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2026 Science Fair Participants

Â鶹ÊÓƵ is excited to highlight the brilliant middle school and high school students from around the region whose projects will be on display at the 2026 New Castle County Science Fair. Below you can find a comprehensive list of each student participant, the name of their project, and their school. Learn more about the New Castle County Science Fair .

Thank you to our 2026 Participants:

Middle School Individual Projects

  • Botany
    • Casie Keane 
      A21 - Unbe-leaf-able! How Plants Grow in Microgravity
      Ursuline Academy
    • Natalie Vu 
      A22 - Which liquid is the best substitute for water in plant growth?
      Red Lion Christian Academy
  • Behavior & Social Science
    • Jeffery Lee
      B21 - Can Humans tell the difference between AI and Real Images
      Red Lion Christian Academy
    • Harper Royle
      B22 - Fizz, Facts, and Fake Labels
      St Mary Magdalen
  • Biochemistry
    • Wendy Boyle
      C21 - Eggs-perimenting with Plant-Based Baking
      Ursuline Academy
    • Fiona Curry
      C22 - Electrolyte Showdown
      Ursuline Academy
  • Chemistry
    • Sienna Farrace
      D21 - Which water filter is the best
      Ursuline Academy
    • Ishita Injeti
      D22 - Soap vs Grease
      Odyssey Charter School
    • Catherine Scarborough
      D23 - Slime Time
      Ursuline Academy
    • Camille Thompkins
      D24 - EGG-sperimenting With Egg Subtitutes
      Ursuline Academy
  • Computer Science
    • Daisey Gallagher
      E21 - Fresh Today, Gone Tomorrow
      Ursuline Academy
    • Nandan Sendi Kumar
      E22 - What's in Your Food? The Effect of Thermal Processing on Heavy Metals and Essential Dietary Minerals
      Cab Calloway School of the Arts
    • London Simmonds
      E23 - The Evolution of AI Imagery
      Ursuline Academy
    • Maggie Simonds
      E24 - Bot or Not
      Ursuline Academy
  • Earth & Space Science
    • Reena Vaishnavi Neetipalli
      G21 - The Space-Marine Colony Initiative: Engineering a Smart Closed-Loop Algal Life Support System for Optimized CO2 Sequestration and Oxygen Production in Simulated Martian Conditions
      Cab Calloway School of the Arts
    • Mickey Rod
      G22 - Ocean in Motion
      Ursuline Academy
    • Amelia Sullivan
      G23 - Where Water Lies
      Ursuline Academy
  • Engineering
    • Clementine Jauffret
      H22 - The Pull-ability of Dog Leashes
      Ursuline Academy
  • Environmental Science
    • Mahalia Boswell
      I21 - Can you garden without soil (hydroponics)?
      Red Lion Christian Academy
    • Evalynn Jasso
      I22 - Dark Seas
      Ursuline Academy
    • Sana Karnik
      I23 - Bright Lights, Big Heat
      Odyssey Charter School
    • Anna Morgenstern
      I24 - Rising Tides
      Ursuline Academy
    • Shivank Nair
      I25 - Which Material Filters Oily Water the Best
      Odyssey Charter School
  • Medicine & Health
    • Arsh Goel
      K21 - Predicting Cardiovascular Disease Risk Using Machine Learning
      Newark Charter School
    • Ava Hannig
      K22 - Is Cancer Written in Your Genes… or Your Environment?
      Ursuline Academy
    • Riddik Sri Satya Neetipalli
      K23 - MalNutro: A Low-Cost, AI-Powered Computer Vision and Predictive Analytics System for Early Detection of Pediatric Malnutrition in Low-Resource Communities
      Cab Calloway School of the Arts
    • Austin Park
      K24 - Food Against Cancer
      Independence School
  • Microbiology
    • Kulma Atuguba
      L21 - How Does Light Exposure Affect Bioluminescent Dinoflagellates?
      Red Lion Christian Academy
    • Dylin Tiedemann
      L22 - How Do Preservatives Affect the Way Bread Molds?
      St Mary Magdalen
  • Physics
    • Ava Ayotte
      M21 - 3, 2, 1, Lift-off: How Different Surfaces Affect Hovercraft Takeoff Time.
      Ursuline Academy
    • Saliah Frisby
      M22 - Bounce Back!
      Ursuline Academy
    • Prithak Gaire
      M23 - Does container shape affect the cooling rate of water?
      Alfred Waters Middle School
    • Skye German
      M24 - Sticky Situation
      Ursuline Academy
    • Quinn Klotzbach
      M25 - Surface Showdown
      Ursuline Academy
    • Mary Raziano
      M26 - Let It Spin
      Ursuline Academy
    • Millie Rollo
      M27 - A Real Hit
      Ursuline Academy
    • Lilly Townsend
      M28 - P.P.P. - Pickleball Paddle's Power
    • Ursuline Academy

