Index of University Press Releases

May 19, 2007

Students win awards at national competition
by The Daily Republic

Plankinton and Avon high school students earned awards this week at a national science fair in New Mexico.

Projects by Jordan Krell of Plankinton and Vicky Koupal of Avon took fourth place grand awards at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2007, which started last Sunday and ended today at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

The fair was the showcase for 1,500 student finalists from all 50 states and 47 countries. The students compete in areas such as nanotechnology, genetics, fuel efficiency, engineering and medicine.

Wins at the South Central South Dakota Science and Engineering Fair this March qualified the pair to compete in the event.

Krell’s project, “Smart Swim: A Drowning Alert System,” was entered into the electrical/mechanical engineering division. The Smart Swim is designed to reduce the number of fatalities as a result of drowning incidents. The device sounds an alarm when the receiver base doesn’t receive a signal for a set period of time as a result of a child being underwater.

Koupal’s project, “Repelling Insects,” was entered in the plant sciences division. It tested the ability of hedge apples, fruit produced by the Osage-orange tree, to repel insects. The benefit of this research is that hedge apples may contain natural insecticidal properties. The apple’s ability to repel insects, said Koupal, could lead to inexpensive, safe and effective insect repellents.