//Winners
Awards Weekend / Past Winners / Winners Showcase
Excited to get started in this year's ExploraVision Awards competition? Click here to download the entry materials!
Click here to view the 2008 Regional Award Winners
Click here to view the 2008 Honorable Mentions
//2008 National Winners
Grades 10-12 / Grades 7-9 / Grades 4-6 / Grades K-3
Grades 10-12
First Place
CHIRP: Circuit for Enhanced In-Vivo Regulated Bioplastics Production accelerates the widespread adoption of eco-friendly bioplastics to reduce environmental pollution and combat energy shortages. A complex genetic circuit, a synthetic protein, and an advanced cultivation system work in tandem to combat shortcomings of conventional petroleum-based plastics production methods to enable clean, sustainable and efficient bacterial synthesis of the biodegradable materials in abundant supply for limitless applications ranging from packaging and consumer-based goods to medical life-saving devices.
North Carolina School of Science and Math, Durham, NC
Left to right: Robert Gotwals (Coach), Mark Plummer (Toshiba), Roger Que, Lisa Zhang, Cory Li
Second Place
CONNECT: Creation of New Nerve-Ending Connection Technologies applies the science behind the natural growth of developing nerve cells to mature cells to help paralyzed patients suffering from nervous system injury or disease achieve full recovery and live more normal lives. CONNECT uses two microscopic capsule injections to target proteins that inhibit growth, flag damaged nerve cells, and deliver specific growth-prompting enzymes to repair nerve cell damage.
Champlain Valley Union High School, Hinesburg, VT
Left to right: Glenn Fay (Coach), Timothy Reichert, Shirlee Wohl, April Burbank, Mary Ellen Murzyn (Toshiba)
Grades 7-9
First Place
The Four-Way Catalytic Converter advances current automobile technology by transforming earth-harming CO2 emissions from cars into electrical energy that can be used to power the vehicle, thereby reducing energy consumption and pollution. The environmentally-friendly converter facilitates a chemical reaction between low-cost magnesium "alternative fuel" and the CO2 , generating electrical energy and recyclable by-products that can be put to other beneficial uses.
Palisades Charter High, Pacific Palisades, CA
Left to right: Sarah Crompton (Coach), Josh Korn, Brandon Chow, Kelly Ohriner, Michelle Nguyen (Toshiba), Marc Rubic (Toshiba)
Second Place
Strabismus Glasses provide auto-corrective treatment for people with the inability to align both eyes when focusing due to imbalance of the muscles of the eyeball. Sensors mounted on the frame of specially-designed glasses measure the difference in electrical charge between the front and back of the eye that defines eye movements and then activate LCD-fitted lenses in the glasses to adjust the binocular vision of the eyes.
West Hills Middle School, West Bloomfield, MI
Left to right: Paul Sanchez (Mentor), Amy Burke (Coach), Ahsan Mahmood, Enzo Fantin-Yusta, Timothy Zako, Thomas Heenan (Toshiba)
Grades 4-6
First Place
Wavemaster relies on Faraday's principle of electric induction by harnessing energy in ocean waves and converting it to useable electricity to help solve the world's energy problems. A "wave farm" is designed with a windmill-type feature, advanced composite materials that could withstand the sea's salinity and fierce nature, and underwater generating equipment housed inside a seabed-mounted post for stability in order to generate renewable energy.
Veneta Elementary, Veneta, OR
Back row, left to right: Michelle Beller (Coach), Scottie Barnes (Mentor), Ron Partch (Toshiba)
Front row, left to right: Cooper Barnes, Connor Magid, Steven Parker, Tucker Barnes
Second Place
TBMS – Taste Bud Modifier System medicinal spray safely alters taste bud receptors to promote healthy eating and prevent obesity and associated health problems by creating an aversion to unhealthy food and an affinity toward nutritional food. Ligands in the spray bind to targeted receptors to change taste transduction and coding mechanisms in which taste bud receptor cells transform food chemicals and activate nerve fibers that eventually send messages to the brain about taste.
Discovery School, Edinburg, TX
Left to right: Esther Flores (Coach), Karen Lozano (Mentor), Douglas DeLeon , Emilio Mendiola, Lindsay Ozcelebi, George Vidal, Jodie Glaze (Toshiba)
Grades K-3
First Place
ViBall allows visually-impaired people to play a real game of football by receiving directions, signals, and messages from coaches and teammates through a specially-designed ball and helmet. The football consists of solar power-charged metal rubber, pigskin that transmits Braille messages on its surface generated from the coach's programmable keyboard, and a wire system that sends signal vibrations; the helmet is equipped with an antenna and GPS system to guide the player.
Mediapolis Community Schools, Mediapolis, IA
Left to right: Julie Burgus (Mentor), Garrett McGhee, Caleb Siegle, Justin Massner, Katelyn Orr, Nancy Carter (Coach), Kennedy Cross (Toshiba)
Second Place
The Pet Dream Automatic Pet Door and Tattoo Pen uses a magnetic metallic pigment suspended in a liquid ink to apply a permanent tattoo-like stain on a pet's ear that can be detected by a metallic sensor to unlock a pet door when the animal approaches the door. The system eliminates the need for a pet collar and increases freedom for pets and owners by allowing automatic entry and exit for pets.
George L Cooke School, Monticello, NY
Left to right: Linda Randall (Coach), Maura Muller (Mentor), Truth Muller, John Paul Mauer, Bob Triscari (Toshiba)
