Karry Roberts, Detroit Chapter Secretary

Judges from the Detroit and Ann Arbor chapters (from left): Kathy Peterson, Lance Heilbrun, Karry Roberts, Anamaria Kazanis, Ellen Barnes, John Gillespie, Frank Murdock, Bob Peterson, Rob Kushler, Bern DeBacker, and Huiyong (Thomas) Zheng
Photo courtesy of Huiyong (Thomas) Zheng

Continuing their longstanding annual tradition, the Ann Arbor and Detroit chapters met in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as a special awards judging team for the Southeast Michigan Science Fair on March 14. To encourage the use of statistics within the scientific method, the team judges all science project posters at the fair focusing on the students’ use of statistics.

This year, the team of 11 judges included Anamaria Kazanis, John Gillespie, Huiyong (Thomas) Zheng, and Frank Murdock from the Ann Arbor Chapter and Lance Heilbrun, Rob Kushler, Ellen Barnes, Bern DeBacker, Karry Roberts, Kathy Peterson, and Bob Peterson from the Detroit Chapter.

Initially, each judge took a zone and reviewed all posters therein, giving certificates of recognition for any basic use of statistics and certificates of merit for a more extensive use of statistics. They also gave copies of Significance magazine to several certificate recipients.

After judging their individual zones, they jointly reviewed the best posters found by each judge as potential candidates for their top awards. The winners received a statistical book and an award of excellence certificate signed by all the judges. This year’s awards of excellence were given for the following projects:

High School Division

– A Preliminary to RNA Interference: Which Genes Can Make Up for IRFG Deficiency to Prevent Van der Woude Syndrome? by a team of two students, one from Huron High School and one from Pioneer High School

Middle School Division

– Finding the Ultimate Tensile Strength of Different Types of Pasta, by a student from Clague Middle School
– Who Has Faster Reflexes? Boys or Girls? by a student from St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School
– A Key to Understanding the Development of Learning and Memory: Homeschooled Goldfish, by a student from St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School

In addition to the five awards of excellence, the judges gave 59 certificates of recognition and four certificates of merit. They reviewed a total of 287 science project posters in the high-school and middle-school categories.