Sunday May 26, 2013

Girls do Malaysia proud

We are the champs: Nur Liyana (left) and Sarah were duly rewarded for their innovative projects.

 

WHEN Sarah Wong Jia Xin, 17, started developing her entry for the Search for Seameo Young Scientists competition, she never thought it would be selected as a winning project.

Growing up in a community where pollution is a cause for concern, she came up with a project that was useful and environmentally-friendly.

Her project, which makes use of fish scales to effectively remove dye colour and heavy metal in dye waste water, won USD1,000 (RM3,000) at this year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona, United States (US).

The SMK Batu Lintang, Kuching, student received third award in the Engineering: Electrical and Mechanical category.

Meanwhile, Nur Liyana Johari, 17, from SM Sains Tuanku Syed Putra, Perlis, won second award from the United Airlines Foundation (under the Special Award Organisations) and walked away with USD5,000 (RM15,000).

She also received USD1,000 (RM3,000) for winning third award in the Environmental Management: Recycling and Waste Management category for her project entitled “Bio-oil: The Use of Specially Made Catalyst”.

Both Sarah and Nur Liyana were among the seven finalists from Malaysia who travelled to the US for the competition.

Sharing that she was happy to represent Malaysia as one of the country’s finalists, Sarah said: “It is the world’s largest high school science research competition and I have been looking forward to taking part in it ever since I heard about it.”

The projects created by the Malaysian finalists included biodegradable polymer from banana stem and botanical pesticides from indigenous plants.

The other Malaysian finalists who were selected for the competition are Muhammad Ali Zulhazim Rosli, Florina Stephanie Richard, Michelle Jane Babat, Wan Ezzeriq Wan Zalik and Muhamad Asyri Jamlus.

More than 500 finalists at the fair received awards and prizes for their innovative research.

Ionut Alexandru Budisteanu, 19, from Romania, won the Gordon E. Moore Award for using artificial intelligence to create a viable model for a low-cost, self-driving car. He walked away with USD75,000 (RM226,000).

Eesha Khare, 18, from California, US, and Henry Lin, 17, from Louisiana, US, received the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award of USD50,000 (RM150,000) each.

The fair honours some of the world’s most promising student entrepreneurs, innovators and scientists.

Finalists are selected annually from hundreds of affiliated fairs and their projects are evaluated onsite by more than 1,200 judges from nearly every scientific discipline.


TheStar online 26 May 2013