Hayfield students earn awards at International Science and Engineering Fair

May 31, 2018 Schools
Students posing around sign

Hayfield students David Toomer, Saijai Supanklang, Miamar Burgos-Rosario and Sarah Syed. (Hayfield Secondary School image)

Four Hayfield Secondary School students took home awards at the 2018 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair last week in Pittsburgh.

The four were among just 16 students from Fairfax County Public Schools who qualified for the prestigious competition, and the Telegraph Road school was one of only four from FCPS — along with Thomas Jefferson, Madison and Westfield — to send students to the competition.

Hayfield junior David Toomer’s chemistry project, “Augmenting Gaseous Adsorption Capabilities via Nanoporous Cyclodextrin Metal-Organic Frameworks (CD-MOF) Synthesized with Alkali Coordinating Ions,” was impressive enough to make him one of five competitors at the fair to earn a $9,250-per-year scholarship to the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

Toomer had previously been awarded the grand prize for the project in the Chemistry category at the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair in April.

A view of the displays at the International Science and Engineering Fair. (Society for Science & The Public image)

Hayfield’s team of Miamar Burgos-Rosario, Saijai Supanklang and Sarah Syed were “Grand Award” winners, taking home third place in the plant sciences category for their project “Cyanofertilization: A Comparative Analysis of Biological and Environmental Impacts.” The Grand Award earned a $1,000 grant for the winners’ school, as well as for the Intel ISEF Affiliated Fair they represent.

The three sophomores had previously been awarded the third place grand prize for the project last month at the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair.

This year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair featured close to 1,800 high school students from more than 75 countries, regions, and territories, according to the Society of Science for the Public, the event’s organizer. Approximately $5 million worth of prizes were awarded this year, the society said in a press release.