awards: Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award, Intel ISEF Best of Category Award in Energy, First Place in Energy
Fall 2016: Kathy is Currently a senior at West high School.
Contact: kathy.liu781@gmail.com

Alexander George-Kennedy

School: Juan Diego Catholic High
Project: Superluminal Data Transfer via Semi-Stabilized Einstein-Rosen Bridges
Fall 2015: Alexander is a senior at Juan Diego.

Chelsea Li

School: West High
Project: Investigating p16 Control of Mitochondrial Biogenesis in Melanoma
ISEF Awards: 4th Place in Biomedical Engineering
Fall 2018: Chelsea is a Sophomore at the University of Utah.

Yang Yan

School: The Waterford School
Project: Mathematical and Computational Modeling and Simulation of Viral Evasions of Integrated Cellular Stress Response
Fall 2020: Working through his final undergraduate year and having explored many economics, chemistry, and writing classes in his first three years, Yang is finishing up his math & CS degree at MIT while considering potential career options in the future. He wishes he had more time to watch anime—but is willing to wait until he can do so in peace after his degree!
Contact: yangawesome@gmail.com

Alexander Cheng

School: Hillcrest High
Project: Using Machine Learning and Image Segmentation to Analyze Retinal Blood Vessel Densities
Fall 2019: Alexander is a freshman at Harvard.
Contact: rivel100@gmail.com

Annie Yun

School: West High
Project: Mathematical and Computational Modeling and Simulation of Viral Evasions of Integrated Cellular Stress Response
Fall 2017: Annie graduated from West High School and was selected as the Wasatch Back Regional Sterling Scholar in Mathematics.

Phillip Kuzentsov

School: West High
Project: The Derivation and Application of the Functional Neural Network
Fall 2016: Phillip, with William Guss, created a club last semester at UC Berkeley called Machine Learning at UC Berkeley. Machine Learning brings together undergrads, professors, and companies in the Bay Area to work on various projects from creative evaluative models to cutting-edge machine learning research. Phillip plans to graduate as a Computer Science Major from UC Berkeley in 2018.

Kathy Liu

School: West High
Project: Powering the Future: Development of Novel All-Solid-State Lithium-Sulfur Bio-Batteries for Sustainable and Scalable Energy Storage
Awards: 1st Place Category Award, Best in Category, Intel Foundation Cultural and Scientific Visit to China Award.
Fall 2016: Kathy is Currently a senior at West high School.
Contact: kathy.liu781@gmail.com

Alexander George-Kennedy

School: Juan Diego Catholic High
Project: Binary Classification of fMRI Data to Diagnose Patients with Autism Spectra Disorder
Fall 2015: Alexander is a senior at Juan Diego.

William Guss

School: West High
Project: The Derivation and Application of the Functional Neural Network
Fall 2016: William, with Phillip Kuzentsov, created a club last semester at UC Berkeley called Machine Learning at UC Berkeley. Machine Learning brings together undergrads, professors, and companies in the Bay Area to work on various projects from creative evaluative models to cutting-edge machine learning research. William is currently studying Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.

Anthony Cheng

School: Hillcrest High
Project: Modeling and Analyzing Melting Arctic Sea Ice with Percolation Theory
Awards: 4th Place Category Award in Earth and Environmental Science.
Fall 2019: Anthony is currently a first-year PhD student in the Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) Department of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) under the direction of Dr. Erica Fuchs and Dr. Valerie Karplus, studying battery electric vehicle supply chains and their geopolitical/national security implications. He graduated from MIT in 2020, majoring in Materials Science and Engineering (with a focus on Entrepreneurship and Materials Commercialization), with a double minor in Computer Science and Energy Studies.
Contact: alcheng@alum.mit.edu

Patrick Chen

School: West High
Project: The Derivation and Application of the Functional Neural Network
Fall 2016: Patrick Chen currently attending Princeton, expecting to graduate in 2019. He is studying Operations Research and Financial Engineering, which is a very diverse field that includes computer science, optimization, machine learning, statistics, finance, and economics. Since ISEF, Patrick has continued pursuing his passion in machine learning by interning with a computer vision startup in New York. Patrick is excited to start researching under a professor this semester, working on a project to create a mobile app that will diagnose sickness based on blood vessels in the eye.

