Congratulations to ASFA’s two Math and Science Department seniors who have advanced to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.

Their news comes as a result of their placement and awards at this year’s virtual state science fair held Saturday, April 10. ASFA had a total of three students who received recognition during the event.

Math & Science Department Senior Longji Jerry Chen won first place in the Computer Science & Mathematics category at the Alabama Science and Engineering Fair. As one of four Best of Fair winners chosen, Jerry now advances to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair that will be held virtually in May. He will join ASFA Senior Alex Seidel who automatically qualified for the international fair as a result of her first-place win in the Math and Computer Science category at the Central Alabama Regional Science fair in March.

Jerry’s project entitled “The Computationally Light Tree Species Classification Using RGB Bark Images” is a machine learning project, which involves building a computer model that improves by repeatedly self-testing.

 

Click here to watch Jerry's presentation.

Anton Spraul, Jerry’s advisor and advanced computer science teacher, said “Jerry’s model identifies a tree’s species from an image of its bark.” He said Jerry simplified an existing model that requires a powerful computer to make the model work by instead using phones and tablets, which do not require powerful processors.

Also during the state science fair, Alex won Special Awards from the American Meteorological Society, the National Ocean & Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize. Alex’s project also was a machine learning project but used meteorology as a basis.

Alex’s project is entitled "An Investigation in Precipitation Prediction in Machine Learning.” Alex’s advisor and advanced computer science teacher Anton Spraul said Alex built several models to predict whether rainfall would occur in a particular area based on various meteorological data and then compared how successful the different models were at predicting the outcome.

Also at the state science fair, ASFA Senior Akshat Yaparla won special awards from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the U.S. Air Force. His project explored how air flows over a simulated aircraft wing, as a first step toward examining a dangerous situation called dynamic stall that can occur in helicopters, his advisor and advance computer science teacher Anton Spraul said.