Congratulations to all students who participated in the 2025 Kentucky Science & Engineering Fair on March 29, 2025.
Nearly 300 participants competed in 22 STEM categories at the statewide fair, with multiple LRSEF winners at both the middle and high school level. View the full list of 2025 KY-SEF winners.
Special congratulations to LRSEF students who took home a prize at KY-SEF, listed below.
Category Awards
Animal Sciences – Middle School
2nd Place
Davis Sprague, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Exploring Pheromone Communication in Crickets”
1st Place
Carole Erwin, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Cross Species Olfactory Communication – Human to Horse”
Biomedical Engineering – Middle School
1st Place
Gabe Galla, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “VISTA: Visual Inspection for Sleep Threat Analysis AI”
Cellular and Molecular Biology – Middle School
3rd Place
Maura Keeley-Fine, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Exploring Regeneration through Kangaroo Care and Co-bedding”
2nd Place
Harper Joaquin, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Exploring the Possible Impacts of Aspartame on Learning”
1st Place
Amelia Turner, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Exploring EMG Signals in a Planaria Model of Neurons”
Chemistry – Middle School
1st Place
Henry Burket, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “DSSCs: Improving Efficiency with Metals”
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics – Middle School
2nd Place
Vivaan Tippana, South Oldham Middle School, “Analyzing EEG recording datasets from Alzheimer’s and Frontotemporal Dementia patients using Python and training LLM model for early detection”
1st Place
Tyler Head, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “The Impact of Nylon Exposure on Gene Expression in Flock Workers”
Earth and Environmental Science – Middle School
3rd Place
John Kipp, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Do Microfibers Affect Glaical Optical Properties”
2nd Place
Jake Koerber, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Could The Triboelectric Effect be an Early Predictor of Earthquakes?”
Embedded Systems – Middle School
3rd Place
Olivia Naidu, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “FLARE: A Mesh-Network for Wildfire Detection and Bird Conservation”
Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics – Middle School
1st Place
Ben Given, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Creating an Electromagnetic Braking System”
Materials Science – Middle School
1st Place
Andrew Mayer, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Creating Electrically Conductive Algae Fabric”
Plant Sciences – Middle School
3rd Place
Roger Quarles, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Exploring Rye Allelopathy”
1st Place
Paddy Weyland, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Exploring Injury Communication in Plants”
Robotics and Intelligent Machines – Middle School
3rd Place
Sarah Jacob, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Social Skills Buddy: A New GPT Program to Assist Autistic Children”
3rd Place
Faiz Mohammad, Nur Islamic School of Louisville, “The Effect of Weight on a Drone’s Life Capacity”
Systems Software – Middle School
2nd Place
Eric Gregory, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Lights Out for Wings (LOW): An App to Help Minimize Light Pollution”
1st Place
Max Dunn, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Edelgard Pixel System For Identifying Art To Prevent Theft”
Technology Enhances the Arts
1st Place
Henry Buchenberger, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Color Vibes: a Device for Creating Art Experiences for the Blind”
Translational Medical Science – Middle School
2nd Place
Caroline Keeney, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Planaria: A New Model for Biochemical Pain Studies”
1st Place
Catherine Burket, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Exploring the Impact of Air Fresheners on Stem Cell Activity”
Animal Sciences – High School
3rd Place
Michelle Ross, Notre Dame Academy, “The Effect of Social Grouping on Problem Solving Ability in Carpenter Ants”
2nd Place
Abby Ladwig, Owensboro High School, “The Factors that Influence the Coloration of the Vitellus Produced by the Gallus gallus domesticus Within a Backyard Flock; Quality of Pigment and Breed Variation”
Behavioral and Social Sciences – High School
2nd Place
Sana Turkmani, Ballard High School, “Do Distractions and Stress go hand in hand?”
Chemistry – High School
3rd Place
Easha Heellage, Mihira Sumanasekera, Ballard High School, “Designing a Catalyst Based on Different Phases of Nickel Phosphide in Producing Hydrogen via Electrolysis”
Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics – High School
2nd Place
Todd Niemann, Saint Xavier High School, Louisville, “Minimizing Weight in Ionic Thrusters”
Environmental Engineering – High School
3rd Place
Bailey Kaiser, Ballard High School, “The Effect of Recycled Rock on the Structural Integrity of a Building”
Materials Science – High School
2nd Place
Michael Brown, Ballard High School, “Shining a Light on Running”
Microbiology – High School
2nd Place
Adithya Gandhapudi, Arya Gandhapudi, Ballard High School, “Bacterial Growth on Different Surfaces”
Physics and Astronomy – High School
1st Place
Rihaan Kapoor, Trinity High School, Louisville, “Axion Detection via CNNs: A Computational Approach to Unveiling Dark Matter”
Robotics and Intelligent Machines – High School
1st Place
Shreethan Palla, Arnav Philips, North Oldham High School, “Using Arduino and Steppers to solve a Rubik’s Cube”
Systems Software – High School
3rd Place
DaYou Choi, Eminence High School, “GoQ: Hybrid quantum-classical program to optimize molecular energy calculations”
Technology Enhances the Arts – High School
3rd Place
Daksh Patel, Dev Patel, North Oldham High School, “ChromaSonic: An AI-Driven Accessible Platform for Transforming Visual Art into Rhythmic Auditory Experiences for the Visually Impaired”
2nd Place
Annika Bell, Leysha Gudibanda, North Oldham High School, “The activity of sound”
Special Awards
Amazon Innovation Award – Middle School
3rd Place
Alim Aliyev, Nur Islamic School of Louisville, “Homemade RC Car”
Amazon Innovation Award – High School
3rd Place
Ashley Guadalupe, Central High School, “Can music change mood and emotions?”
2nd Place
Sally Escobar Perez, Central High School, “The Effects of Dietary Choices on Glycemic Control”
American Institute of Professional Geologists
Jake Koerber, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Could The Triboelectric Effect be an Early Predictor of Earthquakes?”
Association for Women Geoscientists
Nitika Popuri, Eastern High School, “Effect of Ocean Acidification on Shell Strength”
Stockholm Junior Water Prize
Harini Chivukula, Ballard High School, “Can Nanotechnology Clean Up Oil Spills?”
Military Awards
Navy-Marine Corp Excellence in Research Award-Grades 6 – 8
Eric Gregory, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Lights Out for Wings (LOW): An App to Help Minimize Light Pollution”
U.S. Air Force Award – Grades 6 – 8
Ben Given, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Creating an Electromagnetic Braking System”
U.S. Army Award
Bailey Kaiser, Ballard High School, “The Effect of Recycled Rock on the Structural Integrity of a Building”
Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge
Jack Cornett, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Sediment Pollution: A Study on Microplastics”
Max Dunn, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Edelgard Pixel System For Identifying Art To Prevent Theft”
Chase Gratz, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Creating a Rotating Portable Object Detection Device”
Olivia Naidu, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “FLARE: A Mesh-Network for Wildfire detection and Bird Conservation”
Amelia Turner, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Exploring EMG Signals in a Planaria Model of Neurons”
Miles Williams, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Exploring the Effect of Blue Light on Stem Cell Activity”
Best of Fair – Middle School
Life Sciences
1st Place
Amelia Turner, Saint Francis of Assisi, Louisville, “Exploring EMG Signals in a Planaria Model of Neurons”