Chelsea Li

School: West High
Project: Investigating Metastatic Characteristics of Candidate Dissemination Genes on a Medulloblastoma Cell Line
Fall 2018: Chelsea is a Sophomore at the University of Utah.

Brandon Cui

School: Hillcrest High
Project: Characterization of a Metamaterial Terahertz Waveguide
Fall 2015: Brandon is attending Stanford University.
Contact: bcui8377@gmail.com

Elizabeth Prucka

School: Park City High
Project: Guns, Flames, and Steel 2.0
ISEF Awards: 4th Place award in Engineering: Materials and Bioengineering
Fall 2014: Elizabeth is a senior at Park City High School.

Brandon Cui

School: Hillcrest High
Project: Demonstration and Characterization of Terahertz Waveguides in Split Ring Resonators
ISEF Awards: 3rd Place in Engineering: Electrical and Mechanical, scholarship to Arizona State University along with a $2,500 research grant.
Fall 2015: Brandon is attending Stanford University.
Contact: bcui8377@gmail.com

Vineeth Bajji

School: West High
Project: Powering Hydrogen Fuel Cells Using Chemical Water Splitting
Fall 2014: Vineeth is a senior at West High School.

Timothy Quah

School: West High
Project: Powering Hydrogen Fuel Cells Using Chemical Water Splitting
Fall 2019: Tim is currently a chemical engineering PhD student at the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB) doing research in polymer physics. He has recently received a National Science Foundation Fellowship (NSF-GRFP) that will support part of his time at UCSB. Prior to coming to UCSB, he conducted research at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the University of Utah. During his undergrad Tim has published a few papers, and received his BS degree in chemical engineering from the University of Utah
Contact: timothy.sy.quah@gmail.com

Maddie Reed

School: Park City High
Project: Guns, Flames, and Steel 2.0
ISEF Awards: 4th Place award in Engineering: Materials and Bioengineering.
Fall 2017: Maddie is a junior at California Polytechnic State University studying materials engineering.
Contact: maddie.reed442@gmail.com

Ema Parker

School: West High
Project: Ice-Bot: A Deep Sea Diving Apparatus
ISEF Awards: $1,500 from the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, Special Award from SpaceX, 2nd Place in Engineering: Electrical and Mechanical.
Fall 2015: Ema is currently a senior at West High School.
Contact: emaparker19@gmail.com

Calvin Yu

School: Hillcrest High
Project: Neighborhood Built Environment and No Leisure- time Physical Activity Participation in Utah
Fall 2015: Calvin is a freshman at Princeton University.

Mirae Parker

School: West High
Project: Ice-Bot: A Deep Sea Diving Apparatus
ISEF Awards: $1,500 from the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, Special Award from SpaceX, 2nd Place in Engineering: Electrical and Mechanical.
Fall 2020: Mirae in the middle of a PhD at MIT in Computational and Systems Biology.
Contact: miraep8@gmail.com

Bovey Rao

School: Hillcrest High
Project: Investigation of Different Degradation Treatments on Pesticide Contaminated Water
ISEF Awards: Full scholarship to Drexel University
Fall 2014: Bovey is a junior at Hillcrest High School.

Daniel Liu

School: West High
Project: Recovering the Effective Thermal Conductivity of SIBMA Sea Ice with a Composite Material Model
Fall 2016: Daniel Liu is a junior at Princeton University studying Operations Research and Financial Engineering. The past summer he was working in New York City at a startup doing web development and data analytics work. He is interested in data analysis, modeling, and finance and will probably pursue a career in one of those fields. If you are interested in what working for a startup is like visit http://www.princeton.edu/engineering/news/archive/?id=17140.
Contact: danielwliu17@gmail.com

Brandon Cui

School: Hillcrest High
Project: Novel Screening for Biosorent for Preconcentration and Analysis of Heavy Metals in Water
Fall 2015: Brandon is attending Stanford University.
Contact: bcui8377@gmail.com

Bovey Rao

School: Hillcrest High
Project: Investigation of Different Pretreatments or Bioethanol from Grass Clippings
Fall 2014: Bovey is a junior at Hillcrest High School.

