Congratulations to San Bruno Park student Collin Dagandan for winning second place in his division at the San Mateo County STEM Fair in March!
For the second year in a row, SBEF supported San Bruno Park students in participating at the County STEM Fair. This year, SBEF offered workshops for participating 5th graders to assist them in independently completing their STEM project. We recruited local STEM professionals to work with our students to understand and apply the scientific method and engineering principles, as well as how to communicate their work to others.
Collin, a 5th grader at Portola Elementary, placed second in the 5th grade engineering division and received special recognition from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for his project testing seismic building designs.
“My project tested which seismic building design (Pratt trust system, Tuned mass damper, and Roller based isolator) is best during a simulated earthquake,” Collin says. “I built a Lego shaking table and all three seismic designs, and according to my trials, the Tuned mass damper worked the best at counteracting the sway of the building most effectively.”
Another San Bruno Park student, Oscar Kimmell from John Muir Elementary, placed first in the 5th grade physics division at the County STEM Fair for his experiment with a solar oven. It was a successful event for San Bruno Park students!
Congrats again, Collin!