Local Students Shine at Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair: Winners Heading to International Competition

The 2024 Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair at Old Dominion University was a remarkable event, with students from James Madison High School, George C. Marshall High School, and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology taking home grand-prize awards. These exceptional students now have the opportunity to compete at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles from May 12-17.

The grand prize winners included Wesley Kang from Madison, whose project focused on predicting wastewater induced earthquakes using a novel mathematical model. Anant Khandelwal, Sritan Motati, and Siddhant Sood from Thomas Jefferson won for their project on 3D prototyping using diffusion-based conditional mesh synthesis. Gabriela Konde from Marshall School was recognized for her work on eradicating E. coli biofilm on medical devices using optimal sound frequencies. Valeria Novoa from Madison impressed the judges with her project on optimizing graphitic carbon nitride for hydrogen storage.

In total, seventy-eight students from Fairfax’s school system were part of the state-level competition, showcasing their talents and achievements in the field of science and engineering. For more information on the awards won by local students, visit [bit.ly/44tQdYR](http://bit.ly/44tQdYR).