The world's brightest aspiring young scientists gathered in Portland, Ore., recently to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
Among the more than 1,300 students from 40 countries competing was Joline Marie Fan, a 16-year-old junior at Upper Arlington High School for Engineering in Ohio. After delving into a water-related project, Fan won $5,000 for the Engineering Best in Category Award and $3,000 for the Engineering First Award.
Fan got the idea for her project while watching the evening news. She saw a report about a tall building ablaze with a fire that could not be put out, because the hoses were unable to spray the water high enough.
Fan researched the phenomenon that tiny "mesobubbles" join together and create drag that slows the flow of liquids through a pipe. Her project showed that sound waves could be used to move the bubbles around to increase the flow of liquid. Fan said she worked a total of 350 hours on the project, getting by on only four hours of sleep per night.
As for her clearly bright future, Fan said she would like to study engineering at Princeton, or possibly something in health sciences at MIT.
The ISEF is the culmination of 500 regional science fairs that involve more than 3 million students.
Source: Wired News
