SCIENCE FAIR MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

Want to succeed in science fair? Through SparkSTEM's Science Fair Mentorship Program, students receive individualized mentorship throughout the process of a project, from ideation to execution to presentation. All of our mentors are accomplished high school students who have attended and won national competitions in science fair. Learn more about them below!

Registration is open from September 10th - October 7th, 2021

Details:

8 personalized one-on-one sessions with an experienced mentor
30-45 minute sessions
Beginning of October - Mid-December
Meeting times + timeline are flexible, and mentors will work with students to schedule times that work for them

Cost: $80

100% of proceeds will be donated to local charities in the North Texas area.

Topics covered:

Brainstorming research questions
Finding reliable sources
Developing a hypothesis and/or engineering goal
Defining variables and controls
Creating and writing conclusions
Presenting projects effectively

Our mentors have won...

4 Awards at the National Level

16 Awards at the State Level

35 Awards at the Regional/Local Level

Meet Our Mentors

Bhavik Tadigotla

Bhavik is a senior at the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science who primarily competes in the Microbiology category. He has previously conducted research into genomic re-modification of the adenylation domain and condensation domain in fungal PKS-NRPS enzymes in order to increase variety of drugs that treat fungal, bacterial, and viral diseases.

Awards: TJAS 3rd place + 2nd place, TXSEF Finalist (x2), DRSEF 3rd place, FWRSEF 1st place, $6000 in research scholarships

Navya Ramakrishnan

Navya is a senior at Plano Senior who competes in the Physical Sciences, Computer Science, and Biomedical Engineering categories. She works on research projects that focus on the application of machine learning in the field of medicine, specifically with an emphasis on early detection of diseases. She has developed systems that can predict eye diseases and epileptic seizures.

Awards: TXSEF Grand Prize + 1st Place, NJSHS Fellow, AJAS Alumni, TJSHS Grand Prize + 1st Place, TJAS Grand Prize + 1st Place, DRSEF 1st Place (x2)

William Yan

William is a senior at Plano West who competes in the Microbiology and Computational Biology categories. His interest lies in genetics and biological research, and his latest project was a machine learning model that optimizes CRISPR-Cas13d gRNA design, a promising gene-editing tool that targets RNA molecules.

Awards: NJSHS 2nd place, TJSHS Grand Prize, TJAS Grand Prize, TXSEF 3rd place, DRSEF 2nd Place

Shakti Ramakrishna

Shakti is a junior at Plano East who primarily competes in the Microbiology category. She has previously conducted research into the efficacy of different essential oils and different concentrations of essential oils at inhibiting the growth of gram-negative bacteria (Shigella and E. coli).

Awards: TJAS 2nd place, TXSEF 2nd place, DRSEF 1st place, Broadcom Master's Nominee

Otto Beall

Otto is a junior at Plano East who has competed in the Embedded Systems and Environmental Engineering categories. He developed an affordable Braille embosser to create Braille text from a standard text input. In another project of his, he integrated SONAR and and AI image classifier technology to develop a pipe-inspection robot with the capability to detect and locate leaks along water pipelines.

Awards: TXSEF Grand Prize, Stockholm Junior Regional Water Prize

Aneisha Gupta

Aneisha is a junior at Plano Senior who primarily competes in the Environmental Sciences category. She has previously conducted research into nanotechnology and how it can be utilized to clean up oil spills at sea.

Awards: TJAS Alumni, DRSEF Honorable Mention

Acronyms:

NJSHS = National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, AJAS = American Junior Academy of Science

TXSEF = Texas Science and Engineering Fair, TJSHS = Texas Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, TJAS = Texas Junior Academy of Science

DRSEF = Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair, FWRSEF = Fort Worth Regional Science and Engineering Fair

Meet our mentors and

learn about their background in science fair!