Tara Jeffrey
Several local youth were recognized for their award-winning projects at the Canada-Wide Science Fair held in Edmonton over the weekend.
Safia Deol won a senior gold, as well as the Health and Wellness Challenge Award, the Sanofi Biogenus Award and the Youth Can Innovate Award, for her work: “The IncrediGels: Multifaceted Biopolymers for Dental Routines.”
Cynthia Rayson won silver in the junior category for her project, “Bioremediation to the Rescue” and Riley Edmunds also took home silver for “One Drop at a Time: How effective are biodegradable filters.”
Also representing Lambton were Muhammad Mustafa Arif for “Revolutionizing Heart Surgery with 3D Printed Modules” and Kodie Ozumba for “Fake to Till You Make It: Can self-affirmation improve youth cognitive function?”
All five were top winners at the Lambton County Science Fair held earlier this year.
Meanwhile, at the 2023 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, held in Dallas last week, Sarnia's Annabelle Rayson won fourth place in the environment category and received a special CAST (China Association for Science and Technology) award given to the projects that best reflect the originality and innovation of the students’ work in all scientific disciplines.
Her project, Plankton Wars: An Innovative Analysis of Daphnia Genotype Biomanipulation for Algae Bloom Prevention, has earned numerous awards, including the prestigious 2022 Stockholm Junior Water Prize
Rayson was among among eight youth named to represent Team Canada at the event, along with fellow Sarnia student Krish Modi, with his project: Pee Xylophone: A Novel Non-Invasive System to Measure Bladder Pressure.
The project earned him a Senior Gold and Youth Can Innovate award at last year's Canada-Wide Science Fair.