Check out the Broadcom MASTERS awards ceremony
A swanky event honors some fantastic young scientists
The 2014 Broadcom MASTERS celebrates middle school science stars. The two big winners this year are Holly Jackson, left, and Sahar Khashayar, right.
L. Buitrago/SSP
WASHINGTON — Last night a group of 30 excited young teens and tweens received honors and a very fancy dinner at the Carnegie Institution for Science. During the previous few days, they bonded with each other, played a lot of games, taken on some science challenges and even met President Barack Obama. These were the finalists of the Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars) competition. It’s a program of the Society for Science & the Public. It is sponsored by Broadcom, a company that makes devices for Internet connectivity that are found in many of the devices we use every day. (SSP also publishes Science News for Students and this blog).
Eureka! Lab was on the scene, live tweeting the event. We’ve now put together a Storify of the event below. Check out these amazing kids and their fantastic projects.
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The 2014 Broadcom MASTERS Awards Ceremony
The Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering Rising Stars) was created by the Society for Science & the Public, and lets middle school students from all over the country share their amazing work with each other and the public.
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For the Broadcom MASTERS, a week of team challenges, presentations, tours and fun culminates in the Awards Ceremony, where students are presented with prizes and honored for their achievements. Eureka! Lab was on the scene to
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.@eureka_labs will be live tweeting tonight’s Broadcom MASTERS ceremony! #brcmMASTERS -
These middle school scientists get a swanky dinner! #brcmMASTERS
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The colorful crowd at the #brcmMASTERS http://ow.ly/i/7nKWQ
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Time for the awards ceremony!! #brcmMASTERS http://ow.ly/i/7nNiL
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The Master of Ceremonies for the evening was Elliot Francis, an evening news anchor for WAMU 88.5 in Washington, D.C.
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Elliott Francis | WAMU 88.5 – American University RadioFrancis has worked alongside some of the most influential media executives in the U.S. during his 25 years as a news anchor, including FOX News President …
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Elliot Francis says he loved science as a kid, never lost the fascination. #brcmMASTERS
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Francis says he’s very jealous that the #brcmMASTERS got to play with raspberry pi this week!
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For one of their challenges, the kids got to play with Raspberry Pis, small customizable computers that can be adapted for tons of different projects.
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Raspberry PiThe Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It is a capable little computer which can be used in electronics projects, …
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Francis; you are probably at the center if the next few decades. #brcmMASTERS
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Francis then introduced Maya Ajmera, the CEO of Society for Science & the Public.
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Maya Ajmera | Society for ScienceMaya Ajmera is the President and CEO of Society for Science & the Public (SSP) and Publisher o.
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The #brcmMASTERS got to meet the president today!! So jealous!!
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Ajmera says she fell in love with science and became a science competition junkie! #brcmMASTERS
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Ajmera actually went to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair when she was in school!
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Ajmera hopes that the #brcmMASTERS have inspired students across the country.
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Ajmere says next years #brcmMASTERS will be on the west coast! West coast middle schoolers take note!
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Now on to Scott McGregor the president and CEO of Broadcom #brcmMASTERS and an SSP alumnus!
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Scott A. McGregor | BroadcomScott McGregor serves as Broadcom’s President and Chief Executive Officer. In this role, he is responsible for guiding the vision and direction for the company’s …
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McGregor welcomes the parents, thanks them for their love and encouragement. #brcmMASTERS
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McGregor says these #brcmMASTERS are the best in class! They really are, so much fun!
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McGregor then let the MASTERS know that he would be handing out wearable, and programmable, electronic devices to each and every one of them at the dance for them to make their own!
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McGregor notes that the wearable device is totally hackable. Can’t wait to see what people make! #brcmMASTERS
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The #brcmMASTERS will select two delegates from this class to go to ISEF in May in Pittsburgh!
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Each year, the #brcmMASTERS kids select one teen to be their speaker, this year, it’s Daniel Bruce, who studied flight initiation in birds!
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Daniel headed up to the microphone to an enormous amount of applause. The MASTERS have really bonded over the last few days.
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Go Daniel! #brcmMASTERS
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Daniel says he started out nervous but made lifelong friends in just a few day. Smart goofy friends! #brcmMASTERS
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Daniel notes that the #brcmMASTERS are a bit obsessed with the game mafia. They are ruthless!
