KARACHI:  Three Pakistani students were awarded US$ 500 for their innovative project entitled “Energy Square for Cattle” at Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2012, a program of Society for Science & the Public.

Shiza Gulab, Bushra Shahed and Mahnoor Hassan from the Institute of Computer and Management Science of Peshawar were winners of a fourth place grand award in the “Animal Sciences” category at ISEF, held from May 13-18 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania US.

First prize to Non-Invasive Pancreatic Cancer Detection Tool

Jack Andraka of Crownsvilee, Md, won the top prize for his Non-Invasive Pancreatic Cancer Detection Tool at the ISEF 2012.

Based on diabetic test paper, 15 year old Jack created a simple dip-stick sensor to test blood or urine to determine whether or not a patient has early-stage pancreatic cancer.

His study resulted in over 90 per cent accuracy and showed his patent-pending sensor to be 28 times faster, 28 times less expensive and over 100 times more sensitive than current tests.

Jack received the $75,000 Gordon E. Moore Award, named in honour of Intel co-founder and retired chairman and CEO.

Energy Square for Cattle

The Pakistani students presented a new concept for cattle feed, made from waste fruits, wheat bran, molasses, maize Bran, carbonates, salts and other ingredients.

Dubbed as Energy Square for Cattle –  the nutritional mix of energy square is proposed to fulfill the dietary needs of cattle and domestic animals.

Energy Square provides energy to animals and also increases milk production. It also boosts immunity in the cattle and increases their fertility.

According to its pioneers, a three kg block of the food supplement could feed a cow for 10 days and a goat for a month. Consumption of 300 grams per day would result in remarkable improvement in their health.

Energy Square could be a very fruitful to the farmers of developing nations who are not only vulnerable to climatic change but also loosing the green pastures rapidly.

The Young Scientist Award

Two students, Nicholas Schiefer, 17, of Pickering, Ontario, Canada and Ari Dyckovsky, 18, of Leesburg, Va, US, each received the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award of $50,000.

Nicholas studied what he calls “microsearch,” or the ability to search the fastest-growing information medium: small amounts of content, such as tweets and Facebook status updates.  Through his research, Nicholas hopes to improve search engines’ capabilities, which will in turn improve access to information.

Ari investigated the science of quantum teleportation. He found that once atoms are linked through a process called “entanglement,” information from one atom will just appear in another atom when the quantum state of the first atom is destroyed. Using this method, organisations requiring high levels of data security, such as the National Security Administration, could send an encrypted message without running the risk of interception because the information would not travel to its new location; it would simply appear there.

“We support the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair because we know that math and science are imperative to future global growth,” said Naveed Siraj, country manager, Intel Pakistan. “This competition encourages millions of students to engage their skills for innovation and develop promising solutions for global challenges.”

This year, more than 1,500 young scientists were chosen to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. They were selected from 446 affiliate fairs in approximately 70 countries, regions and territories. In addition to the winners mentioned above, more than 400 finalists received awards and prizes for their groundbreaking work.

Awards included 17 "Best of Category" winners who each received a $5,000 prize. The Intel Foundation also awarded a $1,000 grant to each winner’s school and to the affiliated fair they represented.

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair includes some of the most promising rising student entrepreneurs, innovators and scientists from around the world.

Finalists are selected annually from hundreds of affiliated fairs. Their projects are then evaluated onsite by more than 1,200 judges from nearly every scientific discipline, each with a Ph.D. or the equivalent of six years of related professional experience in one of the scientific disciplines.