South River High School sophomore Allison Bowman and Severna Park High School freshman Sebastien Brennan shared the grand award at the 49th annual Anne Arundel County Regional Science and Engineering Fair last night, in the process earning the right to represent Anne Arundel County Public Schools at the International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) in Phoenix, Ariz., in May.
Allison’s project, “Replacing Silicon: 2D Semiconductors Future” focused on phosphorene and graphene as some of the most promising up-and-coming new materials in the electronics industry. This group of nano-materials share interesting electrical properties, and have the potential to dramatically increase the electronic component density in microcircuits and metal free circuitry used in the biomedical field.
In his study, Allison explored whether the two-dimensional semiconductors, phosphorene and graphene, could be fabricated from pure elemental crystals and used as real-world alternative to silicon semiconductors.
Sebastien’s project, “On the Number of Primes Less Than a Given Magnitude,” centered on prime integers, the prime counting function and formulation of a new prime counting function.
He compared his prime counting function to the accuracy of the Euler Riemann Prime Counting Function and to the Prime Number Theory using large and small values of x. Prime numbers play an important role in cryptography, and Sebastien’s research can help cryptographers develop code that is more secure.
More than 300 projects in 17 categories presented by young science stars from across the county in grades 6 through 12 were entered in the fair. Students won awards and prizes worth thousands of dollars from organizations such as American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Armed Forces Communications Association, Anne Arundel Community College, Defense Spectrum Organization, Educational Systems Federal Credit Union, Fisher Scientific Education Faculty, Harris Corporation, Intel, International Council on Systems Engineering, Lockheed Martin, Rockwell Collins, the US Navy/US Marine Corps Office of Naval Research, and Pearson Education.
The Anne Arundel County Regional Science and Engineering Fair is dedicated to promoting science education, and recognizing and rewarding student achievement in science. In addition to the grand award winners, approximately 100 county middle and high school students earned first-place awards at the fair ranging from special awards from community organizations to category awards based on guidelines from Intel ISEF.