Christopher Lindsay '17 received three prizes for his project, "Looking for Life in all the Right Places: A Search for Transiting Extrasolar Planets using the CoRot and Faulkes Telescopes." His project mentor was Dr. J.D. Armstrong of the Institute of Astronomy, Maui, and his faculty adviser was Dr. Mark Lindsay.
Christopher Lindsay with his project presentation, Looking for Life in all the Right Places
Christopher received top middle school awards from the UH Institute for Astronomy, Broadcom Masters, and the Hawaiian Astronomical Society. These awards include a Bishop Museum planetarium membership, honorary membership to the Hawaiian Astronomical Society, subscriptions to astronomy magazines, including Sky and Telescope, a Hawaiian Astronomical Society star shirt, and a cash award. Christopher's project ranked in the top 10 percent of state science fair winners and he received an invitation to compete at the Broadcom Masters National Middle School Science and Engineering Fair Competition.
Christopher was surprised to receive any HSSEF awards this year because the telescopes he uses for research have been plagued with difficulties throughout the past year. His space-based CoRoT telescope suddenly experienced technical difficulties preventing relay of its data back to Earth. In addition, a terrifying brush fire in Australia burned the power supply lines to the remote-controlled Faulkes Telescope South, leaving it inoperable since December. Perhaps the best lesson learned this past year is that scientific research requires an infinite amount of patience and perseverance.
Following the HSSEF Awards luncheon, the 2013 STEM (Science, Engineering, and Math) Award banquet was held. The STEM awards reflect participation in a variety of STEM activities including activities such as HSSEF, HI-STAR Astronomy program, Science Bowl, Science Olympiad, MathCounts, and robotics programs, to name a few.
Dr. Inouye and Christopher Lindsay accepted the High School Division Second Runner-up Award on behalf of 'Iolani. Ms. Mayeda and William Heyler accepted the Middle School Division Independent Schools Champion Award.
Christopher thanks his teachers, administrators, families and colleagues for their support and encouragement.
Text by Dr. Holly Chung Lindsay
