Penn State Mont Alto Research Award winners

For the fifth straight year, Penn State Mont Alto has provided an award for the Franklin Science and Technology Fair: The Penn State Mont Alto Research Award. The award is presented to the individual student in each division who's project best exemplifies creativity using the scientific method. The prize consists of an award certificate (created by Prof. Hawkins) and a $100 U.S. Savings Bond. Here are the winning projects for 2002 (more information on the projects will be provided later):

The Primary Division (grades 1-3)

Title:	Wind Race
Student:	Josephine Lippincott
School:	Duffield Elementary
Description:	Studied the prevailing wind direction for a 2 month period, using an ingenious home built recording device (seen in the photo). The presentation was nicely hands-on, with an electric fan providing the wind, and a lazy susan to allow for a change in wind direction. The experiment notebook contained the daily record of wind data.

The Intermediate Division (grades 4-6)

Title:	Cookie Caper
Student:	Laurie Jones
School:	Grandview Elementary
Description:	This project reported on a blind taste test, involving chocolate-chip cookies made with both "brand name" and "store brand" ingredients. Included in the research was a cost analysis, including the total amount of money spent, the cost per batch and cost per individual cookie. Interestingly, most people couldn't distinguish between the cookies, and some people even preferred the cookies made with less expensive, "store brand", ingredients.

The Middle Division (grades 7-8)

Title:	Hamster Genetics
Student:	Daniel Reed
School:	Chambersburg Area Middle School
Description:	This project reported on an on-going, 2 year long project on hamster breeding. The two characteristics studied were eye color and fur color.

The Junior Division (grades 9-10)

Title:	Does Age Affect Depth Perception?
Student:	Scott Ackerman
School:	Greencastle Area Middle School
Description:	This project reported on the results of a test of depth perception, based on the age of the participant. Depth perception was tested using a clever home built device; 6 different age categories were studied with 10 participants from each age category. The average results were summarized in a bar chart.

The Senior Division (grades 11-12)

Title:	Optimizing Duration and Thrust in a Hybrid Rocket
Student:	Cade Laverty
School:	Chambersburg Area High School
Description:	This project reported on a detailed experiment involving the thrust produced by an hybrid rocket motor using different fuel mixtures. The rocket motor was attached to a low-friction platform which was, in turn, attached to a computer operated pressure sensor.

Last updated: Sat Mar 23 14:07:51 EDT 2002 by Mike Doncheski

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