students all sitting together outside of texas science and engineering fair

Students Win Awards at Texas Science and Engineering Fair

Grapevine-Colleyville ISD

July 14, 2023

Eleven CHHS and GHS students competed at the Texas Science and Engineering Fair (TXSEF) March 24-26 at Texas A&M University. The top 1,200 projects from regional competitions across Texas earned the opportunity to compete at state in 21 event categories in the fields of life and physical sciences. 

 Congratulations to the GCISD state award winners, all from CHHS:

Patrick Bullock - Third place in Energy and Sustainable Materials 
Benjamin Ding - Third place in Microbiology
Abbie Ha - Third place in Material Science
Arshvi Patel - Second place in Chemistry
Akshitha Yarlagadda - Second place in Animal Sciences 

 In addition to event winners, TXSEF Special Awards are also presented by organizations. 

 Aliza Tharani from CHHS was the recipient of the Texas State of Health Physics Society Award for her project, “Mitigating the Harmful Effects of Radiation Therapy with the Synergistic Effects of Curcumin Bioavailability and Piperine on Dugesia dorotocephala.” 

 Arshvi Patel and Aliza Tharani will now compete at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), May 14-19 in Dallas. They were selected based on their performance at regional competition. Last year’s ISEF drew 1,800 projects from 75 countries. 

 “The unique part of the competition is that they are not doing this level of research until they are in college,” said CHHS AP Chemistry/Advanced Chemistry Research teacher and science competition advisor Sonya Loughran. “They use the scientific method, which they have been studying since elementary school and are currently using in high school science classes. It is neat to see their work and this experience opens up a lot of doors for colleges and other opportunities.”

Story Update

Congratulations to CHHS junior Aliza Tharani who earned a $10,000 scholarship competing in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair held May 15-19 in Dallas. The scholarship was awarded by the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) College of Science for Tharahi’s project “Mitigating the Harmful Effects of Radiation Therapy With the Synergistic Effects of Curcumin Bioavailability and Piperine on Dugesia Dorotocephala.”