From left to right; RCPS students Alliyah Byrd, Chelse Steele, Anna Miller, Kim Estick, Aqib Momin, Stafford Ross, Quincy Blair, Ray Garner, Sheyenne Rowe, Sonam Brahmbhatt, Crystal Brockington, Aaron Barron and Michael Smith all participated in the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair in Athens from March 27 to 29. (Special photo)

CONYERS Four students from Rockdale County Public Schools impressed the judges at the 66th Georgia Science and Engineering Fair, each taking home the Best in Category award for their projects.

Held from March 27 to 29 at the Classic Center in Athens, the fair recognized student achievement on projects in various scientific categories, according to a press release from RCPS. Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology sophomore Molly Niemczyk received the title of Best Project in the behavioral science category with her project that studied the effect of dyslexia on eye movement.

Her fellow Magnet School student, junior Robert Raines, won best electrical and materials engineering project for his work on optimizing grapheme conductivity under variations of pressure. Samer Yassin, also a junior at the Magnet School, earned best plant sciences project with a project on the effect of biofilms on plant growth.

Memorial Middles Nicole Bourland won the junior divisions best computer science project by creating a video game for the visually impaired.

Students made it to the GSEF after competing in and winning regional fairs throughout the state. Thirty-nine RCPS students in total won honor awards eight of them receiving first honors. Honor awards point out a students relative ranking in the fair overall, while first honors are given to projects with total scores ranking at or above the top 90 percent based on overall scores, regardless of category.

We are certainly proud of how well all of our students defended their research at the state competition, said Amanda Baskett, co-director of the Rockdale Regional Science and Engineering Fair. Four students from our regional fair winning best in category awards highlights the high level of student research that students conduct in our schools.

Along with sponsoring organizations, the GSEF judges also gave away specialty awards to Rockdale students, including two Magnet School students. Shannon McNeely won the Surgeon Generals Award, while Anna Miller won the UGA Poultry Science Award.

Three projects from the Magnet School have been selected to advance to the International Science and Engineering Fair, taking them to Los Angeles in May. Aaron Barron and his partner Crystal Brockington will be presenting their solar energy project. Students Chelsea Steele, Larry Jacobs and Aqib Momin will be joining them on the trip to California. Steele and Jacobs partnered on a project on computational biology using mouse genetics. Momin studied a better way to read MRI scan images.

Continued here:
Rockdale students takes home awards at state science fair