State Science Fair Participants Adapt, Overcome, And Give Hope

Carissa Stahl presents her research to category judges in Middle School Robotics & Intelligent Machines. Photo credits to Anjali Chadha.

RICHMOND, Ky. – The 18th annual Kentucky Science and Engineering Fair (KY-SEF) was held Saturday, March 28, in virtual form. Originally planned for Eastern Kentucky University’s Alumni Coliseum, the fair instead occurred simultaneously in 567 homes.  

Overall, 346 students representing 305 projects participated virtually to compete for awards in 22 middle school and 22 high school categories ranging from animal sciences to robotics and intelligent machines. These students were joined by 221 volunteer judges from across Kentucky and the nation. Students and judges were welcomed virtually by Governor Andy Beshear and EKU interim president, Dr. David McFaddin. Both credited fair participants for reflecting the determined spirit and rich tradition of Kentuckians who throughout history have come together to adapt and overcome.

Kentucky is one of a few states being able to hold a state fair with personalized student-judge interaction this year. The monumental chore of developing and managing the fair logistics was performed by 10 volunteers mostly from Louisville-based STEM Wizard and Eastern Kentucky University. At one point during the fair, there were 42 simultaneous Zoom virtual sessions occurring for category judging. Students too, had to overcome a lot. Lacking school resources, many students converted their posters and display boards to digital slideshows in a matter of days. Dr. Jason Marion, Fair Director and associate professor of Environmental Health Science at Eastern Kentucky University, gave his rationale for why the fair had to continue this year.

“My co-director, June Settle and I, received numerous requests from individual students strongly urging us to see that the fair continued. Working with our fair logistics partner, STEM Wizard of Louisville, we realized we could pull it off. Upon our announcement of going forward with a virtual fair, we were met with a flood of messages conveying joy from kids, parents, teachers, judges, and so many. The encouragement is what kept us going, knowing we were doing what was right to bring Kentucky together and to show off what makes our participants and their work truly awesome!”

In moving forward, Marion expressed what the students had to do to make this possible.

“These students had a busy two weeks leading up to the fair and despite potential distractions, they persisted and demonstrated to our judges and many more new, out-of-state judges, why Team Kentucky and the Kentucky Science & Engineering Fair is among the nation’s finest.” 

“Our fair alumni are truly rock stars, just Google search Anjali Chadha or Rachel Seevers. We were not going to let COVID-19 detract us from our mission for our young people. They were willing to do the work, so we had to deliver too, and ensure this showcase and competition continued.”

There were projects boasting an array of cutting-edge topics with category and special award winners coming from all across Kentucky, from Bowling Green to Belfrey. Some unique projects included Solar Soldier from Floyd County’s Todd Prater who won the U.S. Navy/U.S. Marine Corps Excellence in Research Award for his solar panel covered combat helmet. Another notable project involved the team project from Pike County’s Jaley Adkins and Madison Slone which recognized their work on gold and silver nanoparticles from Kudzu vine plant extracts for assisting in cancer diagnosis.

Overall, the top three high school winners in the life sciences were Robi Bolli of Louisville (1st place), Saisha Dhar of Lexington (2nd), and Sonia Nagpal of Louisville (3rd). Bolli’s project demonstrated the promise of cultured cardiac mesenchymal cells for repairing heart damage in mice that had heart attacks. Dhar’s research showed the promise of targeting an enzyme (ASK1) associated with lung cell self-destruction, as an alternative or therapeutic aid to mechanical ventilation in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Nagpal examined how optical illusions influence acute visual working memory. Nagpal’s preliminary research findings on 100 participants showed that there was a slight improvement in working memory scores in groups seeing the optical illusion before taking the MemTrax visual memory test.

In the high school division for physical sciences, the top three winners were David Vulakh of Lexington (1st), Elizabeth Gallagher of Louisville (2nd), and Lauren Sotingeanu of Richmond (3rd). Vulakh presented his systems software whereby he applied an optimized ant colony algorithm for reducing the computational time for solving combinatory constraint-satisfaction problems, like Soduku puzzles, scheduling, or optimizing resource distribution. Gallagher’s project examined how air plasma could convert common plastic materials, PVC and PET, to porous carbon. Through the use of scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, she demonstrated PVC and PET could be converted, which has application to recycling those plastics in an environmentally-friendly way. Sotingeanu created and tested the strength of a banana peel-based bioplastic. She made the bioplastic using a combination of salts, acids, and glycerol, and then optimized her process for improving the strength of the bioplastic to resist tearing.

The awards ceremony occurred via YouTube and Facebook Live, and the fair’s director commended the students and the judges for adapting so quickly and for giving hope to all of Kentucky for persisting in their academic and scientific pursuits.

The fair director also thanked sponsors, like Battelle, who is working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, and commended the 221 judges from most of Kentucky’s public and private universities and colleges, as well as judges from MIT, Harvard, University of Southern California, University of North Carolina, University of Illinois, University of California-Santa Barbara, University of Toledo, IBM, Battelle, Bechtel-Parsons, GE, Humana, the Department of Defense, Lexmark, and many more. Eastern Kentucky University, the host site of the fair, contributed the most judges, 33 in total, followed by the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky with nearly 30 each.

