Westmount Student Third Place at International Science Fair
Samna stands with her project.
Samna Aziz, a Grade 12 student at Westmount Secondary School, has placed third in the materials science category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (IISEF), held May 8 to 13 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Representing Team Canada and top finishers in the Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair (BASEF), Samna joined more than 1,750 students from 77 countries, regions and territories at IISEF. Four area students attended this prestigious fair, with their trips funded by BASEF, a regional science fair for grades 7 to 12 students from Hamilton, Halton Region, Haldimand, Norfolk and Brant Counties, and Six Nations.
Samna’s project was titled Surface Modification of Polycaprolactone and Hydroxyapatite Endosseous Implant Fixture Coatings. She won the IISEF Grand Award – Third Place, Materials Science category, which came with a $1,000 cash award.
It is the latest honour for this outstanding young woman. In 2015, Samna received a $7,000 Manning Young Canadian Innovation Award to put towards postsecondary education – thanks to her outstanding project on bone repair at the Canada-Wide Science Fair. She has made a name for herself by investigating ceramic calcium phosphate cements as a bone-replacing material – one with potential for the nearly one out of every 10 Canadians over the age of 40 who suffers from osteoporosis and related fractures.
Radhika with her IISEF project.
Another outstanding Westmount student, Radhika Khanna, was also selected as one of 15 Canadians to represent our nation in Phoenix. Her research project titled Synthesis of Thermoresponsive pNIPAM-b-HEA Block Co-Polymer Hydrogels for Drug Delivery Applications involved working on synthesizing a novel gel-like substance to improve drug delivery to the eye. It has potential to help with diseases like age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness.
Radhika has been invited to continue her lab research this summer, will have her work published and has been invited to write an article about her work for the journal Foundation of Student Science and Technology.
Updated on Friday, May 20, 2016.