Mohr California Science Fair's top student

mohr02: Desert Senior High senior Derek Mohr has reason to smile after being honored as the California State Science Fair “Student of the Year.”Desert Senior High School's (Edwards AFB) Derek Mohr is the California State Science Fair “Student of the Year.” The honor was bestowed upon the Desert Senior High senior during the 2002 California State Science Fair awards ceremony on May 21 at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

Mohr's project, which also earned first place honors at the Kern County Science Fair on April 10 in Bakersfield, was called “The Hot Zone: Achieving Virus Incubation Conditions with Phase Change Materials using Thermoelectric Heat Pumps.”

Mohr, who was a state champion last year, was also recipient of the Silicon Boule Award, for “distinctive performance in the physical sciences.” The award offers Mohr the choice of a laptop computer or silicon boule.

Kern County had several category finalists in the field of 956 participants from approximately 300 schools. In the Junior Division (grades 6-8), Fruitvale Junior High 8th-grader Kyle Bardet earned second place honors in the Structural Capability & Strength of Materials category with his entry “I Beam.” Kern County had two Junior Division third place finishers: Chipman Junior High 8th-grader Jan Humphrey in the Biochemistry/Molecular Biology category with “A Link to the Future” and in the Mathematics & Software category Murray Middle School (Ridgecrest) 8th-grader Eric Ford for “Energy Enigma.”

East High senior Kristina Smith and Bakersfield High sophomore Janelle Williams earned third place awards in the Senior Division (grades 9-12). Smith's entry “A Study of the Influence of the Type of Reinforcement on the Structural Efficiency of Concrete Wall Panel Specimens” was in the Applied Mechanics/Structures & Mechanisms Manufacturing category. Williams received her award for “Does Prehydration of Cotton Seed with Organic Compounds Out Yield Prehydration with Water? A Four Year Study” in the Plant Biology category.

Kern County students also recorded a number of “honorable mention” awards. Desert Senior High juniors Sarah San Nicolas and Cora Peeler achieved honorable mention for their Mammalian Biology category group entry “How High Can Guys Fly?”

The same category in the Junior Division was a successful one for Standard Middle School 8th-graders Andia Heydari and Megan Thieman who received honorable mention for “Do Leonardo DaVinci's Golden Measurements Remain Constant over One Year's Growth? ( A Two Year Study).” Other Junior Division honorable mention awards went to Fruitvale Junior High 7th-grader Justin Koh for “Germ Warfare in the Oral Cavity” in the Materials Science category and St. John Lutheran School's Jymette Meyer for “Lift, Applied: Optimizing the Lift of a Glider” in the Aerodynamics/Hydrodynamics category.
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