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Even though she was not required to, Nicole Shaw started doing science projects in kindergarten.

“My mother said, ‘You could do one this year so you’ll be prepared for when you really have to do them,’” Nicole said. “I have been doing them ever since.”

Her persistence paid off.

Nicole, now an eighth-grader at Aycock Middle School, is one of two Guilford County students who recently received awards for their science projects at the N.C. Science and Engineering Fair at Meredith College.

Neil Shah, a senior at Northwest High and Weaver Academy, and Nicole represented Guilford County Schools after winning the district and regional science fairs. More than 200 students in grades three through 12 from across the state presented research projects during the event.

Nicole’s project, “Hydro-Powered Poop,” was a continued study of various recyclable water resources and animal feedstock using anaerobic digestion with Thermo-Hydro Heaters. She received an honorable mention in the Junior Technology/Engineering category and won two special awards, the EPA Award in the junior division and the ASM Materials Education Foundation Award.

Nicole, the daughter of Toni Shaw of Greensboro and Joel Graves of Roxboro, also participated in the N.C. Student Academy of Science competition, where she presented a research paper on her project and won first place in the middle school engineering/technology division.

Neil, the son of Ameet and Shefali Shah of Greensboro, and a student from Raleigh entered their project, “Supercomputing Analytical Discovery of Plasma Instabilities in Fusion Energy Reactors,” which looked for a faster and more efficient way for computers to model the reactions of fusion, a possible alternative energy source. The project won second place in the senior team division, the U.S. Army Award and was selected as a second alternate for the International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering and Environment) Project award.

This is not the first time Nicole has been recognized for her science achievements. A few years ago, she won awards for her project “Sick Shopping Carts,” which created more awareness about the importance of wiping down shopping carts. Her science fair project last year, “The Power of Poop!,” won several awards, including first place in the Region V science fair at Sci-Works, first place in the Guilford County Science Fair and the President’s Environmental Youth Award from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Nicole said she can’t remember what led to her love of science.

“I think my love first started when I kept winning (science fair competitions),” she said with a laugh. “Then I realized there was an art in what I did, and I did it well.”

When she’s not working on her next science project, Nicole enjoys dancing with the Wesley William Urban Dance Theatre, volunteering at Loyalton of Greensboro and serving as the young people’s division treasurer for the Western North Carolina Conference of the A.M.E. Church. She also loves photography and music. Nicole hopes to attend N.C. A&T to study biology and then Duke or Harvard to study medicine.
 

Neil met his project partner, Katie Shpanskaya, while interning at N.C. State on comparable features of the same project. While Katie handled some of the mathematical processing and test cases for the algorithm, Neil wrote all the processing tools and computer-based processing. Together, they developed advanced computer science technology that allows scientists to analyze computer simulations of the production of fusion energy in reactors.

“I’ve always been interested in solving difficult problems and figuring out how things work and how they can work better,” he said.

Neil is president of Weaver Academy’s chapter of Future Business Leaders of America and is a national AP Scholar, an AP Scholar with Distinction and a National Merit semifinalist. He also is the founder and president of Weaver’s speech and debate team, holds an honor status at the National Forensic League and volunteers at the Natural Science Center of Greensboro. His hobbies include research, programming, reading and playing Ultimate Frisbee.

Neil plans to pursue a doctorate degree in the field of computer/computational science.

“Science will definitely play a fundamental role in allowing me to obtain that degree,” he said. “I want to work as a research scientist or research lab director and eventually a professor.”

Contact Jennifer Atkins Brown at 574-5582 or jennifer.brown @news-record.com