In a Saturday evening awards ceremony filled with whooping and cheering, certificates, medallions and awards went to student researchers or teams from Briarcliff, Blind Brook, Dobbs Ferry, Eastchester, Edgemont, Hendrick Hudson, John Jay, Lakeland, Horace Greeley, Scarsdale, Pelham, Mamaroneck, Sleepy Hollow, Tuckahoe, Walter Panas, and White Plains, among others, at the Westchester Science and Engineering Fair (WESEF). 

More than 270 entrants from 30 Westchester and Putnam schools rocked the Sleepy Hollow High School auditorium with loud approval for classmates.

Both Ossining and Yorktown crews won two individual and two team project grand prizes—week-long, all-expenses paid trips to Los Angeles in May to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the Olympics of science fairs.       

 In a recent trend, two of Yorktown's grand-prize team projects were multi-school efforts, collaborations with Somers High School or Horace Greeley in Chappaqua. 

 At the WESEF 2011 awards event, a few students capped their best sweater-and-skirt or suit-and-tie outfits with a Santa Claus hat or sombrero. The most applause greeted the plaid kilts of Dobbs Ferry High science teacher Thomas Callahan, accepting a Carl Zeiss stereo microscope donated to his school.   

 This exuberant atmosphere at the end of the day contrasted with a jittery hum in Sleepy Hollow High's gym from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., as each student or team presented original research findings to a half-dozen or more of 150 judges expert in academic and corporate research.

"I'm seeing some very original work, where students are looking at things in creative ways," said Bob Weireter, an environmental scientist from Swiss Re in Armonk. It was his sixth year as a WESEF judge, volunteering because "you've  got to support these kids taking time above and beyond their school work to become future scientists."

 Hayley Zullow of Ossining, winner of a George D. Yancopoulos Young Scientist Award for a student researcher "whose passion for science may lead to the development of novel technologies or biological insights," said during the judging sessions that "waiting for the judges to come around is the hardest part. It's easier when you're presenting your research."

For Priya  Mohindra of Yorktown,  the complementary insights and skills of teammate Gabriel Weissman from Greeley High made their project and presentation less difficult—resulting in a trip to Los Angeles.     

 Los Angeles voyages were sponsored by Tarrytown-based biotech firm Progenics Pharmaceuticals, whose founder and CEO Dr. Paul Maddon was an ISEF contestant and winner in 1977, when his reward was a trip to the U.S. Army base of his choice, Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.

"We're dedicated to encouraging the next generation of innovators," said Maddon, before announcing the grand-prize winners on Saturday.  (Other WESEF sponsors include Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Acorda Theraputics, with additional support from Fujifilm USA, Entergy, Psychogenics, Philips, Westchester County Academy of Medicine and Phelps Memorial Hospital Medical Staff.)

Among top winners this year were four prior grand-prize finalists, a rarity in the highly-competitive science contest. Repeat winners included Jayanth Krishnan of Mahopac, Matthew McIntyre of Yorktown, and Morgan and Elyse Blueglass of Somers—daughters of WESEF director Michael Blueglass, who as a Yorktown High science teacher also coached McIntyre. (Yorktown High tied Ossining at WESEF 2009, but had fewer grand-prize winners last year.)   

For WESEF founder Michael Blueglass, the recent hire of another science teacher by Yorktown High School, despite economic difficulties, means that his science research students will be more competitive at WESEF 2012. "Wait till next year," he said.