By Paul Plato
On April 4th and 5th, AHS, in cooperation with the Central Arizona Project, reviewed and presented awards to deserving hydrologic and water projects at the annual Arizona Science and Engineering Fair. This marks the 17th straight year AHS and CAP have teamed up to award prizes at AzSEF, and we’d like to thank Karol Wolf of Salt River Project, and Michel Hulst, who helped me judge at this years’ event. The amount of prize money was $700, to be awarded to deserving projects in the Senior, Junior, and Elementary Divisions. AzSEF is a winner’s fair, meaning that you must win at the local level in order to complete statewide. The number of projects this year was down a bit from previous years — approximately 700 total. However, the number of high school–level water projects was huge this year, with many to consider. Following our review, awards were made to the following projects, based upon merit.
Congratulations to all the winners this year; the projects were very inspiring. And congratulations to all the aspiring future scientists who I talked with this year — it was, as always, a rewarding and fun experience.
Senior Division
$200 1st Place — Ulysses Altamirano, for SR-EAEV-38: Agricultural Water Quality Analysis. Mr. Altamirano’s project involved sampling and analyzing agricultural irrigation water used on fields. The focus was on the nature of irrigation water, including testing for nitrates, phosphate, and other constituents.
$75 for 2nd Place — Kara Kewenvoyouma-Joseph for SR-EAEV-26: Spring Water or Tap Water: A Comparison of Water Quality in Hopi Villages and a Nearby City. Her project involved evaluation of water quality differences between springs used for drinking water, the Village of Moenkopi Water system, and compared them to Flagstaff’s municipal water system.
$75 for 2nd Place — Mika Serrantes, for SR-EAEV-29: Rainwater for Oro Valley. Her project involved an evaluation of the quality of rainwater for recharging the aquifer in the Oro Valley area, near Tucson.
$50 for 3rd Place — Elliott Emerson, for SR-ENEV-02: Washed Away: Which Type of Material Will Protect Soil from Water Erosion the Best? His project involved an evaluation of the different materials ability to limit water erosion.
Junior Division
$100 for 1st Place — McKay Hartman, for JR-CS-13: The Effect of Different Surface Materials on Soil Erosion. Mr. Hartman’s project involved the construction of a flume and valve system to carefully measure scour with differing cover materials.
$50 for 2nd Place — Doer He, for JR-CS-11: The Effect of Ventilation on Evaporation. His project involved direct measurement of the impact of air movement on the rate of evaporation of water from pans.
$50 for 2nd Place — Ethan Wolford, for JR-CS-12: Are You Ready to Rumble? His project involved the construction of an apparatus to measure the differences in transmitting seismic waves to a building. His measuring table used a drill and an eccentric to simulate ground movement.
Elementary Division
$50 for 1st Place — Maya Barnes, for EL-EAEV-14: Runoff in the Desert. Her project involved the evaluation the volume of runoff generated from different types of soil cover.
$50 for 1st Place — Preston Stricker, for EL-EAEV-21: Stream Flow, Temperature, and Dissolved Oxygen in Arizona’s Sabino Creek. His project involved measuring dissolved oxygen content at differing stream flow rates and temperatures to determine the nature of their inter-relationship. The results were used to evaluate the potential impacts to an endangered fish in the creek.
Honorable Mention — Ashlyn Endicott and Sadie Hartman for EL-EAEV-04: Efficacious Erosion. Their project evaluated surface materials to limit erosion.
Honorable Mention — Emma Weber for EL-EAEV-10: Which Type of Rocks Erode the Fastest? Her project evaluated the erosion rate of different types of candy and sugar, made to simulate igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.
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