Singapore's Young Research Talents Recognised at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) 2017

Singapore’s students achieved commendable results at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) 2017. Held in Los Angeles- California from 14 to 19 May this year- Intel ISEF 2017 is the world’s largest international pre-college science competition. Every year- more than 1-750 high school students from about 75 countries- regions and territories showcase their independent research. 

The Singapore team submitted four individual projects and two team projects- which collectively garnered a bumper crop of seven awards at the fair. (Please refer to the Annex for details of the projects). The team’s achievements are as follows: 

• Clara Keng from Raffles Institution and Chow Kit Mun from River Valley High won the Second Award in the Materials Science category for their research on optimising magnetorheological fluids (a type of fluid that turns rigid in a magnetic field) for prosthetic knee applications.

• Andrea Teo from Raffles Institution obtained the Fourth Award in the Translational Medical Science category for developing an automated- sensitive and inexpensive platform to assess the toxicity effects of drugs on human heart muscle cells. Andrea also obtained special awards from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Anti-Vivisection Society. 
  

• Paula Say from National Junior College was awarded the Fourth Award in the Translational Medical Science category for developing a novel immunosensor to detect organ failure early- rapidly- and more accurately.
  

• Belle Sow from NUS High School of Mathematics and Science was awarded a Fourth Award in the Materials Science category for her work on turning bulk layers of non-fluorescence tungsten disulfide into useful fluorescence materials. 
  

• Shawn Lim- Dominic Yap and Bryan Lim from Hwa Chong Institution were awarded a special award presented by King Abdul Aziz & his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity for developing a water purification bag containing carbon and silver nanoparticle adsorbents synthesised in an eco-friendly manner from coffee waste. 

Singapore was also represented by Chan Hsi-Min from Raffles Girls’ School (Secondary) who developed an inexpensive and accurate paper-based test kit for Zika. The Singapore team was chosen from top awardees at the Singapore Science and Engineering Fair (SSEF) held in March this year. SSEF is Singapore’s largest science fair jointly organised by MOE- A*STAR and Science Centre Singapore. 

Click here for more info on Intel ISEF 2017.