EMA Awards Three Scholarships For Environmental Projects

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DETROIT, Mich — The Environmental Management Association will be awarding three Detroit area students scholarships for their environmental projects entered to the annual Detroit Science Fair. Additionally, local Sam’s Warehouse Clubs have donated an Apple iPad tablet to each winning student.

Projects were reviewed and judged by a panel of Environmental Management Association board members during the 56th annual Science and Engineering Fair of Metro Detroit on March 13, 2013.  Students will be recognized and honored during the Environmental Management Association annual Environmental Achievement Awards event at the Detroit Athletic Club on Thursday, April 18th, 2013.

A synopsis of the winning projects:

A Comparative Study of Effects of Detergent- Lamar Cherry, an 11th grade student at Martin Luther King High School in Detroit, watered similar plant species with different types of water and demonstrated the effects of this exposure by measuring root length and other variables.  In this case there was a nice correlation between of different types of detergent used in the watering and the degree of plant growth.

Increasing Efficiency of Electrolysis by Changing Solutions in an Electrolytic Cell- Alexander Nakhleh sophomore at Divine Child High School in Dearborn, exposed brine shrimp to different concentrations of ions, in this case 3.5% Saline, Citrix & Acetic Acids.  The student also varied the current flowing through the solutions and the data clearly showed a correlation between mortality and the type of solutions in the electrolytic cell.

Toxin in Rice- Anuush Vejalla, a 9th grade student from Detroit Country Day Upper School in Beverly Hills, compared rice by region, farming method, and variety to determine which rice contained the least amount of toxins, focusing primarily on the metal arsenic. In order to recover the arsenic from the rice, he performed a series of quantitative chemical extractions to produce a solution compatible with his testing equipment.

The Environmental Management Association is seeking sponsors who may wish to contribute to this community service program to help promote environmental science for future leaders.  The event is open to the public and tickets are available online at http://emaweb.org. Reservations are mandatory.