Guy Eroh

School: AMES High School
Project: Genetic Causes for Partial Albinism in Southern Right Whales
Fall 2020: In 2019, Guy graduated from the University of Georgia with a BS in Ecology and an MS in Forestry and Natural Resources. He is currently participating in a 1-year Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship working with the National Marine Fisheries Service's Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Management Division.
Contact: gderoh@gmail.com

Ema Parker

School: West High
Project: Germitron: robotic assessment of seed vitality
Awards: 4th place category award in Engineering: Electrical and Mechanical, $500; European Organization for Nuclear Research- trip to CERN
Fall 2015: Ema is currently a senior at West High School.
Contact: emaparker19@gmail.com

Andy Law

School: West High
Project: Biodiesel Microfluidic Effectuator
Awards: 3rd Place Category Award in Energy and Transportation, $1,000.
Fall 2014: Andy is attending Yale University.
Contact: andy.law@yale.edu

Christian Seipp

School: Salt Lake Center for Science Education (SLCSE)
Project: An Isotopic Analysis of Anthropogenic Food Sources in Raptor Diet using 15N and 13C
Fall 2013: Christian is a freshman at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan.

Hannah Harper Hanson

School: Salt Lake Center for Science Education (SLCSE)
Project: An Isotopic Analysis of Anthropogenic Food Sources in Raptor Diet using 15N and 13C
Fall 2017: Hannah is attending the University of Utah and pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Biology with an emphasis in environmental and organismal biology and a minor in Book Arts. At the U she has spent time with members of the Biodiversity and Conservation Ecology Lab, banding birds in Red Butte Canyon, collecting camera trap data at the Rio Mesa Center near Moab, and learning how to extract DNA from feather samples.
Contact: hannah.harper.hanson@gmail.com

David Larkin

School: West High
Project: Biodiesel Microfluidic Effectuator
Awards: 3rd Place Category Award in Energy and Transportation, $1,000.
Fall 2020: David graduated from Harvard University in 2018 and is now an operations manager at McMaster-Carr. David was excited to tell us that his nephew participated in USEF for the first time in 2019 and loved it!
Contact: daveylarkin@gmail.com

Nicholas Corpuz

School: AMES High School
Project: Quantifying Implicit Stereotypes Through the Cognition of Ambiguous Speech
Awards: 4th Place Category Award in Behavioral Science, $1,000, American Psychological Society Award
Fall 2012: Nicholas is attending New York University (NYU) in New York City, NY.

Andrea Evans

School: Hillcrest High
Project: A Novel Assay to Screen for Anti-Cancer Agents Targeting Receptor Tyrosine Kinase RON
Fall 2015: Andrea is now a junior at the University of Utah, and has just started her first semester at the University Of Utah College Of Nursing. She?s excited to begin her path to a career in nursing!

Zerina Ocanovic

School: Salt Lake Center for Science Education (SLCSE)
Project: Algae Biodiesel
Fall 2015: Zerina is a senior at the Salt Lake Center for Science Education.

Lori Kim

School: West High
Project: Audio/Visual HIV/AIDS Education for Tanzanian Adolescents: Change in Attitude Towards HIV/AIDS Testing
ISEF Awards: 2nd Place Category Award, $1,500 and Special Award from The International Honor Society in Psychology.
Fall 2012: Lori has been accepted to the St. Bonaventure University BS/MD program in New York. She began Fall of 2012 and is in New York for the next four years. She will then spend four more years in Washington, D.C. at the George Washington University School of Medicine.

