Two of the eight MMSD students competing in the Capitol Science and Engineering Fair last month were selected to advance to an international science and engineering fair where they will present their research.

Twins Alison and Derick Stace-Naughton of La Follette HS will go on to present their research at the International Intel Science and Engineering Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico from May 13-19.

The CSEF was established to provide high school students from South Central Wisconsin the opportunity to showcase their research and to inspire enthusiasm for science and engineering research among Wisconsin students. The CSEF is affiliated with the Badger State Science and Engineering Fair and the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. The fair was coordinated by Todd Allen from the UW-Madison School of Engineering.

The other MMSD participants were Audra Amasino, Sadhana Murali, Jeena Choi and Matthew Meisner from West, Eric Meyer from Memorial HS and Elinor Shoshany Anderson of La Follette.

Alison Stace-Naughton's research focused on the potential for using Radio Frequency Identification tags rather than bar codes to make the blood supply chain safer and more efficient. She was mentored by Dr. Alfonso Gutierrez from the Industrial Engineering Department at UW-Madison.

Derick Stace-Naughton worked with Dr. Morton Ann Gernsbacher and Shaun Schweigert in the Department of Psychology. He did a dermatoglyphic study of the palm prints of twins in which one or both twins were diagnosed with autism. The MMSD students were participants in the Science Research Internship Program. If you would like to see the abstracts of the students' research or learn more about the program go to http://www.mmsd.org/tnl/sci/hs_research_program.html.