Mercer County’s budding scientists place at international science fair

The top two finishers in this years Mercer Science and Engineering Fair (MSEF) went on to compete in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) where they won third and second Place Awards, respectively, according to a press release from the

MSEF.

The ISEF, held on May 12, drew 1750 entries from 49 states and 63 countries. This year the International Fair was a “hybrid” with some students entering in person and others, (including the MSEF winners) appearing virtually.

Satvik Dasariraju from the Lawrenceville School had won the MSEF Grand

Prize.with RARE: Machine Learning Approach for Binning Rare Variant Features to Detect Association with Disease. At the International Fair he received Third Place with an award of $1000.

Satvik’s project used machine learning and AI to detect rare variant genetic irregularities associated with a wide range of diseases and disorders, including rejection of transplanted organs. His algorithm, which he named RARE (Relevant Association of Rare-Variant-Bin Evolver) improves and simplifies the analysis, thus making it more widely available.

Charlotte Michaluk, of Hopewell Valley Central High, had been First Runner

Up at the MSEF with her project Innovative Climate Change Emissions Reduction: Flettner Vortex Scrubber With Active Seakeeping. The International Fair awarded her Second Place which carried a monetary prize of $2000. Charlotte’s project included both theory, and experiments with large rotating vertical cylinders mounted on ship models. Her conclusions were that first, the rotors can serve as centrifugal scrubbers to remove engine-generated soot from the ship’s exhaust. Second, they can assist propulsion and thereby reduce fuel consumption, and finally they can reduce rolling of the ship in rough seas.