Hanford, Sunnyside High students advance to Intel science fair

Students from Hanford and Sunnyside high schools who did medically-related research were named Saturday as the two grand prize winners of the Mid-Columbia Regional Science and Engineering Fair.

Christopher Kang, a sophomore at Hanford High in Richland, was awarded a grand prize for his project “Utilizing Machine Learning Techniques to Identify the Risk of Cancerous Skin Lesions.”

Abrag Nassar, a junior at Sunnyside High, also was awarded a grand prize for his project “Reversing High Glucose Levels Through a Novel Approach: Celegans as a Model for Treating Diabetes.”

Their expenses will be paid to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles in May.

The first-place winner also will attend the competition as an observer. Cole Kissler, an Odessa High senior, took first place for “Production of Bioethanol from Pulsed Electric Field Pretreatment.”

Other Mid-Columbia winners in the senior division included: Karen Villanueva, Sunnyside High, second place; Bryan Fang, Richland High, honorable mention; and Kimberly McKinnon, Hanford High, also honorable mention.

Projects were displayed at Columbia Center mall in Kennewick last week.

For more information, go to www.midcolumbiasciencefair.org.

This story was originally published March 12, 2017 at 8:01 PM with the headline "Hanford, Sunnyside High students advance to Intel science fair."