Welcome to the
22nd Annual Awards
Ceremony
April 24, 2012
We are proud of each of you!
You Took the Challenge!
Master of Ceremonies
Dr. Shaun Cooper,
New Mexico State University
Chief Information Officer
Supercomputing Challenge
Past Member of the
Board of Directors
Duncan McBranch
Deputy Principal Associate Director for
Science, Technology and Engineering
Los Alamos National Laboratory
I Took the Challenge!
First Year Schools
John Paul Gonzales, Consult,
Santa Fe Institute & Project GUTS
First Year Schools
Edgewood Elem.
Escalante High
Down to Earth
Grants High
GUTS y Girls
Little Earth
SODA
Mesa Mid
Taos High
Miyamura High
NMSA
Pinon Elem
Rio Rancho Cyber Acad.
YWIC
Chaparral High
Presentation of the
2011 - 2012 Finalists
David Kratzer, Consult
The Finalists
ATC/Desert Acad/SF High - Team 2
Desert Academy - Team 36
Edgewood Elementary School - Team 41
La Cueva High School - Team 56
Los Alamos High School - Team 64
Los Alamos High School - Team 66
Los Alamos Middle School -Team 72
Los Alamos High School - Team 73
Manzano High School - Team 82
Sat. Sci & Math Academy - Team 118
Los Alamos National
Laboratory Environmental
Modeling Award
David Janecky, LANL
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Environmental Modeling Award
Winners:
Team 2, Desert Academy, Academy for
Technology and the Classics, Santa Fe
High School
The Impact of Forest Fires on Water
Resources
Sara Hartse, Hugo Rivera, Nico Cruz
Center for Connected Learning
and Computer-Based Modeling:
NetLogo Project
Presented by Stephen Guerin
Redfish Group and Uri Wilensky
Northwestern University
CCL and CBM: NetLogo Project
Winners:
Team 12, Artesia High School
DON'T PANIC!!! EMERGENCY
EGRESS
Madison Mutchler-Ramsey, Joshua
Trujillo, Jeremiah Marquez
Research Award:
NM Water/Climate
Change
Presented by:
Mary Jo Daniel and
Natalie Willoughby
Climate Change/Water
Award
Winners:
Team 94, NMSA
Water You Waiting For, Santa Fe?
Noah Caulfield, Mohit Dubey, Milada
Guenther, Samuel Thompson
Southwest Ecosystem
Model
Charlie Walter
Executive Director,
NM Museum of Natural
History and Science
Award for Modeling a
Southwest Ecosystem
Winners:
Team 37, Desert Academy
Depletion of Aquifer Levels in the
Lower Rio Grande
Jeremy Hartse and Taylor Bacon
Best Written Report
Presented by:
Sue King and Kathy Pallis
LANL
Best Written Report
Winners:
Team 36, Desert Academy
Language Acquisition in Computers
Megan Belzner and
Sean Colin-Ellerin
Best Visualization Award
Presented by: Dr. Lorie
Liebrock, New Mexico Tech
Best Visualization Award
Winner:
Team 102, Pinon Elementary
Visualizing the Tree of Life
Ryan Swart
Recognition of Judges
Michael Trahan, Sandia National
Laboratories Principal Member of the
Technical Staff, Emerging Threats
Dr. Eleanor Walther, Sandia National
Laboratories, Retired
Special Guest
Henry Neeman, Director,
Oklahoma Supercomputing Center
for Education & Research
(OSCER)
Oklahoma University
Best StarLogo Agent-Based
Model
Presented by Irene Lee
Santa Fe Institute
Best StarLogo Agent-Based
Model
Winners:
Team 17, Aspen Elementary
A Devil Worth Saving
Thomas Chadwick, Gabriel
Holesinger, Tazler Smith, Sabio
Thompson, Jack Vandenkiebom
Community Impact Award
Presented by Ron Davis,
Abba Technologies
Community Impact Award
Winners:
Team 101, Pinon Elementary
The Bullying Effect
Jordan Bailey and Ruby Selvage
Crowd Favorite
Presented by NM Tech Council
Glenn Perkal, TIG
Crowd Favorite
Winner:
Team 72, Los Alamos Middle School
Computer Simulation of Dark Matter
Effects on Galaxy Collisions
Cole Kendrick
Newcomer Award
Presented by
Peggy and Bob Robey
Newcomer Award
Winners:
Team 38, Down to Earth School
Polystyrene Versus Down to Earth
Ella Kirk, Simone Hill, Ruby Zeuner,
Addie Clemens, Hailey Manlowe
Magellan Award
Presented by
Peggy and Bob Robey
Magellan Award Winners
Winners:
Team 4, AIMS@UNM
Modeling the Flow of the Interstellar