Ryan Baker

School: Hillcrest High
Project: Modeling Wind Power Generation Using Polynomial Chaos Expansion
ISEF Awards: Special Award from GE, $1,500.
Fall 2012: Ryan is studying math and computer science at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Chas Blakemore

School: AMES High School
Project: Detection and Analysis of Point Mutations of the Oxidative Variety in the K-ras Gene
ISEF Awards: 4th place category award of $500.
Fall 2015: Chas just started his first year of graduate school in the Stanford Physics PhD program, having just graduated from Caltech in June. He finished a BS in Physics and completed a senior thesis simulating a particle detection and the subsequent signal readout from a prototype particle detector called the BetaCage. Chas began doing research at Stanford early over the summer, so he?s already reasonably involved with a project, an advisor (Giorgio Gratta), and two fantastic peers: another grad student and a post-doc. They?re using optically levitated silica beads in ultra-high vacuum as very sensitive force detectors which they can use to search for new particles and new forces that help explain dark matter and dark energy. For instance, their instrument may be sensitive to the chameleon dark energy field (if it exists) or heavy photons which may help explain the existence of dark matter.

Chas Blakemore

School: AMES High School
Project: The Effect of Location of a DNA Base Mismatch on the Stability of a Hybridized DNA Duplex
ISEF Awards: 3rd Place Category Award, $1,000 and $750 from the American Society for Microbiology.
Fall 2015: Chas just started his first year of graduate school in the Stanford Physics PhD program, having just graduated from Caltech in June. He finished a BS in Physics and completed a senior thesis simulating a particle detection and the subsequent signal readout from a prototype particle detector called the BetaCage. Chas began doing research at Stanford early over the summer, so he?s already reasonably involved with a project, an advisor (Giorgio Gratta), and two fantastic peers: another grad student and a post-doc. They?re using optically levitated silica beads in ultra-high vacuum as very sensitive force detectors which they can use to search for new particles and new forces that help explain dark matter and dark energy. For instance, their instrument may be sensitive to the chameleon dark energy field (if it exists) or heavy photons which may help explain the existence of dark matter.

Delian Asparouhov

School: West High
Project: Regenerative Braking
ISEF Awards: 4th place category award of $500.
Fall 2015: Delian became on the newest Thiel Fellows in the beginning of June 2013. The Thiel Fellowship gives 20 teenagers $100,000 to drop out of college and start a company. Delian decided to use his time more productively, so he dropped out of MIT as a junior and has become the Co-founder of Nightingale, a company that is improving the quality of patient care through technology. During summer 2012, he interned at Square, which was founded by Jack Dorsey (also founded Twitter). He is residing in Silicon Valley running his company. In reflecting back on SLVSEF, Delian said, ?SLVSEF allowed me to explore my interests in science and technology, particularly in energy ventures and regenerative braking.?
Contact: me@delian.io

Lori Kim

School: West High
Project: Antibacterial and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Myricetin Against Acne-Causing Bactera
ISEF Awards: 3rd Place Category Award, $1,000 and $750 from the American Society for Microbiology.
Fall 2012: Lori has been accepted to the St. Bonaventure University BS/MD program in New York. She began Fall of 2012 and is in New York for the next four years. She will then spend four more years in Washington, D.C. at the George Washington University School of Medicine.

Erick Chen

School: West High
Project: Regenerative Braking
ISEF Awards: 4th place category award of $500.
Fall 2012: Erick is attending Princeton University.

Sarah Niitsuma

School: AMES High School
Project: Ex-Changing Microbes: The Unseen Hazards of Infant Changing Tables
Fall 2015: After graduating from AMES High School, Sarah attended Westminster University with her scholarship from SLVSEF. She bought her first house in 2012, and will be attending SLCC before she transfers to the University of Utah.

Evan Clark

School: West High
Project: Bridgetender: A Real-Time System to Monitor the Structural Health of Bridges
ISEF Awards: Honorable Mention from the International Council? of Systems Engineering and? 3rd Place Category Award in Engineering: Materials and Bioengineering, $1,000.
Fall 2016: After SLVSEF, Evan attended Stanford University studying Computer Science. Between his junior and senior years, he spent 2 years working for Stone Aerospace to develop prototype robots for exploration of Jupiter's icy moon Europa under several NASA grants. The robots included an ice-penetrating robot that descended into the Matanuska Glacier in Alaska and a robotic submarine which explored beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Evan had the opportunity to travel to both Alaska and Antarctica as a member of the field expedition team to deploy these robots. He is now back at Stanford finishing his B.S. in Computer Science, scheduled to graduate in December, and will start work as a Flight Software Engineer with the JPL Artificial Intelligence Group in March. He hopes to contribute to pushing the boundaries of planetary robotics and one day discover life on another world. Check out his robot exploring Anatartica at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fXYYutFyk0.
Contact: evan.bock.clark@gmail.com

