Congratulations! … Andrew Sun-Zhuang ~ 1st Place Engineering
The Washington State Science & Engineering Fair (WSSEF) proudly announces Andrew Sun-Zhuang earned First Place in Engineering at the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC). The Thermo Fisher JIC is the nation’s leading middle school science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competition.
- Andrew Sun-Zhuang, our WSSEF student JIC nomination, earned $3,500 for First Place in the Engineering Category at the Thermo Fischer Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC).
- View Andrew’s project, “VisionStrike: Portable AI-Powered Baseball Pitching Machine”
- Andrew is a 7th grade student at The Evergreen School
The Thermo Fisher JIC, a program of Society for Science, reaches 60,000 students annually through the Society’s Affiliated Fair Network. The competition inspires them to pursue their STEM interests and explore exciting college and career paths. The 30 finalists were selected from nearly 2,000 nominations representing 47 states and five territories competed in Washington, D.C. Winners were chosen by A panel of distinguished scientists, engineers and educators judged and selected the award recipients. Each finalist’s school also received a $1,000 grant to support STEM programming.
Each of the 30 finalists participated in team challenges in addition to being judged on their research projects. The challenges incorporated project-based learning to test critical thinking, communication, creativity and collaboration skills across a variety of STEM fields. They coded with micro:bit processors to design sustainable cities, investigated an outbreak of multiple illnesses to prioritize patients for care, explored how AI could help scientists identify turtle species, and designed and built protective enclosures for diamondback terrapin eggs.
“Middle school is where a spark of interest can become a lifelong passion for science,” said Maya Ajmera, President & CEO, Society for Science and Executive Publisher, Science News.