From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
TRUSSVILLE — Following the UAB Science Fair in March, Hewitt-Trussville High School students who placed in the top three were able to go to the University of Alabama at Huntsville’s state science fair on April 6. Five teams comprising of 12 students from Engineering Academy Instructor Jason Dooley’s class took part in the competition.
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“Students have been working hard on their projects all year, following the engineering design process to develop a working prototype to solve their chosen problem,” Dooley said. “We are very proud of all of our students, as they represented our school extremely well.”
Hayden Parks, Drew Kinzer, and Nathan Feagans placed first in the energy category with a emergency solar panel umbrella system. The project is designed to be used during emergency situation, particularly after natural disasters. Using solar energy, it can generate 100 watts of power and can charge up to 109 cellphones after a day of sun.
Long Nguyen, Ethan Swatek, and Cannon Riccio came in third place in the biomedical engineering category with their 3D-printed leg brace, which can be custom fitted and provide a lower price than current braces in the medical industry. They were awarded the United States Air Force Certificate of Achievement.
Vraj Patel and Emily Coggins won fourth place in the Embedded Systems/Systems Software category for their device that detects blind spots and can be installed into cars. It uses microwave sensors and has been updated with a dashboard that has LED indicators and an LCD readout screen that alerts drivers to cars in blind spots.
Patel and Coggins were awarded The United States Army Certificate of Achievement for an Outstanding Science Fair Project, the Boeing Certificate of Recognition and Achievement in the area of Embedded Systems, the 2018 Alabama Science and Engineering Fair Positive Community Impact Trophy, the 2018 Toyota Science and Engineering Fair Excellence in Science Research Award, and the Senior Best of Show Award from the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.
Fourth place in the engineering category were Jacob Hayes and Joseph Seagle for their automatic drink lid dispenser. They built a device with sensors that dispense lids when you wave a hand under it. The project was built with sanitation in mind as people can receive a drink lid at a restaurant without touching others. Hayes and Seagle were given the Association of Energy Engineers Special Award in the field of Engineering Mechanics.
Ian Knapp, Michael Rodriguez, and David Murrell won fourth place in the engineering category with a design that retrofits longboards with brakes. The design was “incorporated a handheld grip that allows the rider to stop their longboard using an under mounted braking system.” They were awarded the Boeing Certificate of Recognition and Achievement in the area of Embedded Systems.