Three Frazer School Students earned first place in their categories at the Alachua Regional Science and Engineering Fair held on Feb. 12 at Westwood Middle School.

The regional competition brought together top middle and high school researchers from across the region, with students presenting original scientific investigations to panels of professional scientists, engineers and industry experts.

“This achievement reflects not only their scientific ability, but also their persistence, critical thinking, and dedication to the research process,” said Kim Baxter, science teacher at The Frazer School, in a press release. “They demonstrated exceptional independence and professionalism throughout this project.”

The three students from The Frazer School who earned first place included:

Yifan Song – First place, Intelligent Machines, Robotics and Systems Software and the UF Society for Women Engineers Award

Project Title: Low-Cost Acoustic and Movement-Based Detection of REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

Project Summary: Yifan’s project developed an affordable, machine learning-based system using consumer-grade Arduino sensors to screen for REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD), which is a strong early indicator of Parkinson’s disease.

Maggie Gao – First place, Environmental Engineering and the Stockholm Junior Water Prize

Project Title: Chitosan-LDH Hydrogel for Recycling Phosphorus from Wastewater

Project Summary: Maggie created Chitosan-LDH hydrogel beads for both recovering and recycling phosphorus from wastewater, helping combat water quality issues such as eutrophication and algal blooms.

David Rong – First place, Mathematics and Computational Science and the Ricoh Sustainable Development Award

Project Title: Can Kudzu Take Over? A Climate-Powered Growth Prediction

By earning first place, the students will advance to the state competition that will be held in Lakeland on March 31 through April 2.