Methacton’s Science Fair Team returned victorious from their first competition of the year conducted by the Region 1B Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) at Souderton High School on Saturday, Feb. 24.
The team has been competing for 28 years, fostering students’ passions for STEM fields. It is being led by Mr. Robert Helm, a physics teacher at MHS as well as the director of PJAS Region 1B for 10 years and state director for four years.
“PJAS has been providing students access to STEM research opportunities for over 80 years. PJAS was STEM before it became STEM,” said Mr. Helm.
Seventeen of the 24 Methacton students placed first, competing in different categories such as biology, physics, mathematics, engineering, microbiology, chemistry, biochemistry, and computer science.
First-place contestants qualified for the three-day state competition at Penn State University in mid-May. Students who placed second will have the option of being technicians at the state fair.
Four of Methacton’s students–freshman Rohit Mahajan, sophomore Rasika Sivakumar, and seniors Aditya Pasumarthi and Arnav Tiwari–achieved perfect scores for which they earned $25 checks from Merck.
The next fair will take place in mid-March conducted by the Montgomery Country Science and Research Center at Germantown Academy. First and second-place winners will advance to the Delaware Valley Science Fair held the first week of April. There, students will compete for the top three places in each grade to move on to the International Science and Engineering Fair in early May.
Students interested in joining Methacton’s Science Fair Team can email Mr. Helm at [email protected].
| Name | Grade | Category (Alphabetized) | Project Title | Place |
| Samrithaa Vadivelan | 9 | Behavioral | The Melody v.s. The Mind | 2 |
| Chelsea Lian | 9 | Biochemistry | Antacids in Action! | 2 |
| Andrew Kang | 9 | Biochemistry | Which Brand of Antacids is Most Effective? | 1 |
| Gilbert Yang | 9 | Biochemistry | The Effectiveness of Various Water Treatment Methods | 1 |
| Nina Tommarello | 11 | Biochemistry | Insulin Levels: Exercise and Its Effect on Blood Glucose | 2 |
| Katie Young | 11 | Biochemistry | Unmasking Microbes with Mouthwash | 1 |
| Nidish Chintala | 11 | Biochemistry | Amylase Enzyme Activity in Different Conditions | 2 |
| Ashish Jeyapratap | 12 | Biochemistry | When Green Means Stop and Red Means Go | 1 |
| Liya Zhang | 12 | Biochemistry | The Stability of Natural and Synthetic L-Ascorbic Acid | 1 |
| Rasika Sivakumar | 10 | Biology | Hydrogel Stiffness Modulates Interleukin-1 Beta Effect on Annulus Fibrosus Cells | 1 (Perfect) |
| Jeremy Wang | 9 | Chemistry | The Effectiveness and Duration of Different Sunscreens | 2 |
| Aryan Ardeshna | 9 | Computer Science | Chat GPT vs. GPT Zero | 1 |
| Rohit Mahajan | 9 | Computer Science | Using Machine Learning for Predicting Cardiovascular Disease | 1 (Perfect) |
| Felix Du | 9 | Computer Science | Using AI to Detect Safety and Security Issues at Home | 1 |
| Bhavi Patel | 9 | Engineering | Does the Height of a Culvert Affect its Efficiency? | 1 |
| Ryan Weber | 9 | Engineering | H Beam Break Down | 1 |
| Arnav Tiwari | 12 | Engineering | Multidimensional LBL Supercaps for Solar Energy Harvesting | 1 (Perfect) |
| Dylan Wen | 11 | Mathematics | The Tennis Formula | 1 |
| Angela Wang | 12 | Microbiology | FAP Expression and Fibrosis in Type 2 Diabetes | 1 |
| Aditya Pasumarthi | 12 | Microbiology | Colloidal Silver: The Next Generation | 1 (Perfect) |
| Adhara Reddy | 9 | Physics | Eyes VS Electronics | 1 |
| Tarini Saravanan | 9 | Physics | Riding the Waves | 1 |
| Carter Rembert | 10 | Physics | Orbital Guardians: Defending Earth from Asteroids | 2 |
| John Akladus | 12 | Physics | Advancing Aircraft Efficiency via Drag Coefficient Analysis | 2 |
