Over 1,200 students competed at the Texas Science and Engineering fair

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – The Texas Science and Engineering Fair took place Friday and Saturday where more than 1,200 6th – 12th grade students competed.

This year, four College Station ISD students competed in the fair: Evelyn Nolan, Mallory Zumwalt, Samikshya Mahapatra, and Samita Shankar.

KBTX spoke with both Samikshya Mahapatra and Evelyn Nolan about their projects.

Mahapatra is a junior at College Station High School. She says this Science and Engineering Fair is preparing her for life after graduation.

“In my project I worked on developing a low-cost strip-PET scanner. So my goal was to make a different arrangement for this pet scanner to hopefully make it more accessible to people,” said Mahapatra. “Seeing other people’s posters is really inspiring and just seeing all the ideas that people can have. It’s also nice being able to share my ideas.”

Student Evelyn Nolan at A&M Consolidated High School says competing opened her curiosity to the STEM world. Her project was about finding a deterrent that protects livestock from predators.

“This research has just really shown me that I really enjoy research and that I enjoy STEM, so it’s definitely something I want to keep doing,” said Nolan.

The fair took place at the Student Recreation Center on Texas A&M University’s campus. This is Texas A&M’s 6th year hosting the Texas Science and Engineering Fair after A&M became the permanent home for the fair in 2019.

The director of Spark PK-12 Engineering Education Outreach, Shelly Tornquist, says this fair allows students to develop professional skills and experience the hospitality at Texas A&M.

“We want them to see the research we’re doing and we also want them to have a taste of our Aggie love and to see what our students are up to,” said Tornquist. “My favorite thing about the fair is the kids, the kids get to see all about what A&M is all about.”

This Texas Science and Engineering Fair is a state competition and students have the possibility of progressing to the International Science and Engineering Fair in May.

There are also Category and Special Awards given out at the fair.