After months of work on his project and days of busy engagement at ISEF, Sohail reports on the results of the judging:

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Special Awards and Grand Awards Ceremonies!   [posted May 18th by S.A.]

So Intel ISEF 2013 has come to an end. What a ride it has been. It was probably one of the best weeks of my entire life!

There were two awards ceremonies: The Intel ISEF Special Awards and The Intel ISEF Grand Awards. Each ceremony had everyone on their toes. The Special Awards winners were chosen by appointed judges from the respective companies awarding the prizes. Awards ranged from Google and NASA to King Abdul Aziz ‘s Special Award. The ceremony ran very smoothly and although I did not win any Special Awards it was a lot of fun! The experience was unreal. I tried  to get as much sleep as possible that night because the very next morning (today morning) was the Grand Awards Ceremony…

I woke up very early. Around 6 – 6 15 AM. Today was the big day, the day all the winners are announced. I was in line around 7 30, an hour before the doors opened, hoping to get a good seat and luckily I did. I was nervous the whole morning and shivered a bit at times even in the Arizona heat. When the doors finally opened I rushed to the middle of the hall and got seats near the front. My new friends joined me a little while later. For some reason when the ceremony began all my nervousness had vanished and I had come to a realisation that just being at Intel ISEF was a tremendous honor regardless of if I win a prize or not.

The atmosphere in the hall was very energetic and lively. The awards were presented in ascending order from 4th place in each category first, followed by 3rd place and so on. Each time a winner from my category was announced I moved closer to the edge of my seat.  When the winners of the 4th place award in my category were all announced I began to feel nervous again. Had I won a better prize? Had I won a prize at all?

Following the 4th place award winners began the announcement of the 3rd place award winners for each category. When the names of the winners from my category were being announced I got a bit distracted by taking photos and then suddenly I heard “From Auckland, New Zealand…”. My eyes popped open. “From Auckland, New Zealand – Sohail Arif Abdulla”. My heart started racing and I quickly walked up the stage and joined the other 3rd place winners.

I felt so proud being honoured for my work at Intel ISEF and up on stage I realised how great a journey my Robotic Glass Cleaner has been through. From Brightsparks to Realise the Dream and now to Intel ISEF… wow. Usually I would have been nervous standing on a stage in front of almost 5000 – 6000 people but I was too overwhelmed with joy. I made it all the way to Phoenix, Arizona and won 3rd place in my category!!!

After leaving the stage we were directed outside the hall to receive our medals. I was handed a white medal with an elegant ribbon on which it reads “3rd Place Winner – Intel ISEF 2013″. I still cant stop smiling.

This once in a lifetime trip has been nothing but outstanding. I will cherish these moments for the rest of my life and I hope to share my experiences with the next Intel ISEF Finalist from New Zealand!

Thank you for following my blog.

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I am delighted that Sohail had such a great time in Arizona and came away from Intel ISEF with new friends, a prize, and even more enthusiasm about science and engineering.  I look forward to this year’s Realise the Dream program and selecting another talented Kiwi secondary school student to travel to the United States to participate in Intel ISEF 2014.

Back from the Grand Canyon, Sohail gets down to business at Intel ISEF:

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Setting up at Intel ISEF   [posted May 17th by S.A.]

So my project is all set up and approved for the Intel ISEF Judges. The day went pretty smoothly. We arrived at the Phoenix Convention Center around the same time as they opened the registration booth. We were among the first ones to set up. The Exhibition Hall is huge! Once we set up my project and had it approved we visited the little Intel ISEF shop. They had lots of great things on sale like Intel ISEF hats, bags, tee shirts etc. Maybe I’ll pick one up tomorrow.

Then we headed over to the poster making area! Groups from every country were working on a poster that had their country’s name in the center. Being the only finalist from New Zealand I did my poster on my own. I drew a silver fern on the right, a kiwi fruit on the left and the Sky Tower in the background. I think it turned out pretty nice. While doing my poster I was asked to do a video shout out! It’s a 5 second video and I was asked to say which country im coming from and a small sentence about Intel ISEF. Maybe i’ll see my video in one of the Intel ISEF highlights videos.

When that was all done the Intel eLounge was open. It is such a spectacular place to relax and unwind. There are rows and rows of Ultrabooks set up for people to log on to Facebook and Twitter, many comfortable seating areas and an LED graffiti booth which I believe will be open soon.

That night was the student Pin Exchange Ceremony at the Sheraton Hotel. This was probably the highlight of my day. I met people from countries all around the world and exchanged pin’s with them. It was a really overwhelming experience to be in a room with over 1500 students from all over the globe. I now have a neat collection of pins to display in my room!