Matt Vitelli

School: AMES High School
Project: Hybrid Light Rendering
ISEF Awards: Association for Computing Machinery Special Award, Society of Exploration Geophysicists Special Award, and 3rd Place Computer Science, $1,000.
Fall 2012: Matt is attending Stanford University.

Shwan Javdan

School: AMES High School
Project: Ex-Changing Microbes: The Unseen Hazards of Infant Changing Tables
Fall 2017: Shwan is currently in the 2nd year of his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Boston University where he is studying cellular signaling and collective behavior using a variety of biochemistry and microscopy tools, including the synthesis and visualization of novel fluorescent proteins. He received a double major in Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry from the University of Utah, where he had a 4-year full scholarship, including room, board, and tuition. Shwan has attended a number of state and national research conferences with his undergraduate research work, which focused on HPMA copolymer-drug conjugates for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Since attending ISEF in 2009, he has made efforts to pay it forward and encourage future young scientists. These endeavors include both online and in-person tutoring of the sciences, writing science news for the Daily Utah Chronicle, and judging at numerous local and state-level science fairs.

Scotty Fleming

School: West High
Project: Mathematically Predicting and Optimizing the Power Output of a Magnet/Wire Coil System
ISEF Awards: Special Award from the Society of Exploration of Geophysicists, $1,000.
Fall 2019: Scott is a second year Ph.D. student in the Biomedical Informatics (BMI) Graduate Program at Stanford University (housed in the Department of Biomedical Data Science in Stanford's School of Medicine). He is an outdoor enthusiast and amateur photographer
Contact: scottyf@stanford.edu

Connie Zhong

School: Skyline High
Project: Block Me If You Can: The Effect of an Obstacle on the Efficiency of Search Patterns
ISEF Awards: $5,000 scholarship and a paid $5,000 10-week summer internship with the Department of Homeland Security and a $1,000 savings bond from the United States Air Force.
Fall 2016: Connie graduated from Harvard Medical School and is currently a dermatology resident at the Harvard Combined Dermatology Residency Program. She has a particular interest in oncodermatology and medical education. In her spare time, she likes to cook, tend to her many plants, and explore the surrounding areas of Boston.

Evan Clark

School: West High
Project: Mathematically Predicting and Optimizing the Power Output of a Magnet/Wire Coil System
ISEF Awards: Special Award from the Society of Exploration of Geophysicists, $1,000.
Fall 2016: After SLVSEF, Evan attended Stanford University studying Computer Science. Between his junior and senior years, he spent 2 years working for Stone Aerospace to develop prototype robots for exploration of Jupiter's icy moon Europa under several NASA grants. The robots included an ice-penetrating robot that descended into the Matanuska Glacier in Alaska and a robotic submarine which explored beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Evan had the opportunity to travel to both Alaska and Antarctica as a member of the field expedition team to deploy these robots. He is now back at Stanford finishing his B.S. in Computer Science, scheduled to graduate in December, and will start work as a Flight Software Engineer with the JPL Artificial Intelligence Group in March. He hopes to contribute to pushing the boundaries of planetary robotics and one day discover life on another world. Check out his robot exploring Anatartica at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fXYYutFyk0.
Contact: evan.bock.clark@gmail.com

Oliver Jeong

School: West High
Project: Temperature Dependent Diffusion Tensor Property of Porcine Cervical Spinal Cord Using MRI
ISEF Awards: 3rd Place Category Award in Physics, $1,000.
Fall 2014: Oliver graduated from Princeton with degree in physics in 2013 and is currently pursuing a PhD in physics at Berkeley. Oliver works for an experiment called POLARBEAR, which observes the cosmic microwave background for a lot of really neat physics!