To see a full list of category and special awards winners, visit kysef.stemwizard.com or contact Dr. Jason Marion, Fair Director at jason.marion@eku.edu or June Settle, Executive Director at june.settle@eku.edu.  The fair is grateful for financial and in-kind support from Battelle, Amazon, LexMark, Eastern Kentucky University, GlowTouch Technologies, and the Kentucky Science Fair Endowment.

Gov. Beshear Recommends Schools Stay Closed until May 1 in COVID-19 Fight

Governor also announces commutations, planned release of some non-violent prisoners

FRANKFORT, Ky. (April 2, 2020) – Gov. Andy Beshear recommended Thursday that school districts statewide extend the suspension of in-person instruction until at least May 1 in the latest intensification of efforts to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The Governor spoke earlier in the day with school superintendents from across the commonwealth about the need to keep the restrictions in place as positive cases of the disease surge. He said he expects private schools to follow the guidance as well.

“I have encouraged all of our school districts to extend that nontraditional instruction, making sure that our kids out there have learning activities and meal service,” Gov. Beshear said. “This is further sacrifice by our kids and by our educators, but it’s absolutely necessary.”

He said officials are watching data coming in from across the state and nation and studying how other cities are dealing with the surge of cases. The Governor said a decision to further extend the restrictions, perhaps even canceling the rest of the school year for in-person instruction, was possible.

“There is a real chance that we don’t go back to in-person instruction this year, but we’re not there yet,” Gov. Beshear said.

Sentences commuted for non-violent offenders
Honoring his commitment to safeguard the health and safety of all Kentuckians, including corrections staff and those in custody, Gov. Beshear announced Thursday plans to commute the sentences for hundreds of non-violent offenders. The move reduces the risk of virus transmission for an at-risk population as well as for Department of Corrections officers and other personnel.

“This is lightening the load on our corrections system and at the same time protecting some of the most vulnerable individuals who are in the corrections system,” said J. Michael Brown, Secretary of the Executive Cabinet.

Gov. Beshear commuted the sentences of 186 inmates identified as being medically vulnerable to the coronavirus, and plans to commute the sentences of another 743 inmates in state custody who are due to complete their sentences within the next six months.

The Governor said all of those receiving commutations were being held for non-violent, non-sexual offenses.

State Parks
Gov. Beshear announced that, beginning Friday, all Kentucky State Parks no longer will be open for overnight stays. The facilities will be open for use during daytime hours as long as visitors maintain proper social distancing. Kentucky State Parks will be open to the public between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

“Starting tomorrow there will be no overnight stays in our state parks. None in the campgrounds and none in the lodges,” said Gov. Beshear. “This is to make sure that we’re all healthy at home. It’s making sure that we’re not creating opportunities for people to create a crowd and we’re not presenting a haven for those coming from other places to potentially bring their contacts.”

Fairgrounds
The Governor said plans are moving ahead to convert the state fairgrounds in Louisville into a 2,000-bed makeshift hospital.

“Our goal is to be ready when the surge comes,” Gov. Beshear said. “I want to have it ready before we need even one of those single beds. And if we don’t end up needing it: Hallelujah!”

Call to action on gloves
Gov. Beshear issued a call to action as the state works to keep stocks of personal protective equipment (PPE) amid dwindling supplies.

“What we need right now in Kentucky, and I know there’s a lot out there, is gloves for our medical professionals,” he said. “We believe this is the next area where there’s going to be another big run in the United States.”

The Governor asked anyone who could make donations of gloves or other PPE supplies to call the National Guard Hotline at 502-607-6844 or go to tinyurl.com/KYEMCOVID.

Travel into Kentucky
Gov. Beshear expanded a recent orderrestricting travel to include people from out of state coming into the commonwealth. Anyone from out of state has to follow the same travel restrictions as Kentuckians.

“We have to make sure we don’t have people traveling in, staying two days and then leaving, because that frustrates everything we are trying to do right now,” the Governor said. “If someone has a family member from out of state and they want to come and ride it out with their family members, that’s fine. But once you get here, you quarantine for 14 days and you don’t go anywhere else. It’s no different than any other state is doing. It’s a precaution that all states should do and most states are doing.”

Case information
As of 5 p.m. April 2, the Governor said there were 770 cases of COVID-19 in Kentucky, 100 of which were newly confirmed. There were 11 new deaths reported Wednesday, raising the state’s toll to 31 deaths related to the virus.

Gov. Beshear said all but one of the deaths, and possibly all of them, were people with other health conditions.

“That is what this virus does. It goes after people who have other health conditions,” the Governor said, adding that he wanted Kentuckians to join him in lighting their homes green in honor of the lives lost. “Let’s recommit to making sure we do everything we can to make sure we don’t have too many more days like today.”

