A Grade 12 student from Grey Highlands Secondary School in Flesherton won a platinum award at the Canada Wide Science Festival.
Katherine Teeter is the first Bluewater District student to win the high level recognition. Her project won senior gold, and then was chosen to receive the senior platinum award as the best senior project.
She explored the construction of prosthetic implants by synthesizing the constituents of limpet teeth, and showed great potential as a viable alternative to current implants.
Limpets are cone shaped shells that adhere themselves to rock, and use their teeth covered tongues to scrape algae from the rock. 581 physical, chemical and biological stress tests showed her implants were more resilient and could reduce the adverse side effects of current prosthetics.
Katherine won a total of $23,750 in cash and scholarships. She is moving on to the University of Western Ontario in September and will be in the Integrated Science Program.
Many other students competed at the festival.
Sophia Cottrill, a Grade 7 student from Sullivan Community School, won a junior gold medal with the project "Evolution or Extinction? Time Will Tell for the King of the Arctic."
The study utilized DNA and protein sequencing analyses to determine if polar bears were uniquely distinct from other species. The results of the analyses showed that due to their high level of specialization, the polar bear may soon become nothing more than an image engraved on a toonie. Sophia also won the Junior Environmental Challenge Award plus an entry scholarship to the University of Western Ontario. Her total cash and scholarships totaled $4500.
Connor Maxwell: Connor Maxwell, a Grade 8 student at Holy Family School in Hanover, won a Junior silver medal with his project "Farmland To Filtration: Improving Water Quality."
Using brine shrimp as the indicator species, 105 trials were conducted to design low cost, low maintenance filtration systems and test their effectiveness at filtering simulated agricultural runoff.
Each trial took 288 to 456 hours to complete.
The mortality rate, pH, filtering times, total phosphate, nitrate, sulphate, total suspended-solids, dissolved oxygen, specific gravity, and water volume were utilized in the evaluation of each filtration system.
Connor also won an entry scholarship to the University of Western Ontario valued at $2000.
Spencer Whitehead, a Grade 8 Holy Family student, won the Junior Canadian Actuarial Foundation award with his project Less Mass Run Fast.
Over 184 trials were conducted to investigate the effect of external loading on the stride length and the time to run 400 m. Stride length decreased with heavier loading.
The stride length of heavier runners decreased by as little as 7 cm while that of lighter runners decreased by up to 40 cm.
The average run time increased by 1.14 seconds for every 1% increase in external loading.
Spencer received a $500 cash award.
Nick Muegge, from Holy Family, and Nathan Williams, from École Elgin Market Public School in Kincardine, also competed in the Junior division.
Both young men came away with invaluable experience.
Nathan's project explored the control systems used on autonomous robots in competitions, like FIRST Lego League, which need to respond accurately and consistently every time a program is executed.
Two robot designs were tested using constant power, ramped power, and proportional-integral- derivative control turn methods, with and without a gyroscope.
The ramped power program data was closest to the target and had the least deviation over the course of ten trials.
Nick Muegge's project observed and analyzed the movement of white-tailed deer in WMU 84 over the past 365 days.
Deer harvest numbers, deer sighting data, climate condition statistics, and predator population data were examined to determine if identifiable patterns existed within the movement times of white-tailed deer.
The results revealed that the movement patterns depended greatly upon the rut and predation pressure along with climate conditions.
The Bluewater Regional Science & Technology Fair, a registered charity, is an independent body that promotes science and technology in Grey and Bruce Counties. It works with the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board, the French Catholic Board, home schooled students, private schools and the Bluewater District School Board.