Middle School Team Projects

  • Behavior & Social Science
    • Elizabeth Denney
      Grace Denney
      MST21 - ”Kids vs. Adults how does age affect hearing, proprioception, and the prefrontal cortex.”
      St Mary Magdalen
  • Botany
    • Marlyn Kelson
      Aubrey Perez
      Charity Purnell
      MST22 - How Light Impacts Plant Movement
      Serviam Girls Academy
    • Malia Douglas
      Journey Miles
      MST23 - How Wi-Fi Affects Plant Growth
      Serviam Girls Academy
  • Chemistry
    • Sa'Mya Coverdale
      Nahla Peguero
      MST24 - How Heat Resistance Affects Pigments in Lipstick
      Serviam Girls Academy
    • Maddie Gibbons
      Taylor Hanna
      Isla Robinson
      MST25 - Cookie Chemistry
      St Mary Magdalen
    • Justin Liu
      Rowan Polis
      Jack Raffo
      MST26 - DIY Rust Removal
      Sanford School
  • Environmental Science
    • Kori Neal
      Naimah Ward
      MST27 - How Plants Impact Ocean Acidification
      Serviam Girls Academy
  • Microbiology
    • Minh - Ngoc Ho
      Isabella Wiley
      MST28 - How Household Substances Prevent Mold Growth on Tomatoes
      Serviam Girls Academy
    • Pranav Karthika
      Sanitha Munasinghe
      Sai Nuthakki
      MST29 - How does temperature affect bacteria and yeast?
      Odyssey Charter School
  • Physics
    • Lukas Breeding
      Westley Jordan
      Everett Saienga
      MST30 - Wingspan Wonder
      St Mary Magdalen
    • Domenic Saienni
      Nathan Wilson
      MST31 - Mission Mass
      St Mary Magdalen
    • Zachary Gillow
      Evan Schneider
      MST32 - Pitch Perfect: An experimental study of the doppler effect
      Odyssey Charter School

