[time-nuts] science projects

Ray Xu rayxu123 at gmail.com
Thu Feb 9 03:37:36 UTC 2012


Hi guys

My 2 cents...from first person experience ;-) (although this doesn't have
much to do with frequency standard-related science fair projects...)

I am actually a high school junior in one of Dallas/Ft Worth, Texas's,
suburbs, and I have been competing in ISEF science fairs for the last 3
years.

>From my experience, the engineering judges look for projects that are novel
and can justify why this new method is better than mainstream methods.
Besides that, it is almost like a "marketing fair" since the presentation
style also plays a huge role.  In my opinion, high school ISEF science fair
these days is not about "hey look at what I made", but its more like "how
can it be done better and why should it replace mainstream technology".

My project last year was essentially building a general purpose compact
X-band radar system capable of distance and speed measurements.  My major
application was its use as "no-physical-contact biomedical instruments".  I
got 2nd place at regionals and didnt advance any farther than state.  In
retrospect, I believe my weaknesses back then were because radars are
nothing new; I just presented a new application and I feel like I could've
presented my project better towards the judges.  I believe the live demo of
a part of the radar, showing how professionally made it was (custom PCBs,
etc), and the detailed documentation binder were a huge plus to my project.

This year, I'm working on making a monolithic CMOS THz imaging array with
built-in signal processing integrated circuit.  (Just in case you're
wondering, my I'm employeed at the TxACE center at UTD as a intern).  My
job is to basically design on the transistor level and integrate the signal
processing circuit into the CMOS THz imaging array.  At the end, I plan to
use this project and compete in STS, Siemens, and ISEF.  Unlike my last
year's project, monolithic THz imaging arrays with on-chip signal
processing is something relatively new.

Why is a teenager (me) doing on this list?  Because I have a passion for
electronics, especially analog and RF ever since when I was very young.  I
love what I'm doing and I dont plan on stopping.

Ok I'll stop rambling now...sorry for the long email guys...

Ray Xu
KF5LJO

On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 8:03 PM, Chris Albertson
<albertson.chris at gmail.com>wrote:

> The number one TN science fair project would have to be measuring the
> speed of light using some simple, inexpensive method such as
> reflecting sunlight from rotating mirrors
>
> On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 5:44 PM, Jim Lux <jimlux at earthlink.net> wrote:
> >  While delayed, I would think that the signal freqs would still need to
> be
> > maintained...  hmmm, maybe not...   interesting science project...
> anyone?
> >  anyone?  ;-)
> >
> > Jerry
> >
> > ----
> >
> >
> > I'm waiting to see a good time-nuts project at the science fair. (at any
> > level up to ISEF)
> >
> > There's a lot of good ones out there (perhaps not on the scale of tvb's
> > experimental demonstration of gravitational effects on atomic clocks)
> that
> > would lend themselves to execution by everyone from 6th to 12th grade.
> >  Clearly, since people do spend their entire professional life doing this
> > and write dissertations on it, it can be up to ISEF or Siemens Talent
> Search
> > standards.
> >
> > Maybe we could come up with a suggested list and start shopping it
> around.
> >
> > Jim
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
> --
>
> Chris Albertson
> Redondo Beach, California
>
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>



-- 
__________
73, Ray Xu
KF5LJO


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