Science fans win at state fair

An 11th-grader from Flintridge Preparatory School won the Patricia Beckman Project of the Year Award, Senior Division, at the California State Science Fair held earlier this month at the California Science Center.

Sarah Waliany received $10,000 for her project, "Transformation of Herceptin-Sensitive Breast Tumor Cells into Resistant Cells." She had already won the Sweepstakes Award for Senior Division at the 58th Annual Los Angeles County Science Fair.

Flintridge Prep -- apparently a hotbed of budding scientists, scored five other wins:

• Eighth-grader Meredith Lehmann won 1st place in mathematics and software with "Accurate Simulation of Influenza Pandemics"
• Eighth-grader Eli Weinstein won 1st place in physics and astronomy for "A Study of Galaxy Clustering."
• Senior Magnus Haw received a fourth-place medal in physics and astronomy for "Are Black Hole Masses Too Large?" 
• Sophomore Dorothy Silverman earned third place in the earth and planetary sciences category with "Influence of Site Effects on Peak Ground Acceleration."
• Eighth-grader Kirill Slobodvanuk received a fourth-place medal for "Geomagnetic Storms on GPS Devices" in the Earth & Planetary Sciences category.

Chamlian Armenian School had two honorable mentions for seventh-graders: Nanor Kassabian for "Too Hot, Too Cold, Just Right Temperature Effect on Development of D. Melanogaster," and Emin Abranians for "Airplane Lift: Wing Curvature Generates Lift."

-- Mary MacVean