Asian high school students shone at the 2016 Intel International Science & Engineering fair

ISEF 2016 participants during the shout-out of the opening program. Front row, left: three members of Team Philippines.  Photo from the Facebook page of Society for Science & the Public.

Two high school students from Asia scored high in the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) held on 08-13 May 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona:   Pei-Hsuan Chang, 17, from Taipei City, Chinese Taipei for her outstanding mathematics project, and Takahiro Ichige, 18, from Chiba City, Japan for his excellent work in engineering mechanics.

Each went home with a First Grand Award of $3,000 and a Best of Category award of $5,000. They were among the 22 Best of Category winners who vied for ISEF's top three prizes: the two Intel Foundation Young Scientist awards of $50,000 and the Gordon E. Moore award of $75,000.  

Chang's study on 'nested eggs: where Brianchon, Pascal and Poncelet meet' also gave her passport for a trip to the European Union Contest for Young Scientists this coming September.

On the other hand, for his work on 'a novel and simple power saving controller for stepper motors', Ichige also won for him an Intel Foundation Cultural and Scientific Visit to China award.

Other Asian students (individual or team researchers) brought home grand awards in the various categories although none won in behavioral and social sciences, microbiology and systems software:  $500 for a fourth, $1,000 for a third, and $1,500 for a second, award.  

From China:

• Team of Ming Yan, 19, and Weizhen Cai, 17:  third award in engineering mechanics for 'electric skateboard with disk brakes and bluetooth remote control';
• Team of Mark Tsz Chun Lau, 17, Hyun Seo Chung, 16, and Ricky Tsun Yuen Ho, 16: third award in engineering mechanics for 'developing a novel public intra-city small- to medium-sized cargo distribution system for cities of the future';
• Chin Yeoh, 16: fourth award in engineering mechanics for 'origami transformer: bridging ancient art with modern computer sciences'; and
• Qingxuan Jiang, 17: fourth award in mathematics for 'the rolling lamp problem and related link structure'.

The Chinese Taipei delegation to ISEF 2016. From the Facebook page of Pei-Hsuan Chang.

From Chinese Taipei:

• Chi-Yuen Wu, 17: fourth award in animal sciences for 'immune reactions of encapsulation in cockroaches';
• Team of Yu-Ting Huang, 17, and Jia-Lan Lin, 17: fourth award in biochemistry for 'misfolded alpha-synuclein: assessment of lactulose and melibiose for Parkinson's disease';
• Team of Anin Luo, 17, and Tsan-Mei Chu, 18: third award in biomedical and health sciences for 'inhibitory effects of Omega-3 fatty acids-based fish oil on cholangiocarcinoma';
• Cheng-Pei Lin, 17: third award in chemistry for 'UV-light sensitive transparent organic solar cells';
• Team of Yu-Hung Chen, 18, and Shih-Hao Chen, 18: third award in earth and environmental sciences for 'experimental simulation of cellular convection with miso soup';
• Yen-Chen Chen, 16: fourth award in engineering mechanics for 'rotating fluid in paraboloidal tank tuned liquid damper as an effective vibration absorber'; and
• Bo-Han Lin, 17: second award in physics and astronomy for 'nanobubble: generation and applications';

From Hongkong Special Administrative Region:

• Team of Kwun Wing Thomas Li, 16, Pak Hei Chu, 18, and Tat Ngai Davis Chan, 17: third award in chemistry for 'supermagnetic iron (II, III) oxide silver cysteine complex nanoparticles (SISCCN) in metal ions adsorption and chiral recognition';
• Sidney K. Chu, 16: fourth award in computational biology and bioinformatics for 'identification of Parkinson's disease-associated SNP-SNP interaction using interaction analysis by Chi-Square (IAC)';
• Team of Hei Man Fong, 16, Ching Man Felice Tang, 17, and Nai To Chan, 16: third award in energy: chemical for 'sencha power';

From India:

• Shreyas Kapur, 17: third award in biomedical engineering for 'cellphone based optometry using hybrid images'
• Team of Suhani Sachin Jain, 15, and Divya Kranthi, 16: third award in plant sciences for 'innovative strategy using endophytes for effective biocontrol of insect pests in cotton'; and
• Vasudev Malyan, 18: fourth award in translational medical science for 'a novel paper sensor as a diagnostic test for multiple schlerosis'.