Katy Schramm Nelson

School: AMES High School
Project: Brain Lateralization: Getting a Hand on Learning and How the Brain Works
Fall 2013: After Katy graduated from AMES in 2007, she enrolled at the University of Utah with a scholarship from the U?s Psychology Department. She worked as a research assistant in that department during the next year, and assisted the Director of the AMES Science Fair Program through 2009. She also worked as a lab technician in the Biology Department from 2008-2012. She graduated from the U in May 2012 with a major in Biology and Psychology. Katy is currently working at Nelson Laboratories studying the sterilization of medical devices. Katy plans to go to graduate school in either Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, or Nursing. She judged in the Elementary Division of SLVSEF 2012!

Matthew Searle

School: Olympus High
Project: Rotating Cylinders Create Lift? An Implementation of Magnus Effect in Airfoil Design
Fall 2017: Matthew is a PhD candidate at Brigham Young University in Mechanical Engineering and expects to graduate in 2018. He studies heat transfer on superhydrophobic surfaces. Superhydrophobic surfaces are water-repellent surfaces composed of micro/nano-structure and hydrophobic material. When liquid water comes in contact with the surface, it does not fill the cavities between surface features. These surfaces are self-cleaning and reduce drag. Perhaps you may see these surfaces one day on car windshields, house windows, and boats. Also, better cooling systems for electronics may be designed with superhydrophobic surfaces. When Matthew is not in his lab, he enjoys outdoor adventures. Recently, he climbed Half Dome in Yosemite. Matthew said of his SLVSEF experience, “My experience at SLVSEF and the Intel ISEF has been very important in my education and career choice.”
Contact: matthew.c.searle@gmail.com

Abbielee Gardner

School: AMES High School
Project: Brain Lateralization: Getting a Hand on Learning and How the Brain Works
Fall 2014: Since graduating AMES. Abbielee attended BYU-Hawaii and then went on to graduate from the University of Utah in Mass Communication. She did some traveling and then started working as a freelance production assistant where she has been able to work on several film and TV shoots in Salt Lake. Abbielee has since been working at Fox 13 News as a studio technician. She is currently applying to a study abroad program in London and then have hopes of attending graduate school after studying International Relations.

Oliver Jeong

School: West High
Project: Increasing Magnetic Field of Electromagnet by Lowering Temperature
Fall 2014: Oliver graduated from Princeton with degree in physics in 2013 and is currently pursuing a PhD in physics at Berkeley. Oliver works for an experiment called POLARBEAR, which observes the cosmic microwave background for a lot of really neat physics!

Candice Murray

School: AMES High School
Project: Atomic Size and Rutherford Scattering
Fall 2011: Candice graduated in Physics from MIT in June 2011, and is now serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Thailand for eighteen months. She plans on going to graduate school upon her return.

Gleb Kuznetsov

School: West High
Project: Phototropic Nanotechnology via Magnetohydrodynamic Propulsion
Fall 2021: Gleb is currently CEO of Manifold Bio, a 9-person biotech startup he co-founded with his PhD advisor George Church and graduate school colleagues Pierce Ogden and Shane Lofgren. They are creating protein therapeutics using cutting DNA and protein engineering technologies. Gleb attended MIT, majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and completed his Bachelor’s degree in 2010 and a Master of Engineering in 2011. While at MIT, he spent a summer teaching computer programming in Kenya as part of the Africa Information Technology Initiative and then helped run the organization, interned at BMW in Munich, Germany, and performed artificial intelligence research. He was also president of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. After graduation, Gleb spent just over a year working as a software engineer at Google in Mountain View, California. Then, excited by advances in biology, Gleb returned to Boston and joined George Church's lab at Harvard as a research assistant and soon enrolled in the Harvard Biophysics PhD program. His work has been published in Science and Nature. When he is not doing science, Gleb has become obsessed with kiteboarding and you'll find him doing it year-round in Boston.
Contact: gleb.kuznetsov@gmail.com