High School Individual Projects

  • Botany
    • Matthew Bothum
      A1 - The Effects of Increased Humidity and Nitrogen Content on Photosynthetic Processes of Spathiphyllum Wallisii
      Newark Charter School
    • Kayla Miller
      A2 - How Do Different Organic Fertilizers Affect a Pepper Plant?
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Behavior & Social Science
    • Brayden Hauser
      B1 - Analyzing the Amish: The Future of Politics
      Newark Charter School
    • Alannah Matich
      B2 - Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic: Which Medium Maximizes Comprehension?
      Dover High School
    • Shriyan Yamali
      B3 - The Cost of Free Speech: Shifts in Independent Expenditures Across Party and Committee Lines After Citizens United
      Newark Charter School
  • Biochemistry
    • Alek Lee
      C1 - Ceramides as a Neurodegenerative Mechanism in Pesticide Exposure
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Maximilian Shi
      C2 - The Accuracy of AlphaFold
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Chrstopher Zhuang
      C3 - In Silico Design and In Vivo Microinjection-Based Evaluation of DNA Aptamers Targeting Tau Aggregation in Neurodegenerative Disease Models
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Chemistry
    • Charles He
      D1 - Synthesis and Crystal Structures of New Lithium-Incorporated Quaternary Stannides
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Chris Liu
      D2 - Lowering the Cryogenic Boundary: Deep Eutectic Perchlorate Composite Electrolytes for ISRU Iron Redox Flow Batteries on Mars
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Anish Simhan
      D3 - The Effectiveness of Household Chemicals in Removing Pesticide Residues from Produce
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Computer Science
    • Rohit Karthik
      E1 - Cross-Attention Gradient Transplantation (CAGT): A Novel Architecture for Mitigating Conflict in Multi-Task Learning
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Satya Kokonda
      E2 - MatCreatioNN: Robust Multi-Objective AI Material Design for COâ‚‚ Conversion to Renewable Fuels
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Vedic Mukherjee
      E3 - A Linear-Time Algorithm for Improving RNA Consensus Structure Prediction via Targeted Covariation Scoring
      Cab Calloway School of the Arts
    • Aayush Singh
      E4 - Bypassing the Alignment Tax: Preserving Semantic Dispersion and Lexical Diversity in Localized LLMs
      MOT Charter School
    • Wika Sun
      E5 - A Comparative Performance Benchmark of Quantized Lightweight Vision Models on Consumer Hardware
      Archmere Academy
    • Troy Xiang
      E6 - Can Conventional Computer Screens Imitate Light Fields In The Same Way True Holograms Do?
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Earth & Space Science
    • Evina Shingavi
      G2 - CosmiQ
      MOT Charter School
  • Engineering
    • Ayan Agrawal
      H1 - Design and Development of a Low-Cost PEM Electrolyzer for Scalable Hydrogen Education
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Ishani Kulkarni
      H2 - At what angle should pipes be to have the best power output for micro hydropower turbines?
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Jessica Tian
      H3 - Design of a Cable-Driven Flexible Exoskeleton Rehabilitation Hand Controlled by EMG
      St Andrew's School
    • Mingyang Zhang
      H4 - Robust Transition Zone Recognition via Vision-Tactile Fusion for Intelligent Blind Navigation
      St Andrew's School
  • Environmental Science
    • Aashrith Banda
      I1 - AIQUA-NET: Effectively Monitoring Real-Time Coastal Marine Environments Through An AI-LiDAR Based Quantitative Assessment Network Device
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Amanda Mao
      I2 - Effects of Nutrient Supplements in Polystyrene Feed on Mealworm Growth and Polystyrene Consumption
      Newark Charter School
    • Logan Omerovich
      I3 - Exploring the Effects Chemical Plants Have On The Surrounding Air
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Sophie Pan
      I4 - The Effect of Different Carbon-to-Nitrogen (C:N) Ratios on the Decomposition Rate in Composting when Earthworms are Present
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Mathematics
    • Aarush Gunjal
      J1 - Evolutionary Dynamics of Cooperation Under State-Dependent Mutation
      Newark Charter School
    • Emma Li
      J2 - The Effect of Different Elliptic Curve Parameters on the Computational Efficiency of ECC-Based Encryption and Decryption
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Niranjana Sendil Kumar
      J3 - Optimization of Facial Phenotype Similarity Systems for Genetic Disorders Using Monte Carlo Stochastic Modeling in Convolutional Neural Networks
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Nicole Zheng
      J4 - The Effects of Different Planar Shape Tessellations on Material Usage Efficiency
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Medicine & Health
    • Chloe Barone
      K1 - The Effect of Airway Stenosis Location on Peak Expiratory Flow
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Michael Liu
      K2 - Identify Cell Types and Markers by Integrative and Comparative Analysis of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma scRNA-seq Datasets
      Tower Hill School
    • Lara Mellaouch
      K3 - Investigating the Effects of Microplastics on Intestinal Barrier Permeability
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Katie Mo
      K4 - Could Human Hip Dysplasia be Treated Using Stem Cell Therapy?
      St Andrew's School
    • Aarush Sudamalla
      K5 - White Matter Hyperintensity Automated Segmentation on 7T MRI data to investigate abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Aathirai Senthil Subramaniam
      K6 - The Effect Of Household Allergens on Allergic Asthma Severity
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Microbiology
    • David Chen
      L1 - Treasure Hunt in the Dirt: An In Silico Search for the Next Generation of Antimicrobial Peptides
      Tower Hill School
    • Ketaki Paranjape
      L2 - Can Fruits Fight Bacteria? What Lemon, Guava, Pomegranate, and Cranberry did to E. coli
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Jonathan Yang
      L3 - The Effects of Gastric Juice on Probiotics in Yogurt
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Physics
    • Bipra Dangol
      M1 - The Effect of Resistor Value on the Life of a 9-Volt Battery in a Simple LED Circuit
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Laksh Patel
      M2 - Transient Dynamics of Inverse Energy Cascades in Two-Dimensional Turbulence
      MOT Charter School

