Announcing the 2022-2023 eCYBERMISSION National Winners!

Over 7,000 students on more than 2,000 teams from across the United States and DoDEA schools worldwide competed in the 2022-2023 eCYBERMISSION competition. Last week, the top 20 of those teams, this year's National Finalists, joined us in Hunt Valley, Maryland for the 21st annual National Judging & Educational Event. Now, we are proud to announce the winners of the 2022-2023 eCYBERMISSION competition!

6th Grade National Winner

MISSing Monarchs

Team Members: Annie Wei, April Yao, Elizabeth Moody, Olivia Kim
Team Advisor: Richard Gash
Bay Sea Scouts, Bay Village, Ohio

Abstract:
Our hypothesis was that we could alert our community to the decline in the monarch butterfly population. To address that community problem, we suggested several steps everyone can take to aid the monarchs. 

We raised and released 29 healthy monarch butterflies. A number of those female butterflies will lay eggs, producing more butterflies. Our 29 butterflies will have a multiplying effect, e.g., if 6 of our females lay a minimum of 300 eggs each and 2% survive, that would result in an additional 36 butterflies, more than doubling our population. With the agreement of our teachers, we explained to 5 classes of schoolchildren in the science and gifted program that carefully raising monarch butterflies can be interesting and a lot of fun. Four hundred and twenty-one packets of milkweed seeds, the only plant monarchs lay their eggs on, were distributed to interested school children and adults along with instructions on how to plant. 

Local mayors were contacted, 2 invited us to make personal presentations, and 3 wrote letters of encouragement. All were very enthusiastic and applauded our efforts to alert the community to ways that would help increase the monarch population. These ideas, planting more milkweed and having flower gardens close by, were written up in articles that were published in 2 local newspapers. 

We believe that we did succeed in proving our hypothesis. In our county, 16 new monarch butterfly Waystations were registered, 3 of which were certified by the University of Kansas. This is compared to a neighboring county that only had 1 Waystation. We did make a difference.

7th Grade National Winner

H2O Bros

Team Members: Brex Stephens, Lucas Higgins, Lincoln Dooley, Jaxson Ferran
Team Advisor: Laura Stary
Southcrest Christian School, Lubbock, Texas
Abstract:
Hydraulic fracturing is the process of pumping chemicals and water underground for the purpose of breaking rock apart and releasing valuable oil and natural gas. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, half the states in the U.S. sit above shale formations and have the potential for extracting the gas and oil in them. The origins of “fracking” are in Texas and this state leads the nation in the number of well sites and resources taken. While fossil fuels provide energy, there are negative side effects including the use of scarce fresh water from aquifers, contaminated drinking water risks, damage to the natural environment, and an increased cost to communities. The questions asked were ‘how can the process of fracking be more environmentally friendly’ and ‘what methods could be used to clean wastewater from this industry for reuse in agriculture?’ The team investigated the use of centrifuge technology and distillation in efforts to clean the produced and flowback water that comes to the surface during extraction. A centrifuge was effectively used to force many of the salts to the bottom of the tank and the remaining liquid was able to be distilled more efficiently. The water we purified was then used in germination experiments where 95% of seeds grew successfully following the team’s treatment. This nation still depends on oil and gas even in the transition to renewable energy sources. For this reason, STEM was used to find solutions for making the fossil fuel industry accountable and environmentally friendly.

8th Grade National Winner

Cardio for Chemo

Team Members: Elizabeth Vetzev, Rebecca John
Team Advisor: Kelly McDonald
West Middle School, Andover, Massachusetts
Abstract:
Every year in the United States, 1.9 million people are newly diagnosed with cancer. Treatments for cancer patients can include harsh chemotherapy treatments, radiation treatments, or both. Patients endure long hours of treatment that often cause harsh side effects that can reduce a patient's quality of life. This project focuses on designing a personalized app for patients that can help alleviate their symptoms with the use of exercise. Extensive research and interviews with physical therapists showed that exercise, even in small amounts, can be very beneficial for patients dealing with the harsh side effects of chemotherapy. Exercise can improve patients' overall quality of life. 

Our app, called "Cardio for Chemo", was created and tested on multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, and Windows. We used the engineering process to design our app's features, define specific criteria that we needed to meet, and to test our prototype and make changes. Technology was used to create our digital wireframes from our hand-drawn wireframes. Also, technology, namely an app building platform called Thunkable, was used to code our app as well as test our prototype. STEM was critical to the overall success of our project. Our hope is that our app," Cardio for Chemo", can improve the lives of cancer patients in our community.

9th Grade National Winner

Urica

Team Members: Nidhi Sagaram, Samil Sharma, Viraj Vyas
Team Advisor: Bhavna Sharma
Metea Valley and Neuqua Valley High Schools, Naperville, Illinois
Abstract:

According to the National Kidney Foundation, approximately 8.3 million adults in the United States have hyperuricemia, an elevated level of uric acid in the blood. In most cases, hyperuricemia is asymptomatic. However, over time, high levels of uric acid in the blood can lead to the development of gout, kidney stones, chronic kidney diseases, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes, amongst others. Gout and kidney stones can both cause significant pain and discomfort. Hyperuricemia is caused by a variety of factors including genetics, purine-rich diets like consuming red meats and alcohol, certain medications, and medical conditions. Many people in our community, including our family and friends, suffer from hyperuricemia. The cost of the treatment ranges anywhere between a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars for prescribed medicines or even surgeries. Our goal was to find a preventive solution rather than the curative ones that exist today. We researched the problem by meeting with experts, reading books, journals, websites, and watching educational videos. We designed prototypes and conducted 3 rounds of experiments by using plants that had antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and diuretic properties. After analyzing the test results, we created a product that is safe to consume, effective, natural, affordable, and easily accessible. Consuming our product will prevent uric acid build ups and keep the levels in a healthy range. We met with the Aurora mayor, a nutritionist, university professors, neighbors, and friends in our community to share our findings.

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Congratulations to the 2022-2023 eCYBERMISSION National Winners! We are so proud of not just our National Winners, but every student who completed an eCYBERMISSION project this year. Thank you to all of the volunteer CyberGuides, Virtual Judges, and Ambassadors who supported and encouraged students, and thank you most of all to the Team Advisors. eCYBERMISSION can only do its job promoting STEM for all with your hard work.

Registration for the 2023-2024 eCYBERMISSION competition opens in August. The eCYBERMISSION Mini-Grant program is accepting applications for the 2023-2024 competition cycle at www.ecybermission.com/MiniGrantProgram. For more information about eCYBERMISSION, visit www.ecybermission.com or email us at missioncontrol@ecybermission.com.

Faith Benner

Sr. Communications and Marketing Specialist