Medium Within Localized Sectors of
Space
Louis Jencka, Randall Van Why, Nico
Ponder, Stefan Klosterman, Jake Kileen
Most Professional Presentation
Presented by
Janeen Anderson
Acaji Inc
Most Professional
Presentation
Winner:
Team 72, Los Alamos Middle School
Computer Simulation of Dark Matter
Effects on Galaxy Collisions
Cole Kendrick
Best Web Presentation of
Final Report
Presented by Michele Jacquez-Ortiz,
Senator Udall's staff
Best Web Presentation of
Final Report
Winners:
Team 74, Los Alamos Mid School
Haptic Feedback: Controlling Robots with
Touch
Connor Bailey and Nate Delgado
Team 101, Pinon Elementary
The Bullying Effect
Jordan Bailey and Ruby Selvage
Senator Jeff Bingaman's
Middle School Award
Presenter:
Rebecca Montoya
Senator Jeff
Bingaman's
Middle School Award
Winners: Team 73,
Los Alamos Middle School
Simulation of Multi-Agent Based
Scheduling Algorithms for Waiting-line
Queuing Problems
Steven Chen and Andrew Tang
Senator Jeff
Bingaman's
Video Message
Cray High Performance Award
Presented by
Mike Davis and Victor Kuhns,
Cray Inc.
Cray High Performance Award
Winners:
Team 4: AIMS@UNM
Modeling the Flow of the Interstellar
Medium Within Localized Sectors of
Space
Louis Jencka, Randall van Why, Nico
Ponder, Stefan Klosterman, Jake Kileen
CHECS Research Award
Presented by Shaun Cooper,
Member, NM CHECS
CHECS Research Award
Winners:
Team 41, Edgewood Elementary
Duel of the Fuel
Ethan Hintergardt, Chase Podzemny,
Emily Robinson, Keith Stevens,
Pete Talamante
CHECS Teamwork Award
Presented by Shaun Cooper,
NMSU and NM CHECS
CHECS Teamwork Award
Winners:
Team 58, Las Cruces Young Women in
Computing
Utopia
Marie Ellis, Samantha McGuinn,
Hiba Muhyi, Noor Muhyi, Cindy Yeh
Teacher Appreciation Awards
in Memory of Peggy Larisch
:
Presented by: Celia Einhorn,
Anita Nugent, Stephen Schum and
Albert Simon
Teacher Appreciation Award
Winner:
Maia Chaney
Little Earth School
Silver City
Nominated by EJ Kirk
Teacher Appreciation Award
Winner:
Jocelyne Comstock
Desert Academy, Santa Fe
Nominated by Taylor Bacon
Teacher Appreciation Award
Winner:
Rebecca Galves
Young Women in Computing
Las Cruces
Nominated by
Sofia and Susana Bali
Supercomputing Challenge
Technical Poster Award
Presented by Heather Rister
Technical Poster Award
Winners:
Team 87, Melrose High School
The Intersection of
Lines to Find Points
Randall Rush,
Quinton Flores,
Jon Tello,
Kaleb Broome
Graphical Poster Award
Supercomputing Challenge Logo
for 2011-2012
Presented by Dr. Shaun Cooper,
NMSU
Graphical Poster Award
Winners:
Team 77, Los Alamos Middle School
Investigating the Use of
Hydroelectric Power
Claire DeCroix
Sandia National Laboratories
Creativity and Innovation
Award
Presented by Dr. Tom Laub,
Principal Member of the Technical Staff,
Radiation Effects Theory Department,
Sandia National Labs
Sandia National Laboratories
Creativity and Innovation
Award
Winners:
Team 36, Desert Academy
Language Acquisition in
Computers
Megan Belzner, Sean Colin-Ellerin
New Mexico Network for
Women in Science and
Engineering
Presented by Dr. Eleanor Walther,
Sandia National Labs (Retired)
New Mexico Network for
Women in Science and
Engineering
Winners:
Team 56, La Cueva High School
Optimizing Community Detection
Alexandra Porter, Stephanie Djidjev,
Lauren Li
Programming Innovation Award
Presented by Drew Einhorn,
Friend of the Challenge
Sponsored by
Fourth Watch Software
Programming Innovation Award
And the Pythonistas are
Team 66, Los Alamos High School
ExcellAnts
Peter Ahrens and Dustin Tauxe
Science Rocks
Presented by Shiloh Taylor
for
Congressman Ben Ray Lujan
Science Rocks
Winners:
Team 107, Rio Rancho Cyber
Academy
Reverse Osmosis
Stuart Perara and Trinity Medley
Consult's Special Award
Presented by Patty Meyer
Consult's Special Award
Winner: Reffat Sharmeen,
UNM Grad Student and
Cadre member
Sponsor Recognition
Let's give a big round of
applause for our sponsors!
