The annual Vienna International Science and Engineering Fair is an opportunity for students around the world to participate in science and consider STEM for their futures.
Nicole Reed
The fair was organized in partnership with the Vienna Chapter of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, Women in Nuclear, and the United Nations Nuclear Young Generation. This year’s fair went successfully and it was one of the most international fairs to date — with forty-two students from twenty-three countries participating. To participate, students needed to submit reports on their chosen projects, create a video describing the report, and conduct a twenty minute interview with a panel of judges. The structure this year was different than in years past because of covid. This was largely a hindrance to students because there was limited lab time at AIS, reducing the number of options for experiments.
Ms. Pappas, the teacher responsible for our school’s involvement in the club, said “There were tremendous changes to the fair this year due to COVID restrictions… I am grateful that the INMM supported a virtual fair this year. There were still many projects, and students who are enthusiastic about science had the opportunity to participate. The students were interviewed only once via Zoom, whereas they have approx. three different interviews at a normal science fair. I wouldn’t call the virtual fair a liability, just different and, for our students at least, reduced in the opportunities for topics and types of investigations. Also, an in-person fair allows students to explain their work to the public, see other projects and meet other students. This was lacking this year.”Three AIS students won excellent ribbons on their projects this year: Yosif Drenchev and Nici Ulm conducted a data-based analysis of ‘The Correlation of Age and Endangerment of the Nervus alveolaris inferior during Wisdom Teeth Extraction, as Measured in Percentage Risk’ and Lucy Larsson completed a lab investigation on ‘Extracting Caffeine From Coffee’.
The Knights Chronicle 