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Mafia is a strategy game where people are divided into members of the mafia, police or town. The goal is to take down the mafia before they “kill” everyone else! Every day during the Broadcom MASTERS the game room was alive with groups playing mafia.
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Daniel says one of the most important things was teamwork…and being away from their parents for a week! #brcmMASTERS
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Chant loud now! “We are Broadcom MASTERS!! Wooooo!” #brcmMASTERS
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Next Paula Golden took the stage to introduce the keynote speaker.
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Paula Golden – Broadcom FoundationPaula Golden is the President and Executive Director of Broadcom Foundation and Director, Community Affairs of Broadcom Corporation. She is responsible for …
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Keynote speaker is Eben Upton, the co founder of raspberry pi! #brcmMASTERS
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Eben Upton | Raspberry PiWhen we announced the launch of the Model B+ back in July, we emphasized that we’d be keeping the Model B in production. Since then, we’ve been …
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Upton says all he know about the American education system is from reading Calvin and Hobbes. #ouch #brcmMASTERS
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Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip on GoComics.comWelcome to GoComics.com, the world’s largest comic strip site for online classic strips like Calvin and Hobbes, Dilbert, Non Sequitur, Get Fuzzy, Luann, Pearl …
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Upton shows off the 33 year old computer he made when he was a kid! #brcmMASTERS http://ow.ly/i/7nOgk it still works!!
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Upton then talked about his inspiration behind Raspberry Pi. He said he began to see enrollment in computer science classes drop. And he realized that it was because the fun immediately of programming that he experienced was going away.
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Upton says many machines now are not as programmable. People lose interest because they can try their own stuff #brcmMASTERS
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So Upton made his own little programmable computer in 2006. #brcmMASTERS you can build it for $25.
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While this little computer was not particularly easy or fun for people who aren’t already computer scientists, it was Upton’s inspiration for what would eventually become Raspberry Pi.
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Then Upton realized what raspberry pi had to be. Cheap, programmable, tough, and fun. #brcmMASTERS
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At first Upton was thrilled that raspberry pi was so popular, but then realized…they still had to build one #brcmMASTERS
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Now introducing the #brcmMASTERS judging chair William Wallace!
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WIlliam Wallace is a teacher at Georgetown Day School and has been an enthusiastic supporter and judge at the Broadcom MASTERS for many years.
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Wallace explains that the #brcmMASTERS had to explain their projects and tackle devious challenges.
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It’s time to meet the #brcmMASTERS!!!!
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12 girls and 18 boys took the stage to receive their medals, and cheered enthusiastically for each other.
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Broadcom MASTERS | Student ScienceThe national science, technology, engineering, and math competition for U.S. 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, the Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, …
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Muhammad Abdullah! Nikhil Behari! Daniel Bruce! Benjamin Chrepta! #brcmMASTERS
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Joshua Courtney! Ramon Das! Leo Deng! Linus Freyer (who’s project was about lasagna!) #brcmMASTERS
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Caroline Edmonds! Raghav Ganesh! Makayla Gates who studied acoustic levitation! 🙂 Alden Giedraitis! Floyd Greenwood! #brcmMASTERS
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Holly Jackson who did the science of sewing! Aditya Jain! Gelsey Jaymes who studied oysters. 🙂 Sahar Khashayar! #brcmMASTERS
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The science of the strongest stitchWASHINGTON – Most people may not give much thought to the thread that binds their clothes together, that keeps teddy bear’s stuffing from falling out and that holds a parachute intact. But Holly Jackson, 14, has always loved to sew. She decided to find out which type of sewing stitch was strongest. -
Rajiv Movva who studied compounds to help diabetes. Chythanya Murali! Caroline Nolan! Jonathan Okasinski! #brcmMASTERS
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Annie Ostojic, who studied how best to use your microwave! James Roney who studied ants! Hafsa Naseem Saeed! #brcmMASTERS
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Alex Shelby who studied pizza grease! Aditya Sivakumar! Talar Victoria-Grace Terzian! #brcmMASTERS
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Annika Urban who invented a stethophone to track asthma symptoms with your phone ! Katherine Wu! Liam Hayden Young! #brcmMASTERS
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A teen’s invention helps log asthma symptomsWashington – An asthma attack can be a terrifying experience. One minute you’re fine, and the next you are fighting to breathe. Annika Urban, 13, found out firsthand that symptoms come and go very quickly. The teen decided to invent a device to record the sounds of asthma as they occur. -
Broadcom foundation announces that each #brcmMASTERS finalist will have $1000 donated to their middle school in their honor. Awesome!