High School Team Projects

  • Behavior & Social Science
    • Patricia Gomes
      Sahasra Gotike
      HST1 - Candy v.s. Compliments
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Anika Mehla
      Anusha Sarwadi
      HST2 - How Brainwave Activity Differs Between Spontaneous & Rehearsed Lies and How Age Influences These Patterns
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Camila Mendoza
      Janis Gomez Torres
      HST3 - The Effects of Different Meditation Types on Stress
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Biochemistry
    • Ariel Bryant
      Joshyua Yeagins
      HST4 – Husk
      Upward Bound Classic – Â鶹ÊÓƵ
    • Lyanna Flores
      Rowan Parikh
      HST5 - Effects of Food Processing on the Detectability of Soy Allergen Proteins
      Archmere Academy
    • Akhilan Nirav Babu
      Shiv Nirav Patel
      HST6 - Structural and Binding Energy Analysis of the L505H BRAF Mutation Conferring Resistance to Vemurafenib
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Chemistry
    • Sophie Lavoie Boone
      Sophia DiGiacomo
      HST7 - The Effects of Heat Protectant on Thermal Receipt Paper
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Computer Science
    • M'hamed Machich
      Aditya Verma
      HST8 - Design and Stress Testing of a Low-Cost Diode-Avalanche True Random Number Generator
      MOT Charter School
  • Engineering
    • Jovan Abilash
      Samuel Bird
      HST9 - The Effect of Flute Height on Crush Strength
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Jeff Chen
      Ashley Deganich
      Rayya Karim
      HST10 - AI-Assisted vs. Manual CAD Design in Early-Stage Mechanical Engineering
      MOT Charter School
    • Daniel Chang
      Eli Rust
      HST11 - The Effect of Moisture on PLA Plastic
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Enviromental Science
    • Ziran Jin
      Shella Li
      HST12 - Fluoro-Silicon-Modified Polythiourethan Coplymer for Marine Antifouling Coatings
      St Andrew's School
    • Anaya Pinjani
      Emily Xu
      HST13 - Effects of Soil and Fabric Type on Material Biodegradability
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Medicine & Health
    • Zachary Benson
      Destiny Gardner
      HST14 - ThyroWell
      Upward Bound Math Science - Â鶹ÊÓƵ
    • Emily Chen
      Livia Gao Wang
      HST15 - How do different coagulants affect the blood clotting process?
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Caitlyn Goodwin
      Abbey Kline
      HST16 - Which Lotion will keep skin the most Hydrated for 24 Hours?
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Physics
    • Surya Buddha
      Rayzel Joseph
      HST17 - The Effect of Different Planetary Conditions On Muon Detection
      Charter School of Wilmington
    • Rishi Sanjeev
      Winston See
      HST18 - Effects of Galactic Position on Globular Cluster Properties: A Hybrid Meta-Analytic and Observational Approach
      Charter School of Wilmington
  • Zoology
    • Chetan Kasukurthi
      Viraj Mehta
      HST19 - Effects of Nanoparticle Coatings (Control, Silicon Dioxide, Titanium Dioxide, & Graphene Oxide): A Solar Power Efficiency Study
      Charter School of Wilmington