From Japan:

• Tomoro Warashina, 18: second award in cellular and molecular biology for 'silk-gland-derived sericin as a growth promoted in animal cell culture';
• Team of Chizumi Maeta, 18, and Mei Yamamura, 17: second award in energy: chemical for 'investigation and development of a new solid polymer electrolyte using a natural membrane for fuel cell devices';

From Malaysia:

• Team of Dylan Lim Shu Zhe, 16, Nizar Bin Jalaludeen Rajagobar, 16, and Derric Lim Shu Chuen, 16: third award in materials science for 'pineapple skin galore';

From Pakistan: 

• Shahmir Khan Niazi, 15: fourth award in energy: physical for 'a new spin on renewable energy';

From Singapore:

• Yuhang Wang, 19: third award in chemistry for 'nickel oxy-hydroxide thin films as efficient electrocatalysts for dye wastewater treatment';
• ShuYi Jia, 19: fourth award in chemistry for 'immobilization of glycans on silicon substrates for diagnostic microarrays';

From South Korea:

• Team of Seong Ho Lim, 18, Jihong Kim, 18, and Seung Yoon Lee, 17: fourth award in chemistry for 'can we directly measure each solute concentration in mixed solution? a new class of polarimeter';
• Team of Nayeong Kim, 17, and Jongha Choi, 18: fourth award in energy: chemical for 'ceria supported Cu-Co composite catalyst for WGS reaction';
• Jae Hyeok Choi, 17: fourth award in environmental engineering for 'the development of 3R water filter: round wave-rusty wire for rural regions';
• Kim Dae Hyun, 18: third award in physics and astronomy for 'generation of beat sound of Korean bell with a bicycle rim'; and
• Yun Kang, 16: fourth award in robotics and intelligent machines for 'direct connection technology between disabled and prosthetic robot hand'.

From Sri Lanka:

• Abishek Stenush Gomes: 16, third award in embedded systems for 'wearable device to translate American Sign Language (ASL) into English'.

From Thailand:

• Team of Charuntorn Doungnga, 18, and Runglawan Charpugdee, 17: second award in animal sciences for 'a silk sheath production frame developed from negative geotropic spinning behavior of silkforms resulted in silk sheath with high homogeneity';
• Team of  Puvanat Triamchanchai, 15, and Touchakorn Chintavalakorn, 15: also second award in animal sciences for 'bubble nesting behavior behind local wisdom of rearing Siamese fighting fish by utilizing dry leaves'

From Vietnam:

• Team of Chau Thu Minh Nguyen, 17, and Chinh Lu Duc Hoang, 16: third award in cellular and molecular biology for 'study on the ability of binding and killing several cancer cell lines of antinuclear antibody';
• Team of My Ha Nguyen, 17, and Long Quang Nguyen, 18: third award in chemistry for 'potential anticancer complexes from platinum and clove basil oil (Ocinum grastissimum L.)';
• Team of Phong Tuan Pham Wu, 16, and Ngoc Bao Nguyen, 16: third award in earth and environmental sciences for 'rice straw phytolith to enhance CO2 capture: ideas for sustainable management of rice straw and reduction of greenhouse gases from paddy soils'; and
• Team of Ngan Hoang Nguyen, 18, and Truc Thanh Pham, 18: third award in engineering mechanics for 'diverse terrain wheelchair'.

(Left to right):  The three Best of the Best in ISEF 2016: Kathy Liu, Hanjie (Austin) Wang and Syamantak Payra. Photo from the webpage of Society for the Science & the Public.

For the top three prizes: the Young Scientist awards went to Syamantak Payra, 15, from Texas and  Kathy Liu, 17 from Utah for their projects in embedded systems and in energy - chemical categories; respectively, and the Gordon E. Moore went to Canadian Han Jie (Austin) Wang for his microbiology project. titled 'boosting MFC biocatalyst performance: a novel gene identification and consortia engineering approach.'

The three winners appear to be part of that generation in North America whose roots can be traced to Asia.

That's how it was in Phoenix where some 1,760 Grades 9-12 students from 77 countries, regions and territories converged for the world's largest pre-college science research competition under the theme 'Think Beyond.'