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EWI Awards Talented Students at State Science Day

May 23, 2019

The Ohio Academy of Science’s State Science Day was held on Saturday, March 11, at the French Field House on the campus of The Ohio State University. The highlight of this annual event was a was a state-wide competition for outstanding student projects in the field of materials science and engineering.

EWI sponsors the competition award, with EWI associates reviewing and judging every individual project. “My colleagues and I love this event. We get to see the talent-of-the-future first hand,” said Bill Mohr, EWI Principal Engineer and competition judging chair. “The competition offers a great opportunity to inspire and reward the next generation of engineers and scientists, and we’re thrilled to be part of it.”

Awards with cash prizes were presented in two categories, high school (10th-12th grades) and middle school (7th-9th grades). The first-place prize in the high school division was Zachary David Merz, a 11th grader at Carroll High School in Kettering. Merz studied 3-D printing of combinations of polymers with a variety of additives and designed his own bend testing fixture, since he did not have access to standard testing equipment. Second and third place awards went to Edward Dan of Solon High School and Jing-Jing Shen of Beachwood High School, respectively.

In the middle school division, the first-place award went to 7th grader Alexa Fischer of Village Academy in Columbus for her study on heat treatment effects on aluminum alloys. Charles Pafford of Incarnate Word Academy in North Royalton won the second-place award, and Bela Karajagi of William Mason High School in Mason placed third.

In addition to the EWI Award, winners also received the Ohio Governor’s Award for Excellence in Materials Science.