1997 CPCUG Science Fair Awards

It's Spring and time for the Capital PC User Group to recognize deserving young computer scientists for their outstanding science fair projects. At the May 12th and June 9th General Meetings, CPCUG President Lillian Milliner presented the awards. She handed out plaques, $50 savings bonds, and one year CPCUG memberships to these deserving young people for their special achievement in exploring computer technology. Several other Computer Science Category participants received CPCUG certificates for their notable efforts.

The award winners set up their displays and explained their projects to CPCUG members as the pre-meeting opening activities. By coming early to see their exhibits and talk to these young scientists, members learned much about their explorations in Computer Science. We have also invited these young scientists to send us electronic copies of their papers for inclusion on the CPCUG Web Server and synopses in the Monitor.

CPCUG Special Recognition Plaques, $50 savings bonds, and a one year membership go the following:

• Robert Baden of Brandywine, MD attends Oxon Hill High School in Prince George's County. His project was "Computer Simulated Language Translation." Robert developed software that translates English words and sentences into Japanese.
• Brian Bentley of Montclair, VA checked various search engines for speed, accuracy, and garbage in his presentation "World Wide Web Search Engine Comparison." Brian attends Hylton High School in Woodbridge.
• Craig Michael Chisholm lives in Ashburn, VA. and attends Broad Run High School. His project was entitled "The Effect of Simple Permutations of Weak Encryption Keys on the Double Encryption Output Difference."
• Adam Farmer from St. Inigoes in St. Mary's County presented "http://www.internet search.com" He surveyed search engines on the World Wide Web and evaluated them by their number of index entries and the relevance of the first entries reported.
• Daniel Griffie studied "Design of a Wavelet-Based Hyperspectral Compression System." Daniel goes to Northeast Senior High School in Pasadena, Maryland.
• Liem Ha, Arlington, VA. answered a question many parents want to know: "Tetris: Must the Game End?"
• William Hafer of Arlington, VA. is recognized for his project "Artificial Intelligence: Neural Network vs. Expert System"
• Aaron Johnson of Great Falls, VA attends Park View High School in Sterling VA. His project was entitled "Prediction Through Chaos - applied chaotic mirror theory to weather prediction."
• Jeffrey Malin, from Arlington, VA presented "Electronic Epidimiology"
• Jonathan Potter of Vienna, VA for his project entitled "Computer Algorithms for Reconstruction off Spatial Geometry from Stereoscopic Images." Jonathan is a student at Thomas Jefferson High School.
• Andrew Primus answered the question "What's Wrong With My Radio?" with his investigation of how RFI (radio frequency interference) noise from a computer interferes with radio reception. Andrew is a student at Stonewall Middle School in Manassas, VA
• George Purcell, II of Washington, DC for his project "When are cool sites 'Hot'?" A survey and analysis of the methods of identification and ranking criteria used by three dozen world wide web award sites. George is a student at Alice Deal Junior High School.
• David Rockwell, Columbia, MD, answered the question "How Fast Is Your Modem?" David goes to Long Reach High School Columbia, MD.
• Jason Snell of Washington DC for his project "The Right Touch: Building the Holographic Keyboard" Jason applied touch screen technology to conventional keyboard layout to eliminate contribution of impact stress to repetitive motion injuries. Jason attends Stuart-Hobson Middle School.
• Ying Song, Gaithersburg, MD, conducted a computer analysis in "Body Responses of Beginning Walkers to an Obstacle During Locomotion." She is a student at Montgomery Blair HS.
• Nishant Kumar Tulsian is a winner from Frederick, Maryland for his "Vaccine for Computers"
• Randy Unger of Vienna, VA for his project Engineering a Web Page. Randy goes to James Madison High.
• Nick Yeates, also from Gaithersburg, MD attends Watkins Mill High School. His project was "Comparison of Computer Hardware and Performance."

Additional Recognition is being given to:

• Jacob Burmin of Silver Spring, MD., studied "Encryption Through the Ages." He goes to Takoma Park Middle School.
• Aaron Hopp, Gaithersburg, MD., attends Cabin John Middle School. His project was a "Comparison of TI-85 Programs."
• David Huang from North Potomac, MD., attends Thomas Wooten HS. He presented on "Randomness in Fractals."
• Adam Killway, Leesburg, VA. presented "The Production of the Components of a Word Processor." He goes to Loudon County High School.
• Jennifer Kramer of Washington DC. also goes to Cabin John Middle School. She looked at "Finding the Answer Faster - Testing Compilers."
• Shilpi Maheshuari presented her research on "A Test to find the Optimal Compression Program." She lives in Rockville, MD., and goes to Takoma Park Middle School.
• Daniel Starin also a Wooten student lives in Rockville, MD He investigated "Sequential Sorting"
• Sing Su of Rockville, MD., attends White Oak Middle School. His project was entitled "Best Return By Mixing the S&P and Russell Indices."
• Yiting Wang from Germantown, MD attends Montgomery Blair High School. She presented on the "Development of C/C++ Line Counter."

Thank you CPCUG Science Fair Judges

Volunteer Judge	Science Fair
Richard Biffl	Prince George's Regional Science Fair
Tom Hill Walt Houser	Montgomery Area Science Fair
Peggy Ireland	Howard County Mathematics, Science & Technology Fair
Peggy Ireland	Frederick County Science Fair
Peggy Ireland	Anne Arundel County Regional Science & Engineering Fair
Scott Langill	District of Columbia Mathematics, Science & Technology Fair
Peter Kimmel	Fairfax County Regional Science & Engineering Fair
Bob Morrison Craig C. Cornell	Northern Virginia Regional Science & Engineering Fair
Robert Clemenzi	Prince William/Manassas Regional Science Fair
Rene Thirion	Loudoun County Science & Engineering Fair

Our thanks also for invaluable support from CPCUG staff member Lynne Sturtz and the CPCUG Board. Once again, we are making a difference in the lives of these talented young people. Next year I would like to expand the program to offer mentoring for these young people. You do not need to be a science whiz to be a judge. An interest in listening and learning from young people is the essential qualification. If you would like to be included in next year’s effort as a judge, mentor, or both, please contact Walt Houser CPCUG Coordinator at.

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