Key recent updates

Three critical steps keep focus on COVID-19 fight
Gov. Beshear asked Kentuckians to stay focused on three key steps that can be done here to blunt the deadly outbreak: social distancing, boosting testing and health care capacity. He asked everyone to help by maintaining good social distancing and staying safe at home. And the Governor said officials in government and industry were working tirelessly to add hospital beds, intensive-care units and ventilators to sites throughout the commonwealth.

Helping Kentucky workers
Josh Benton, deputy secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, said officials are working to fix problems brought on by an unprecedented surge in unemployment claims. Benton said the claims website, kcc.ky.gov, has been completely revamped for ease of use and capacity was being continuously added to the call center. Gov. Beshear has expanded access for groups not normally eligible for unemployment insurance. Substitute teachers, freelance workers, small-business owners, restaurant workers and more can access a range of benefits.

Out-of-state travel restricted
Gov. Beshear issued an order March 30 restricting out-of-state travel by Kentuckians during the state of emergency. The decree allows for a range of exemptions, including travel to other states for work and groceries, to care for loved ones, to obtain health care and when required by a court order. Kentuckians arriving back in the commonwealth from out of state are required to self-quarantine for 14 days.

Team Kentucky Fund
Gov. Beshear, along with the Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet, took executive action to establish the Team Kentucky Fund, a GoFundMe-style online platform to provide financial help to Kentuckians whose employment is affected by the coronavirus. The Governor has challenged those who are able to help to make a tax-deductible donation to the fund. On April 1, Gov. Beshear announced donations had surpassed $400,000. He also shared videos from University of Louisville men’s basketball Coach Chris Mack, UofL head football Coach Scott Satterfield and University of Kentucky men’s basketball Coach John Calipari urging people to help their neighbors.

National Guard
Gov. Beshear called on the Kentucky National Guard to help feed the commonwealth’s seniors, families and displaced workers during the coronavirus pandemic. National Guard members will deploy to four regional food bank warehouses to help sort, package and distribute that food through “no-touch” deliveries in communities across the commonwealth.

Alert: Testing scams
Gov. Beshear and Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner for the Department for Public Health, warned Kentuckians to be wary of coronavirus testing scams. The Governor said there were both at-home tests being sold and some drive-up testing operations being reported.

“You shouldn’t be handing over your hard-earned and precious money to go get pop-up testing anywhere,” said Dr. Stack, who urged anyone feeling ill or with questions to follow the state’s guidance on when to call health care providers.

U.S. Census duty
Gov. Beshear reminded Kentuckians to complete the 2020 Census at 2020Census.gov while staying healthy at home. “We want to make sure every single person in Kentucky is counted so our state receives the correct amount of federal funding over the next 10 years,” the Governor said. “These dollars will help us recover from the health, social and economic impacts of COVID-19.”

Federal disaster aid, CARES Act help Kentuckians
Gov. Beshear announced two moves by the federal government to help the commonwealth’s coronavirus response and recovery efforts. The Major Disaster Declaration issued by President Donald Trump broadens access to the Public Assistance Program statewide to pay for emergency protective services. And the federal CARES Act provides a variety of assistance and hope to Kentuckians whose livelihoods have been harmed by the coronavirus outbreak and response. Among the provisions are a $600 raise to the maximum weekly benefit, an additional 13 weeks of coverage and expanded eligibility for unemployment insurance.

Orders help grocery workers, nursing industry
Grocery store workers can now receive the same emergency child care benefits that previously were extended to first responders and health care workers. Gov. Beshear said while the food supply remains safe, his administration wants to support the workers stocking shelves and manning the checkouts. Gov. Beshear also praised the Kentucky Board of Nursing for working with officials to moderate enforcement of some training and licensing requirements during the emergency. Among the issues addressed by a new order from the Governor: It eases restrictions on nurses who live out of state and makes it quicker to obtain a license.

Reporting hotline
Gov. Beshear announced the COVID-19 Reporting Hotline 833-KY SAFER (833-597-2337) for complaints about non-compliance with coronavirus mandates. Labor Cabinet personnel will monitor the hotline from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET. Kentuckians can visit the website kysafer.ky.gov to make online complaints.

To read about other key updates from Gov. Beshear visit the news section on governor.ky.gov.

More Information
Gov. Beshear has taken decisive action to protect all Kentuckians since the first case was confirmed in the commonwealth. To read the full list of actions Gov. Beshear has taken to protect Kentuckians and limit the spread of the coronavirus, visit governor.ky.gov/covid19.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourages people to follow these steps to prevent illness. Kentuckians who want advice can call the state hotline at 800-722-5725 or call their local health care provider. To read Gov. Beshear’s news releases and watch other news regarding COVID-19 visit governor.ky.gov.

Each day at 5 p.m. ET, Gov. Beshear holds briefings for Kentuckians that are streamed online at his Facebook and YouTube pages.

Gov. Beshear continues to urge Kentuckians to be cautious of rumors and depend on proven and good sources of news, including governor.ky.gov, kycovid19.ky.gov and the Governor’s official social media accounts Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Team Kentucky hashtags for social media
#TeamKentucky, #TogetherKY, #Patriot and #HealthyAtHome