Oak Ridge High School student Gabe Vacaliuc earned first place for his project titled “dQCuts: Simplifying Molecular Dynamics Datasets Using Higher Order Statistical Signatures” under the mentorship of Arvind Ramanathan at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Vacaliuc is pictured above with his poster and trophy at the Southern Appalachian Science and Engineering Fair at the University of Tennessee earlier this month. (Submitted photo)

Seventeen research students from Oak Ridge High School competed in the 64th Annual Southern Appalachian Science and Engineering Fair hosted at the University of Tennessee. The competition was held April 4-7 with the awards ceremony on Thursday evening. There were 52 Senior Division projects in competition.

All 17 students are a part of either the Experimental Scientific Research, or ESR, course or Math, Science, and Computer Science Thesis course at ORHS. The ESR course is led by Sharon Thomas and Thesis is led by Tammy Carneim and Jessica Williams.

Gabe Vacaliuc earned first place for his project titled “dQCuts: Simplifying Molecular Dynamics Datasets Using Higher Order Statistical Signatures” under the mentorship of Arvind Ramanathan at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Along with a $1,000 scholarship and trophy, Vacaliuc will travel to Phoenix, Arizona, in May to compete at the International Science and Engineering Fair.

“SASEF was a great experience because I was able to get substantial feedback in a professional setting,” Vacaliuc said. “I’m so grateful to SASEF for the opportunity to represent my school at ISEF in May.” [Read more…]