CK Students Tops in the World at International Science and Engineering Fair

Two Cranbrook Schools students have taken the top awards at the 2021 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). 

The Society for Science’s Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF) is the world's largest global high school competition. Historically held in person, 2021 marks the first time in its more than 70-year history that the competition took place virtually. This year's compatition featured more than 1,800 entries from around the world in 21 research categories. 

Cranbrook Schools Sophomore Michelle Hua was awarded the Grand Prize, the George D. Yancopoulos Innovator Award - meaning she placed first in the world - after taking First Place in the category of Robotics & Intelligent Machines.

The title of Michelle’s project is Dilated Silhouette Convolutional Neural Network: A Novel Deep Learning Framework for Real-Time Human Interaction Recognition. Using human silhouettes, Michelle designed and implemented a novel, deep-learning framework that outperforms all similar state-of-the-art algorithms. Michelle’s work has been described as “foundational.” As Science News for Students asks: “Will this smartphone app become your exercise coach?” The award brings with it $75,000.  

Cranbrook Schools Junior Margaret Yang was awarded First Place in the category of Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design.

The title of Margaret’s project is Engineering Multi‐Enzyme Whole‐Cell Biocatalysts for Biofuel Production. In this project, Margaret used mathematical modeling to determine optimal organic catalysts for accelerating biofuel production. In addition to the recognition, Margaret enjoys a $5000 award.  

Congratulations to Margaret and Michelle!