Congratulations to AYSI co-founder Alay Shah for winning 7th place at the 2021 Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS)! Alay has won $70,000 as a Top 10 finisher in this year's competition for high school seniors. STS is the nation's oldest and most prestigious science competition. Read more about Alay's project at https://www.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts/2021-finalists/!

AYSI students competed at the annual Texas Junior Academy of Science (TJAS) and Texas Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (TJSHS) competitions this school year. Congratulations to all winners and best of luck at the next stage!

TEXAS JUNIOR ACADEMY OF SCIENCE (VIRTUAL; Oct 15-16)

Grand Prize Awards (American Junior Academy of Science (AJAS) Qualification)
3rd Grand Prize in Natural Science - William Yan

1st Place (AJAS Qualification)
Sophie Krajmalnik, Plano West Senior High, Engineering I 
Rachel Mammen, Plano West Senior High, Botany/Zoology
William Yan, Plano West Senior High, Biochemistry/ Microbiology

2nd Place
Rithvik Ganesh, Plano West Senior High, Medicine and Health
Navya Ramakrishnan, Plano Senior High, Computer Science
John Rho, Plano West Senior High, Medicine and Health
Alay Shah, Plano West Senior High, Computer Science

3rd Place
Shrey Joshi, Plano East Senior High, Computer Science
Lillian Ye, Plano West Senior High, Biochemistry/Microbiology

TEXAS JUNIOR SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES SYMPOSIUM (VIRTUAL; Jan. 29)

2nd Place Grand Prize (Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) Qualification)
Navya Ramakrishnan

3rd Place Grand Prize (Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) Qualification)
Alay Shah

4th Place Grand Prize (Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) Qualification)
William Yan

​

On August 1st, AYSI-SCI students, teachers, officers, judges, and sponsors gathered for our finalist presentations awards ceremony. The event concluded the 2020 AYSI Summer Coding Institute, honoring our students' hard work and thanking all the people who made this amazing event possible. Listed below are the award winners from our 4 week long Competition Program. 

BEST IN SHOW (Cash prize of $1000)
S32: Endangered Species Classifier
Evan Yu, Michael Zheng, and Alex Cheong
​ 
FIRST PLACE JUNIOR DIV (Cash prize of $200)
J24: Covid-19 Clinic App
Carah Su and Ellen Zulkarnain

FIRST PLACE SENIOR DIV (Cash prize of $300)
S7: Soap Underwater Detection System (SUDS): A Neural Network for Dishwasher Water Conservation
Ethan Zhao, Aaron Liu, Alan Zhao

SECOND PLACE JUNIOR DIV (Cash prize of $100)
J8: Trace it!- A COVID-19 contact tracing app
J16: OurMovies
J18: App That Aides to Detect Plagiarism
J26: MediLinked
J37: House Stability Detector

SECOND PLACE SENIOR DIV (Cash prize of $200)
S1: Alert System for Reducing Occurrences of Car Accidents Related to Driver-Related Mistakes
S15: Arch A-Eye
S18: Detecting Underage Alcohol Consumption in a Non-Intrusive Manner Using Deep Learning
S22: Fast Violence Detection Through Deep Learning

THIRD PLACE JUNIOR DIV 
J4: Book App
J6: Music Buddy
J10: Family Finder
J28: Hydraulic Flume Simulation

THIRD PLACE SENIOR DIV
S26: An Application for Quick Classification of American Sign Language via Deep Learning Image Recognition
S5: Predicting House Prices by Linear Regression
S4: Pocket Recycler: A Convolutional Neural Network Approach to Recyclables Classification
S25: Classifying Skin Diseases via Artificial Neural 
Networks

FOURTH PLACE JUNIOR DIV 
J11: Carbon Dioxide Reduction
J20: The Dog Dictionary
J21: Covid-19 Case Tracker and Comparison Calculator
J23: Grade Face ID
J33: Happiness Game
J39: EduProject

FOURTH PLACE SENIOR DIV 
​S2: SnapCycle
S6: DeepFake Photoshop Image Detector Using Convolutional Neural Networks via Deep Learning
S10: Shield Covid
S24: Second View Alzheimer's Disease Recognition
S29: Low-Maintenance Method of Detecting Mask Wearing in a Public Area via Machine Learning and Computer Vision
S31: Tracking Phone Usage to Help Users Increase Productivity

RISING STARS AWARDS
Karl Hui 
Oscar Li 
Hollis Lin 
Clement Wang

HONORABLE MENTIONS JUNIOR DIV
​J7: Nnews
J27: Using MIT App Inventor to Help Students Manage Stress Using Problem-Based  Coping
J5: Kids Adventure
J29: Obesitysolve
J22: Secure Messenger App
J38: Expired Products
J34: Dangerous Animal Classification Tool
J30: The Way of the Sensors
J12: Tax Estimator
J32: Gardening App
J15: Learning App
J35: Improving and maintaining mental health through music
J36: The SOS Emergency App
J19: Fade
J17: Book Finder
J9: Meal Suggestor

HONORABLE MENTIONS SENIOR DIV
​S16: Heart Health App
S27: Detecting Phishing Emails/SMS Texts with Machine Learning
S11: Neural Network-Based Speech-To-Text System with Identification of Stuttering
S3: Identification of Fake New
S28: Food Identification App
S9: Distinguishing Poison Ivy From Similar Three-Leaved Plants Through Deep Learning Image Classification
S8: Face Space: A Free, Accessible Program for Facial Detection
S21: COVID-19 Prediction

The AYSI-SCI lecture program has officially come to an end! Thank you so much to the amazing students, parents, lecturers, and teaching assistants that helped contribute to our success. A special thank you goes out to our amazing sponsors at AMS and the ACP foundation as well as our guest lecturers from the Mark Cuban Foundation. 