Lai Xue

School: West High
Project: Phototropic Nanotechnology via Magnetohydrodynamic Propulsion
Fall 2012: After graduating from West High School, Lai enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis as a Florence E. Moog Fellow. As an undergraduate, he worked in the Center for Genomic Science with Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon, exploring the genomic and metabolic foundations of symbiotic host- microbial relationships in the mammalian gut with massively parallel sequencing technologies. He also traveled to Ghana with Unite for Sight on a medical mission to perform cataract surgeries and distribute medical supplies to the under-served rural populace. Lai graduated with bachelor degrees in Chemistry and Anthropology in 2010. Currently, he is a 3rd year medical student at University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine. He is interested in pursuing a career in minimally invasive surgery.
Contact: xuelai@uchicago.edu

Breanne Anderson Tidwell

School: AMES High School
Project: Is Precipitation Pickling the Environment?
Fall 2014: Breanne is currently working towards her AS in Social Work at Salt Lake Community College with hopes to eventually obtain a BS in Social Work from University of Utah. She and her husband are licensed foster parents and have a 19 month old son named Oliver. Breanne also works full time on top of her crazy schedule. ?It is possible to obtain a degree no matter how busy you are, you just have to want it! I find the social sciences absolutely fascinating and look forward to one day working for the Department of Child and Family Services.?

Charles McGuire

School: West High
Project: Phototropic Nanotechnology via Magnetohydrodynamic Propulsion
Fall 2016: Charles is a research and development mechanical engineer at a Utah company that is developing nano-technology based chemical detectors. Charles has had 10 years? experience in laboratories, 5 years engineering experience at start-up and R&D companies, and has a background in nano-optics. His primary roles within the company include CAD design, simulation, machining, and micro-fabrication.
Contact: charles.c.mcguire@live.com

Nathan Chadburn

School: Albion Middle School
Project: The Wireless Power Source
Fall 2012: After he graduated from Riverton High School, Nathan served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France. He is now studying industrial engineering at Arizona State University, and is president over all Sun Devil sports. He works for an environmental engineering firm where his current major project is a Darpa funded project for land mine and border security. Nathan?s sun projects include working with bacteria exudates to increase plant growth while protecting them from harsh environmental conditions from drought to saline soils.

Mark Evans

School: Albion Middle School
Project: Endothelial Cell Activation of AMPK in Response to Glucose
Fall 2015: Mark is currently going to medical school at the University of Utah. He graduated at the top of his class from Stanford University and has been published at both universities.

Brennen Chadburn

School: Albion Middle School
Project: The Wireless Power Source
Fall 2020: Brennen completed his Masters in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science last year. He works as a Sr. Machine Learning Engineer conducting image classification models. In three short years, he's worked on various data science problems such as forecasting, customer segmentation, text generation (similar to chat bots) and other 'natural language processing' projects. This past year, he also started a consulting company, Northwestern Analytics, with three other partners and several associates working on a couple projects including satellite imaging for crop harvesting and image classification. He loves the world of data science/machine learning and is excited to see how the field develops.

Dan Garner

School: Albion Middle School
Project: The Wireless Power Source
Fall 2012: Dan is attending Utah Valley University, fulfilling pre-medical requirements and doing research in an organic chemistry lab. He is studying the antibacterial properties of mushrooms native to Utah and the surrounding areas, as well as isolating the related compounds.

Wesley Fassman

School: Albion Middle School
Project: Electro-Chemistry to the Max
Fall 2015: Wesley is currently living with his wonderful wife in Indianapolis. Wesley has been working at Rolls-Royce as a Mechanical Engineer. While at Rolls-Royce, Wesley has worked on several programs including the JSF LiftSystem, Trent 1000-TEN and 6 months on the Trent XWB in Derby, UK. Before joining Rolls-Royce, Wesley graduated with his Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering at BYU. His thesis consisted of an experimental study of bio-inspired force generation by unsteady flow features as observed on humpback whale flippers. Prior to graduating, Wesley spent several summers working at the Valero Benicia Refinery as a mechanical reliability engineer intern. Wesley received his Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering at BYU and a Khmer language certificate from the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Prior to studying at university, Wesley served a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.