Armenian Students Present Physical and Life Sciences Projects at the AESA 17th Annual Science Olympiad

LOS ANGELES — Armenian Engineers Scientists of America (AESA) Science Olympiad Committee (SOC) congratulates all the students, teachers, parents, judges, mentors, sponsors, donors, volunteers and committee members, all other supporters, who made the 17th AESA Science Olympiad Competition a successful and memorable event.

Established in 2002, the AESA Science Olympiad Committee organizes an annual Science Olympiad, which promotes interest in engineering and science among middle and high school Armenian students. The 17th Annual AESA Science Olympiad (SO) was held on Sunday, March 4, 2018 at Glendale Community College (GCC). About 80 Armenian, young bright minds presented their research/study in life, chemistry and physical-science projects. The following schools had student representation this year: AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School, AGBU Vatche & Tamar Manoukian High School, Balboa Elementary School, Charlotte and Elise Merdinian Armenian Evangelical School, Clark Magnet High School, Holy Martyrs Ferrahian School, Monlux Elementary School, Ribet Academy, Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School, St. Gregory Alfred and Marguerite Hovsepian School, Sahag-Mesrob Armenian Christian School, and Vahan and Anoush Chamlian School.

Hasmik Shakaryan, AESA Science Olympiad’s Master of Ceremony, welcomed students, while the event was streaming live at aesa.org. A volunteer team of 30 professional scientist and engineer judges interviewed students for their presentation skills, creativity, scientific thinking, data analysis and comprehension. AESA judges have not only judged at previous AESA Science Olympiads and numerous school science fairs, but have also judged at the Los Angeles County and California State Science Fairs, and Intel’s International Science and Engineering Fair.

This year’s keynote speaker was Dr. Artin Petrossians, who obtained his Ph.D. in 2012 from the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Southern California. His presentation provided information on brain implants, and how deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy is a technique for treatment of movement disorders. The presentation sparked interest and multiple questions from the audience.

The SOC is always grateful to the AESA Science Olympiad Endowment Fund sponsors for financially supporting science and engineering education! This year we had an anonymous sponsor for the Junior Chemistry category. The AESA Science Olympiad location was sponsored by Glendale Community College, lunch was provided by Victory Bread, and live streaming/video was sponsored by ConnectTo World Inc. We thank our major sponsor, Ronald Nersesian, CEO of Keysight Technologies. We sincerely appreciate all past and future sponsorships and donations.

The prizes were as follows: 1st place – $500 and $300, 2nd place – $250 and $200, 3rd place – $100, and honorable mention – $50, for seniors and juniors respectively. In addition to the awards given to the students, the Science Olympiad Committee awards three additional awards: the School Award, Aram Sarafian Teacher Appreciation Award, and Judge’s Award. The criteria for the School and the Teacher Appreciation awards are based on the number of winning students, total number of participating projects in each category and level, and the point value of each award. The School Award is presented with a trophy and $300 to assist in the purchase of science laboratory equipment. This year’s School Award went to AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School. The Aram Sarafian Teacher Award consists of a plaque and $300 check. This year the Teacher Appreciation Award went to Ms. Lida Gevorkian of Vahan and Anoush Chamlian School. The Helen Dabaghian Judge Award for the most number of school science fairs and Science Olympiads judged was given to Dr. Hagop Injeyan for his many years’ dedication and service as SO Judge and Mentor for Armenian youth of several Armenian schools. The Website has more details on award categories and winners’ names.

AESA is grateful for the campus tour GCC administration had coordinated for students to visit the planetarium, and the physics and chemistry laboratories. Also, we thank Aya Ter-Martirosyan (9 years old) who presented her slime project, and taught students how to make slime.