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Now Jennifer Brinker Evans from MIT tells about her work: planes, radar, car racing. All as an electrical engineer! #brcmMASTERS
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But Brinker Evans wasn’t just there for inspiration. As a representative of the Ceres Connection at the MIT Lincoln Library, she announced that every Broadcom MASTERS finalist will be getting their own main belt asteroid named after them! Their teachers and mentors will also receive their own asteroids.
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The #brcmMASTERS are all getting their names in the stars on asteroids! Look for them around November 6! Their teachers too!
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The #brcmMASTERS all get certificates for their asteroids. I am so jealous!
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Next, the finalists got to see their highlight reel! It didn’t feature Mafia, their favorite game, but it did feature all of the finalists and many of the challenges they took on.
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Then it was on to the awards!
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First up, science is best done together! Teams completed challenges together. Award this year goes to the White Team! #brcmMASTERS
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The White Team is Ben Chrepta, Caroline Edmonds, Floyd Greenwood, Chythanya Murali, Aditya Sivakumar https://student.societyforscience.org/broadcom-masters-2014-finalists … #brcmMASTERS
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Then the Rising Stars awards were given out to one boy and one girl from the finalists. They will be delegates to the 2015 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Pittsburg, PA.
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The Rising Stars awards are mentions for the most social and helpful among us! #brcmMASTERS One boy and one girl each year.
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Male Rising Star is Raghav Ganesh, who designed an add on for blind people’s canes that vibrates when it detects obstacles! #brcmMASTERS
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Female Rising Star is Annie Ostojic, who figured out the hot spots in a microwave and made a dish to heat food evenly! #brcmMASTERS
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The next eight awards were given for experiments and inventions in science, technology, engineering and math.
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2nd place Science award goes to Daniel Bruce, who showed urban birds flee people slower than wild ones. #brcmMASTERS
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The 1st place science award goes to James Roney, who showed ants lay down pheromones to show food quality as well as quantity. #brcmMASTERS
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The 2nd Place Technology award goes to Nikki Behari. He designed a security system that analyzes typing rhythms. #brcmMASTERS
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The 1st place Technology award goes to Aditya Jain who designed a diagnostic tool to detect lung cancer nodules! #brcmMASTERS
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The 2nd Place Engineering is Annika Urban, who designed the Stethophone to detect asthma sounds! #brcmMASTERS
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The 1st Place Engineering is Chythanya Murali, who studied biodegradable enzymes and bacteria to clean up oil spills #brcmMASTERS
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Second place math award to Jonathan Okasinski! #brcmMASTERS
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Jonathan attempted to demonstrate quantum entanglement…for less than $1,000. He almost made it!
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First place math award to Rajiv Movva! #brcmMASTERS
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Rajiv looked at doses of flavanols found in normal grocery store foods and how they might help patients with diabetes.
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On to the main prizes! First, the Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation. This $10,000 award is given to a student who demonstrates vision and promise as an innovator.
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The $10,000 Marconi/Samueli Innovation Award goes to Sahar Khashayar, who designed a wildfire early warning system! #brcmMASTERS
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Finally, the Samueli Foundation Prize, to a finalist who shows mastery in science, technology, engineering and math, and is an example of how research, innovation and teamwork come together.
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Samueli Foundation Prize of $25,000- Holly Jackson, with the Science of the Strongest Stitch! https://student.societyforscience.org/blog/eureka-lab/science-strongest-stitch?mode=blog&context=80 … #brcmMASTERS
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All the #brcmMASTERS are chanting “holly! Holly!” Awesome!
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A fantastic ceremony for fantastic kids!
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The 2014 #brcmMASTERS!! http://ow.ly/i/7nPUX