The people in these
businesses and companies
helped us Take the Challenge!
Primary Sponsors:
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Security, LLC
Sandia National Laboratories
Educational Partners:
CCL, CHECS, Eastern New Mexico University, MIT Starlogo, New Mexico
Computing Applications Center, New Mexico EPSCoR, New Mexico Highlands
University, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, New Mexico Public
Education Department, New Mexico State University,
NMSU-Dona Ana CC, Northern New Mexico College,
San Juan College, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe Complex, Santa Fe
Institute, University of New Mexico, UNM-CARC
Commercial Partners:
Abba Technologies/Hewlett Packard, Google RISE, Intel Corporation, Lockheed
Martin, LANL Foundation, The MathWorks, Synergy Group, VanDyke Software,
Wolfram Research, Gulfstream Group and bigbyte.cc, Technology Integration
Group, Albuquerque Journal, Cray Inc, Fourth Watch Software, Innovate Educate
NM, Lobo Internet Services, New Mexico Business Weekly, New Mexico
Technology Council, PY Multimedia Services, Qforma, Redfish Group
Outstanding Service Award
Presented by
Betsy Frederick
Outstanding Service Award
Winner: Drew Einhorn,
Friend of the Challenge
Scholarship Winners
Presented by Nick Bennett,
Numerix LLC
The Computer,
Computational, and Statistical
Sciences Division of Los
Alamos National Laboratory,
ABBA Technologies, UPS and
Los Alamos National Security
Thank you for your generous contributions
to Challenge scholarship funds.
NCWIT Aspiration Winners
Presented by
Elizabeth Kallman,
Ball Aerospace
NCWIT Special Guest
Catherine Ertz
Operations Director
National Center for Women
& Information Technology
NCWIT Aspiration Winners
from Central and Northern NM
Taylor Bacon, Desert Academy, Santa Fe
Sara Hartse, Desert Academy, Santa Fe
Stephanie Djidjev, La Cueva High School,
Albuquerque
NCWIT Aspiration Winners
from Central and Northern NM
Julissa Hunte, V. Sue Cleveland High
School, Rio Rancho
Alexandra Porter, La Cueva High School,
Albuquerque
Falisha Trujillo, Jemez Valley High
School, Jemez Pueblo
NCWIT Educator Award
Winner
Irene Lee
Santa Fe Institute
President of the Challenge Board
Principal Investigator for Guts Y Girls
NCWIT Aspiration Winners
from Las Cruces
Samantha McGuinn
Noor Muhyi
Cindy Yen
And now, the moment we have
all been waiting for….
Irene Lee, President of
the Board of Directors,
the envelopes please.
But first, kudos go to Cleve
Moler for being the 2012
Computer Pioneer Award
Recipient, IEEE Computer
Society
"For improving the quality of
mathematical software,
making it more accessible
and creating MATLAB"
Third Place
Winners:
Team 56, La Cueva High School
Optimizing Community Detection
Alexandra Porter,
Stephanie Djidjev, Lauren Li
Second Place
Winner:
Team 72, Los Alamos Middle School
Computer Simulation of Dark
Matter Effects on Galaxy
Collisions
Cole Kendrick
First Place
Winner:
Team 82, Manzano High School
Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease
Plaques in a Transgenic Mouse
Brain Using Image Analysis of
SPION-Enhanced Magnetic
Resonance Images
Jordan Medlock
First Place Winner's
Project Overview
The Last Word
David Kratzer, Consult
Delicious burritos will be
served in the kitchen behind
the auditorium after the awards
ceremony.
Your choice of
Bacon/Green
Ham/Red
Sausage/Red
Veggie/Green