Canyons District students captured 42 awards at the Salt Lake Valley Science and Engineering Fair. The winners include Hillcrest High seniors Alex Cheng and Alex Sun, who now advance to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles, Calif., where they’ll compete for thousands of dollars in college scholarships.
Cheng’s award-winning project, “Analysis of Retinal Fundus Images to Detect Macular Degeneration Using Machine Learning Methods,” combines medical diagnostics with computer science, whereas Sun focused on behavioral science with a project titled, “Understanding ‘Compassion Fade.'”
Other award-winners of note include six middle school and elementary-age students who were named Broadcom Masters finalists. This means they’re invited to apply to compete at the National Broadcom Science Fair in Washington, D.C. “Not all Broadcom winners will be accepted, but it’s an honor just to be allowed to apply,” says CSD Science Specialist Leslie Allen. The Broadcom winners are Drew Stevens and Fatima Zaidi, students at Albion Middle; Ruby Gardner, a student at Altara Elementary; Marianne Liu, Abigail Slama-Catron and Eric Snauffer, students at Midvale Middle; and Gabriel Williams, a student Peruvian Park.
At the regional science fair, Canyons District students competed against hundreds of their elementary, middle and high school peers from surrounding districts and private schools.