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Sohail clearly kept himself busy in Phoenix, including engaging with the media. Here is a clip of a television report about ISEF in which he is interviewed:

To hear more about Sohail’s participation at Intel ISEF – including the big opening ceremony, a field trip to a professional baseball game, social mixers, an encounter with an alligator, and the judging — please take a look at Sohail’s blog.

After settling into Phoenix, Sohail and his father rented a car and headed north to explore one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Here are Sohail’s notes and a few of his photos from that pre-ISEF adventure:

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Grand Canyon via Sedona Tour   [posted May 12th by S.A.]

Did you know the Grand Canyon is 1,902 sq miles (4,926 km²)! Thats approximately 4 and a half times bigger than Auckland city!

The tour was breath taking! We left the hotel at around 7 45 am and headed for Sedona to see the famous Red Rocks. What a beautiful sight it was! My favourite was the mountain named “Bell rock”. Named after its bell like shape. The red colour of the rock comes from the iron sediments turning into iron oxide when coming into contact with the air and water. The rust colour is absolutely gorgeous up close. We even spotted tourists attempting to climb Bell rock.

Next we stopped at a small restaurant for lunch and then headed up to the Grand Canyon. We drove up to an altitude of around 7000 ft and even the drive up to the rim of the Canyon was magnificent. We learned about the different eco systems between Phoenix and the Grand Canyon and saw many different cacti. Once we reached the first view point I was blown away.

Im usually a little bit scared of heights but that fear seemed to evaporate when I looked over the edge of the fence. I have never before seen such a beautiful natural feature in my life! The canyon is 1 mile deep and around 200 – 300 miles wide. I climbed up to the top of the watch tower and as I got higher and higher the view through the little windows got even better. I managed to take a 180 degree panorama shot of the canyon!

Our second stop around the rim of the Grand Canyon had an equally fabulous view. My favourite though was the walk from the third view point to the fourth. We were dropped off at the third view point and we got the chance to walk on a path along the rim of the Canyon to the fourth view point. I took some of my best photos from this path. As we walked further towards the fourth view point we got to see the Canyon from different angles and each new angle was more and more beautiful.

It was a spectacular experience.

Tomorrow is the first day of the Intel Science and Engineering Fair. I’m very excited to meet students from all over the world and set up my project. Intel ISEF awaits …

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Tomorrow Sohail will talk about getting down to business in Phoenix and setting up his robot and display for ISEF judging.

As I discussed in a post last December, we created a new prize for the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Realise the Dream program. Known as the American Ambassador Outstanding Award, the prize will send each year a budding Kiwi secondary school scientist to the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), the largest pre-university science competition in the world.

The 2012 Intel ISEF drew more than 1,500 high school students from 80 countries and territories. The 2013 Intel ISEF is underway this week in Phoenix, Arizona. Among the many hundreds of participants convening in our great Grand Canyon State is our inaugural Outstanding Award winner, Sohail Abdulla of Auckland’s Mount Roskill Grammar School. Sohail is writing a blog while on his trip, and he agreed to allow me to reprint some of his notes. Below are his first two posts:

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Intel ISEF   [posted May 9th by S.A.]

All set and pumped for the Intel Science and Engineering Fair 2013!

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First day at Phoenix, Arizona   [posted May 11th by S.A.]

So I have finally arrived at Phoenix, Arizona and have settled into my hotel. The flight was tiring and long and the in-flight entertainment wasn’t very entertaining. Oh well. I made it to the USA!

Looking down on the city of Phoenix from the plane was really something special. The city looked much larger than I expected and definitely a lot bigger than our “big little city” Auckland. Nearly every house that I could see from the aircraft had a swimming pool in it’s backyard. It looked as if someone had carefully placed little light blue pebbles in an extremely big sand pit. Except this sand pit has high-ways and tall buildings and houses of course.

After checking in at the hotel my father and I roamed around downtown Phoenix to try and find a store that sells SIM cards. It was a good way to get a little familiar with the city, and what a beautiful city it is! I expected it to be crowded and louder than Auckland but it turned out to be the complete opposite. It was even quieter and even less crowded than Auckland when we were roaming about. We then learned that downtown Phoenix isn’t exactly the center of attraction around here.

Tomorrow we head north to the Grand Canyon! No photos today but I will definitely take lots of photos for tomorrow’s blog entry. Stay tuned!

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Over the next couple of days I’ll run a few more of Sohail’s posts to give you a flavor of his experience exploring the great American Southwest and networking with other budding scientists from the United States and around the world. I know he’ll have a great time. I’ve also got a feeling that he won’t be coming back from the competition empty handed.