Mountain House High School Student Takes Science and Engineering Awards

Jacqueline Prawira has taken her learning from Mountain House High School and built upon it in some amazing ways.  Read her scientific developments and her resulting successes below. 

Cyclo.Plas: Jacqueline developed a thin, plastic-like film from fish scales inspired by her diet and trips to the fish market. It has tensile strengths comparable to Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) and is capable of biodegrading, which is an improvement over LDPE plastic.  This project recently won first place in the Environmental Science category at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS).  Jacqueline Prawira received a $12000 scholarship. 

Cyclo.Plas 2: This project was inspired by the pandemic and the 3D-printed face shield operation Jacqueline conducted.  When Jacqueline selected PLA filament as a bioplastic to make the face shields, she found that PLA waste can only be composted in industrial composting facilities.  Unfortunately, none are available in our area.  Additionally, PLA waste is not easily recycled, meaning it accumulates in landfill/environment like other plastics.  Jacqueline believes that we shouldn’t have to choose between the health of our community and the health of our environment.  So she developed compostable materials using biomimicry of the fish scale waste composition with the goal of replacing single-use plastics including non-medical PPE.  Jacqueline liaised with Mr. Mario Cuellar from Hitachi and Dr. Karl Weiss from Arizona State University to remotely access a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to view and refine the structure of her engineered materials.  Jacqueline’s bioengineering accomplishments are an important step forward in reducing waste and the prevalence of plastics/ microplastics in our environment.  

Jacqueline presented Cyclo.Plas 2 at the SacSTEM Regional Science Fair, winning first place in the Sustainable Technology Category and the Grand Award (Top Project at the Fair).  She qualified for and presented at the state level (results are still pending).  As the Grand Award winner at the Regional Science Fair, Jacqueline has been named a finalist for the 2021 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).  This is her second year competing at ISEF.  At ISEF 2019, Jacqueline won second place in the Material Science category and was awarded a $1500 scholarship and special awards from the National Security Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency.  Jacqueline was the first student from Mountain House High School to ever compete at ISEF.  This year her brother Jordan, who is also a Grand Prize Winner, is attending and competing at ISEF this coming May 16-21, 2021.