Bryan Koch said upon seeing a fellow student’s project in which the words “cancer,” “kill” and “success” were in the same sentence, he didn’t think he had a chance to win the 2013 West Central Regional Science Fair.
The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts held the 2013 West Central Regional Science Fair and Senior Research Symposium on Feb. 27-March 1. Winners were recognized during an awards ceremony on March 1.
Koch won first-place overall for his project, “Online Integrated Development Environment.” The project focused on creating a secure online environment where software programs could be developed without having to install advanced security software on each individual computer.
“I was not expecting this at all,” said Koch, a senior from Harrision. He said he is considering attending the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to study computer science.
Other overall winners in the science fair were Clay Davis of Hot Springs, second place; Mehr Shah of Little Rock, third place; and Aly DeCoux of Mena, fourth place.
The overall first- through fourth-place winners received a cash prize from GenCorp Inc.’s Aerojet Corp., this year’s major sponsor. Shah and DeCoux received $100 each from Aerojet while Davis and Koch each received $200.
Davis also received a $50 award from the Arkansas Environmental Federation. Koch received $100 from the Arkansas Environmental Federation. Both Koch and Davis earned an expenses paid trip to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair to be held in Phoenix, Ariz., in May.
Sarah Webb, a senior from Benton, won the Taylor Harris Award for Excellence in Humanities Research, the overall award for the symposium. Webb’s project focused on feminism in country music.
Student entries in the science fair and the symposium were based on the research students conducted for their Fundamentals in Research Methods project. Students begin to develop their FIRM project during their junior year.
Each student also competed in a Junior Academy, in which students each made a 10-minute presentation on their research project.
For a complete list of science fair winners, visit https://sites.google.com/a/asmsa.org/wcrsf/awards.