Although our lecture program may have ended, we are far from finished. Starting July 1st will be our much anticipated competition program in which students will use the topics they've learned to create a capstone project and compete for monetary prizes and trophies​.

Students will work with their previously chosen or assigned teammates to create applications or software projects that aim to solve real issues present in their community or society at large. They will have a month to complete their projects and presentations, so get working soon and good luck to all!

Our AYSI-SCI students are now well into the lecture program with both our junior and senior divisions completing lesson 8 yesterday. Students have learned topics ranging from introductory programming syntax to advanced machine learning concepts, and every day they continue to practice their skills with homework and take-home projects. 

Both junior and senior divisions of the AYSI-SCI lecture program were also delighted to welcome Jesse Stauffer from the Mark Cuban Foundation to guest lecture our joint 3rd lesson. Over the past few weeks, our amazing AYSI team has delivered a practical and fun computer science education to our 250 phenomenal students. We hope to continue our engagement and success throughout the rest of the lecture program and onwards into the competition program.

The Association of Young Scientists and Innovators launched the first Summer Coding Institute with a member orientation meeting on May 24th. The Summer Coding Institute is AYSI's response to the global coronavirus pandemic, enabling students 6th-8th grade to learn the fundamentals of programming and artificial intelligence. 

AYSI's Summer Coding Institute aims to provide students with a unique opportunity to explore cutting edge topics in computer science and artificial intelligence - conducted on a virtual platform. Our vision is to empower young students not just with technical skills but also with the mindset of “innovating for impact." The program teaches the fundamentals of programming and artificial intelligence to students and pushes them to consider how they can apply knowledge to community problems. 

The AYSI Summer Coding Institute kicked off with an information session on April 25th with around 240 registrants. Since then nearly 220 students are now fully enrolled in the 8-week program. Additionally, AYSI has granted 21 financial aid scholarships to registered members, granting them full and free access to the program's resources. AYSI's goal is to bring AI education to everyone, breaking the barrier between those who can learn and those who can't. Through sponsors AYSI is aiming to grant scholarships to all students in need, opening the program up to everyone. 

​Powering the program at its roots is a group of devoted sponsors. AYSI is delighted to take on Ams AG, the ACP Foundation, and the CAST Association as sponsors and supporters to the program and AI education as a whole. The Summer Coding Institute also includes lectures taught by MIT, Caltech, Columbia, Stanford, and UT students. The program also includes guest lecturers from the Mark Cuban Foundation. 

The officers at AYSI are extremely grateful for the support and quick growth of the 2020 Summer Coding Insitute, hoping to teach students how to turn ideas into products with computer science.

On February 22, AYSI student and mentors competed at the annual Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair capturing 25% of the 1st Places (Advancing to the Texas State Science and Engineering Fair) and 38% of the Grand Prizes (Advancing to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair).
AYSI students also received recognition from a variety of special award sponsors and corporations.

GRAND PRIZE (ADVANCING TO ISEF)
Life Sciences - John Rho (with partner Govardhan Poondi)
Life Sciences Runner-Up - Rachel Mammen 
Physical Sciences Runner-Up ​- Alay Shah 

FIRST PLACE  (ADVANCING TO TXSEF)
Robotics and Intelligent Machines - Kevin Meng 
Physics & Astronomy - Derek Qin 
Computational Biology & Bioinformatics - John Rho 
Plant Sciences - Rachel Mammen 
Translational Medicine - Alay Shah 

SECOND PLACE  (ADVANCING TO TXSEF)
Biomedical Engineering - Andrei Spiride
Chemistry - Nicholas Zhong 
​Biochemistry - Lillian Ye 

THIRD PLACE  (ADVANCING TO TXSEF)
Computational Biology & Bioinformatics - Rithvik Ganesh
Embedded Systems - Arnold Venter

HONORABLE MENTION
Earth & Environmental Systems - Ethan Zhao 
Earth & Environmental Systems - Kevin Su (Junior Division)
Biomedical Engineering - Justin Rho & Sean Jannati 
Behavioral Sciences  - William Yan 

SPECIAL AWARDS 
Kevin Meng - U.S. Air Force - Certificate of Achievement
John Rho - Acoustical Society of America - Outstanding Senior Acoustic Project
Arnold Venter - Terracon, Inc. - Engineering Excellence Award, Senior Div. 3rd Place Individual
Derek Qin - Office of Naval Research - Naval Science Award, Senior Division, ​U.S. Air Force - Certificate of Achievement
Ethan Zhao - DFW Chapter of Hazardous Materials Managers - Honorable Mention

Next, AYSI members will prepare for the upcoming State and International Science Fairs. First, second, and third places will move on to the State Science Fair on March 27 & 28. 
Congratulations to All !!!

On February 9th, AYSI hosted its first-ever mock competition to prepare for the upcoming Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair (DRSEF). Winners of DRSEF advance onto the state competition in March, and grand prize winners are eligible to compete at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in May. 

John and Alay served as the fair's judges, providing feedback based on the actual rubric used by judges at the regional fair. Students brought their boards and research binders to present their projects, and they were coached on presentation skills by our mentor team.

With competitions creeping up around the corner, AYSI switched gears from lectures to discussions and  gathered around to practice elevator pitches together. It was great to hear from everyone about their research. Mentors gave feedback following each speech and worked on refining content, organization, and presentation aspects. Building confidence was key for many people. Don't be afraid to show the culmination of all your hard work these past few months! 

Members got to further refine their elevator pitches in mock interviews and many have started to put together binders, abstracts, and other presentation materials. Looking forward to seeing everyone's boards and presentations and remember to practice, practice, practice!