2019 CHEMAGINATION AT MARM 2019 

The regional MARM Chemagination competition took place on Saturday, June 1 from 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in conjunction with the Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting 2019 sponsored by the ACS Maryland Section.

Thirteen teams representing six ACS Local Sections competed.  The teams presented, in article and poster formats, innovations and scientific breakthroughs that improved people’s lives in the “current” year of 2044! These discoveries were in one of four categories: alternative energy, the environment, medicine and health, or new materials.

Each team was interviewed by three judges from academia or industry.  While the judges deliberated, graduate students Alex Sestok (a bioinorganic chemist), Christoper Cooper (a physical chemist), and Denise Williams (a materials chemist) shared their research with the Chemagination students. The judges’ final decisions were:

Medicine/Health

First Place – “Bridging the Gap – Combating Retinal Detachment”, Betul Duzgun and Raima A. Islam, Passaic Valley High School (North Jersey ACS Section)

Second Place – “Ending Alzheimer’s”, Andreas Kaimis, Kyra Ramonetti and McKenzie Young, Half Hollow Hills High School West (New York ACS Section)

Environment

First Place – “The Lean, Green Olivine Machine”, Nicole DeOrzio and Tatyana Lozada, Cardinal O’Hara High School (Philadelphia ACS Section)

Second Place – “Can Bacteria Save the Sea?”, Felicia Filippini and Rachael Miller, Muhlenberg High School (Lehigh Valley ACS Section)

New Materials

Tie, First Place – “The Better Bandage”, Marly Fass and Hannah Stein, Half Hollow Hills High School West, (New York ACS Section)

Tie, First Place – “Carbon – Our Nation’s Best Defender”, Shashank Amarnath, Akindu Dasanayake and Akash Sureshkumar, Hillsborough High School, (Princeton and Trenton ACS Sections)

Alternate Energy

First Place – “Revolutionizing Solar Energy”, Eduardo Torres-Garcia and Brooke Weister, Muhlenberg High School, (Lehigh Valley ACS Section)

Second Place – “Hydrogen Power: Fuel Cells Replacing Oil Wells”, Alan Ji and Christopher Ji, Hillsborough High School, (Princeton and Trenton ACS Sections)

Thank you to judges David Bagwell, Dr. Deborah Cook, Steve Good, Dr. Martha Hollomon, Kelcie Kramer and Chandra Lowrance.  Thank you also to the teachers who supported their students, Ms Mercedes Bauman, Cardinal O’Hara High School; Mrs. Margaret Goldschmidt, John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls’ High; Dr. Susanne Iobst, Passaic Valley High School; Dr. Deok-Yang Kim, Bergen County Academies; Mrs. Carmel Meyers, Hillsborough High School; Ms Barbara Safira, Wallington High School; Dr. Audrey Smeltzer-Schwab, Muhlenberg High School; Mrs Christine Tjersland, Half Hollow Hills High School West, to the parents and to the other volunteers who contributed to this innovative experience for the students!