The American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) in conjunction with the California Council of Geoscience Organizations (CCGO) once again judged and presented geoscience awards at the 2003 California State Science Fair. This was the third consecutive year that AIPG and CCGO have presented these awards in the Junior and Senior Divisions. The judging commenced at the California Science Center, located in Exposition Park (adjacent to the University of Southern California campus) at 8:30 A.M. on May 20th. Judging was conducted by Jim Jacobs and Dave Sadoff, President and Vice President, respectively of the California Section of AIPG.

The Junior Division winner was Eric Leidersdorf of Los Angeles County for his project "Use Your Head(land)! An Experiment in Shore Protection". Mr. Leidersdorf explored the differences to shoreline and currents caused by breakwater geometry. He built his own garage wave machine and studied the different current and sediment transport pathways caused by various breakwater configurations. He added a steady volume of red dye during wave machine operation and recorded the results using a videocamera. He then interpreted the data to predict longshore currents and beach erosion based on the geometry of the breakwaters.

The Senior Division winner was Allison Suarez of Calaveras County for her project "Solving the Mystery of the Penn Mine Wetland". Ms. Suarez wished to find out what caused the low pH in the Penn Mine wetland during the 2002 rainy season; and why the wetland removed dissolved iron during the rainy season while most other dissolved metals increased. She conducted the experiment by collecting water samples at a mine seepage, wetland inlet, and wetland outlet. She analyzed the samples for pH, turbidity, dissolved and total iron. She interpreted from the analytical results that dissolved iron increases at the Penn Mine during the rainy season because the limestone drains, which were designed to increase the pH of acid mine drainage at the site, are less effective during periods of increased effluent. The flow of water slowed in the down-slope wetland (she measured detention time during January and February at 1.5 days); the pH in the wetland dropped when dissolved iron changed to insoluble iron. Ms. Suarez also won the California State Fair Project of the Year Award!

Honorable Mentions were awarded to Allison Julander of Kern County for her project "How Does the Kern River Affect Southwest Bakersfield's Groundwater", to DeeAnn Kroeker, also of Kern County, for "Gypsum's Effect on Soil Drainage", and to Angeline Wolski of Humboldt County for "Burning Questions: The Effect of Fires on Soil Infiltration Rates".

As in the past three years, most of the exhibits were extraordinary. The incredible time and effort expended by the contestants was easily discerned by their finished products. It was wonderful to see the skills exhibited by these budding geoscientists.

• Science Fair Awards for 2002
  
• Science Fair Awards for 2001 (pdf)