Last Updated on Sunday, February 26, 2012 10:27 PM Written by The Darien Times
Monday, February 27, 2012 06:00 AM

Darien High School students took home first place honors in five out of eight categories at the 12th Annual Southern Connecticut Invitational Science & Engineering Fair in Woodbridge on Feb. 4.

More than 600 students, judges and community members were joined by Dr. Dan Riskin, host of Animal Planet's Monsters Inside Me, at the fair, which was held at Amity Regional High School. Completed projects and research proposals were presented by students from Darien, Amity, Convent of the Sacred Heart, Joel Barlow High School, Hamden High School, Newtown High School and Staples High School.

Each student was required to create an exhibit, make a presentation, and participate in a question and answer session. Volunteer judges evaluated entries — both completed projects and research proposals — in four categories: behavioral sciences, environmental sciences, health sciences and physical sciences.

Darien student Reed Morgan took first place for his behavioral science proposal called, "Ethnogenesis and State Formation in the Mycenaean Hither State of Pylos: A-pu2/Iklaina as a Diagnostic for Expansion of the Core Zone." Katherine Ferguson won first place for her environmental science proposal, "Quantifying the Effect of Lionfish and Other Stressors on Coral Reef Ecosystems off the Coast of Southern Mexico." Jeffrey Sload tied for first place in the health science proposal category his work, "Elucidating Warfarin Pharmacogenomics in African Americans: A Genome-Wide Association Study on Warfarin Dose Response in a Cohort of African American Individuals." Brooke Davis won first place for her completed behavioral science project, "Use of Formant Values in Classifying Vocalizations of Beluga Whales (Delphinapterus leucas)," and Amanda Sommi took first place for her completed environmental science project, "The Effect of Rising Sea Level on the Elevation of Salt Marshes Throughout Long Island, NY."

Darien students Oscar Barbour, Leah Hotchkiss, Caroline Wetterauw, Grace Brandon, Mark Kaminski and Andrew Fletcher also earned awards for their science projects. Sacred Heart junior Lauren Wood also lives in Darien and was awarded a second place prize for her project.

State Rep. Tony Hwang, a Democrat who represents Fairfield and Trumbull, was a first time judge at the event. "The quality of each exhibit was impressive and the enthusiastic and energetic presentation by each young science/engineering scholar gave hope that our community and country will ably compete in the global marketplace into the future," Hwang said. "The tireless work of board members and volunteers made this event an incredible success. They are the true heroes in advocating science/engineering education for our kids."

Celebrity scientist Riskin delivered a speech called, "Should I Really Consider a Career in Science?" An internationally known evolutionary biologist, Riskin told the story of his own career path, how it led him to become an expert on bat locomotion and then a TV host. Among his many lessons, he urged the students to question what they see and what others have told them, and then to question themselves before drawing any conclusions. He said science is about following one's passion, and that it's an intellectual pursuit but "cool and awesome," too.

The science foundation is actively encouraging future participation by additional schools for the science fair competition, part of this effort being to subsidize participation by science teachers in a program on teaching science research at the high school level offered by the State University of New York.

The Sexauer Foundation is a major funding source of the fair and this year's prizes were sponsored by Laticrete International of Bethany. The fair is sponsored by the Southern Connecticut Science & Engineering Foundation.

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Darien High Schoolers fare well at science fair