2022-23 Kauai Regional Science & Engineering Fair 

Our Island wide fair was conducted on Saturday, February 11, 2023 at the War Memorial. Sixty six student researchers from 5 schools presented their 54 projects. These were the "Best of the Best" projects from the more than double the number of students and projects that were presented at school fairs. Over 20 community judges with backgrounds in engineering, plant sciences, environmental sciences, physics, psychology and other specializations evaluated the projects. We encourage you to watch both the videos below:

        Student Project Introductions  (about 11 minutes in which project is introduced by the student(s) conducting 
         the research and the reason they believe their work is important)
        2023 KRSEF Award Ceremony  (about 46 minutes, showing the announcement of all the awards from the 
        Regional Fair)

Student sUCCESS

Hawaii State Science and Engineering Fair (HSSEF):  Kauai sent 24 students from 4 schools (Island School, Kauai High School, St. Theresa School, and Waimea High School) to the 65th Hawaii State Science and Engineering Fair, at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall April 5 – 6th. And those student reserchers proved that Kauai students can compete with the best in the State by earning 26 awards. (List of Kauai HSSEF Award Winners). This year’s five categorical prize winners were:  
Senior Division:
      ANIMAL SCIENCES:  3rd Place - Lauryn Hashimoto, Kauai High School “Lure Comparison for Capturing Male
                                                                          Culex Mosquitoes”, 
      BIOCHEMISTRY:  1st Place - Jaxyn Cable-Treadwell, Kauai High School “Creating Perfusable Tissue Scaffolds
                                                                           from Decellularized Plant Leaves”, 
       ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING: 3rd Place - Adeline Bechard, Kauai High School “Solar Power Water Gravity
                                                                            Battery”,  
        PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY: 3rd Place – Neva Leung, Kauai High School “Using Type 1A Supernovae to Determine 
                                                                              Hubble’s Constant” 
Junior Division: 
       BIOMEDICAL & HEALTH SCIENCES: 3rd Place - Denali Chun, St. Theresa School "A Hidden Sugar".

Congratulations to all the HSSEF participants for their amazing research. 

International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF):  Two Kauai High students will represent our Island at the Regeneron ISEF 2023, the world’s largest pre-college STEM competition, which will take place from May 14-19 in Dallas, Texas at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. Our Island will be represented by Jaxyn Cable-Treadwell, Grade 12, presenting his research "Creating Perfusable Tissue Scaffolds From Decellularized Plant Leaves" along with Lauryn Hashimato, Grade 11, presenting "Lure Comparison for Capturing Male Culex Mosquitoes". All of Kauai's research programs are proud of you and wish you great success.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge:  The Thermo Fisher JIC (previously the Broadcom MASTERS from 2010-2022, the Society’s Middle School Program (2008), and the Discovery Channel Young Scientists Challenge (1999-2007), is the nation’s premier STEM research competition for middle school students. Three Kauai Students (with school, grade and project title) have advance to this Special competition:
 
      Lily Santiago, Grade 6, St. Theresa School, "All About that Bass"
      Sadie Stiglmeier, Grade 8, Island School, "Does Over Development Affect the Soils Fertility"
      Denali Chun, Grade 8, St. Theresa School, "A Hidden Sugar"

GREAT JOB and good luck as you move forward in this most prestigious middle school competition.

Junior Science and Humanities Symposium:  On January 14 -15, 2023, Kauai sent 8 high school researchers, five from Kauai High and 3 from Waimea, to compete at the 2023 Hawaii Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. This competition requires each student to submit a 5-20 page research paper at the end of November and then present their research to a panel of professionals. Two students earned special recognition at this years JSHS. Neva Leung, Kauai High School, Grade 10 was selected for a Student Choice Award and Priscilla Matthews, Kauai High School, Grade 11, was one of 12 semi-finalist from Hawaii and the other Pacific US territories who competed for the top awards. Congratulations to ALL participants.

Research resources

Science News: For almost a century, Science News journalists have covered advances in science, medicine and technology for the general public, including the 1925 Scopes “monkey” trial, the advent of the atomic age in 1945, the space race, and the revolution of genetic engineering from the discovery of DNA to today’s gene-editing technology.  Readabilty: 12.1
Science News for Students: Science News Explores is an award-winning publication dedicated to providing topical stories on current events in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) for children ages 9 and up, their parents and educators. Founded in 2003 as Science News for Kids, the digital magazine underwent a major redesign 10 years later, including a name change to Science News for Students. Known as Science News Explores since summer 2022, the magazine’s website publishes daily news and features online — all free of cost.  Readibilty: 8.1.
Kauai Student Research Exchange: Here are the measurement resources that you need. The exchange was designed with student independent research in mind. Here are instruments that will help you collect data for your project. Available to all students on Kauai, please first read the protocols for checking out equipment AND then submit your request.