Springs student takes a first at international science fair
Sara Volz has been into the algae again.
And all that green yucky looking stuff she grows in her bedroom has won her another first place award at the International Science and Engineering Fair held recently in Pittsburgh.
Volz was one of two first place winners in the Energy and Transportation category, which had 84 entries.
This is the second year she has taken first place in the international competition. In the past 12 years, only one other Colorado Springs student has taken a first place award.
Her work was one of 35 projects that earned a first place in the fair. More than 1,500 students from 70 countries participated in the contest.
Her research project is called “Optimizing Algae Biofuels: Artificial Selection & Nitrogen Stress as Methods to Induce Lipid Synthesis.“ Don’t ask.
All participants must qualify through a regional or state science fair to attend the International competition. In April she won the grand prize in the senior division at the 57th Colorado Science and Engineering fair at Colorado State University, She won the year before, too.
“It’s really exciting,” she said.
But it’s not all just complicated science. She likes the networking with like-minded young scientists
“It’s fun establishing a community of other researchers, friends, that will be supportive and valuable in the future.”
She said she isn’t disappointed she wasn’t the top international grand prize winner. “When you get to a certain level, everyone’s work is really good. One project that beat me last year, I beat them this year. And one that beat me this year, I beat them last year.”
It’s been a busy year.
In the spring, she attended the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Washington, D.C. Here in Colorado, her work is being mentored by professors at the Air Force Academy and Colorado State University in Fort Collins.
A senior this fall, she will be applying to college. Her top choice is Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This summer she will spend six weeks as a scholar in the Research Science Institute at MIT. Eighty of the world’s top students spend a cost-free summer where they participate in campus courses and work with science and technology researchers. They create their own research, and at the end of the program present conference-style oral and written reports on their findings.
“In the application, I had to detail my scientific interests. I put down epigenetics and biochemistry.” Epigenetics looks at how heritable information other than DNA sequence can influence gene function.
But before all that, she has to figure who is gong to babysit her algae while she is gone for six weeks.
She says, “I’m bribing my brother to watch it. I told him I’d make him lots of cookies if he keeps it from dying.”
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Contact Carol McGraw: 636-0371 Twitter @mcgrawatgazette Facebook Carol McGraw
Springs student takes a first at international science fair
Sara Volz has been into the algae again.
And all that green yucky looking stuff she grows in her bedroom has won her another first place award at the International Science and Engineering Fair held recently in Pittsburgh.
Volz was one of two first place winners in the Energy and Transportation category, which had 84 entries.
This is the second year she has taken first place in the international competition. In the past 12 years, only one other Colorado Springs student has taken a first place award.
Her work was one of 35 projects that earned a first place in the fair. More than 1,500 students from 70 countries participated in the contest.
Her research project is called “Optimizing Algae Biofuels: Artificial Selection & Nitrogen Stress as Methods to Induce Lipid Synthesis.“ Don’t ask.
All participants must qualify through a regional or state science fair to attend the International competition. In April she won the grand prize in the senior division at the 57th Colorado Science and Engineering fair at Colorado State University, She won the year before, too.
“It’s really exciting,” she said.
But it’s not all just complicated science. She likes the networking with like-minded young scientists
“It’s fun establishing a community of other researchers, friends, that will be supportive and valuable in the future.”
She said she isn’t disappointed she wasn’t the top international grand prize winner. “When you get to a certain level, everyone’s work is really good. One project that beat me last year, I beat them this year. And one that beat me this year, I beat them last year.”
It’s been a busy year.
In the spring, she attended the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Washington, D.C. Here in Colorado, her work is being mentored by professors at the Air Force Academy and Colorado State University in Fort Collins.
A senior this fall, she will be applying to college. Her top choice is Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This summer she will spend six weeks as a scholar in the Research Science Institute at MIT. Eighty of the world’s top students spend a cost-free summer where they participate in campus courses and work with science and technology researchers. They create their own research, and at the end of the program present conference-style oral and written reports on their findings.
“In the application, I had to detail my scientific interests. I put down epigenetics and biochemistry.” Epigenetics looks at how heritable information other than DNA sequence can influence gene function.
But before all that, she has to figure who is gong to babysit her algae while she is gone for six weeks.
She says, “I’m bribing my brother to watch it. I told him I’d make him lots of cookies if he keeps it from dying.”
—
Contact Carol McGraw: 636-0371 Twitter @mcgrawatgazette Facebook Carol McGraw