Kudos to the 2012 Google Science Fair Winners

Earlier today, Google announced the winners of its second annual science fair.  It is open to 13-18 year-olds from around the world, and prize winners this year came from the United States, Spain and Swaziland.  You can see all the finalists online, and the top 15 were brought to Google headquarters for several activities, including a Gala.  There’s a decent chance this year’s winners could follow the same path of their predecessors to see the President.

The competition was held primarily online, with students (who can work in groups of up to 3 people) posting their work via Google.  The other science fair sponsors from last year (Scientific American, LEGO and National Geographic) have returned, and are joined this year by CERN.

This year’s award recipients:

• 13-14 age category: Jonah Kohn (USA) created a device to help convert sound waves into tactile vibrations to help the hearing impaired.
• 15-16 age category: Iván Hervías Rodríguez, Marcos Ochoa and Sergio Pascual (Spain) examined hidden microscopic life in fresh water.
• 17-18 age category (Grand Prize Winner): Brittany Wenger (USA) created an application to use a cloud-based test database to assist doctors in their diagnoses of breast cancer.

Also new this year is the Science in Action Award from Scientific American.  This award is focused on environmental, health and social issues with a practical impact on a group or community.  This year’s winners are Sakhiwe Shongwe and Bonkhe Mahlalela of Swaziland (go ahead, look it up on a map, this post isn’t going anywhere), both 14.  Their work looked at ways of delivering affordable hydroponic capabilities to subsistence farmers.

Congratulations to all of the entrants, finalists and winners.  Those interested in participating in next year’s science fair should check with Google at the first of the year.  In the meantime, you can look at past winners to get a sense of what kind of presentation you’ll need to have ready to enter next year.  Good Luck!