CECD Helps Herndon, Virginia, 5th & 6th Graders Win Science Competition

College Park, MD, May 10, 2011

CECD faculty have helped four 5th & 6th graders from Herndon, Virginia, win 1st prize in their age group in the nationwide Exploravision science competition. It all started with a story in the Washington Post about
Army Specialist Robert Warren, who was injured by an improvised explosive device in Khandahar, Afghanistan, and whose story inspired these children to want to make a difference in the future.

The children stated their hope to create technology to reduce mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) on the battlefield, the athletic field, and the playground in less than 20 years. Aware of the mild traumatic brain injury research ongoing in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland's Center for Energetic
Concepts Development and at the University of Maryland Medical School, the four aspiring young scientists wrote to the CECD Director Professor Davinder K. Anand and posed three very specific questions. They received answers from the recently named Chairman of Mechanical Engineering, Professor Bala Balachandran; the CECD Deputy Director, Dr. James Short; Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Professor William Fourney; and Mr. William Hinckley of the Energetics Technology Center in LaPlata, Maryland, a spin-off non-profit from the CECD. They also acknowledged Professor Gary Fiskum at the School of Medicine. Guidance from the CECD, UMD, and ETC researchers led to the design of the Heads Up! helmet and headgrear. For more details on the helmet design click here.

The Exploravision competition was sponsored by Toshiba and the National Science Teachers Association. Each student received a $10,000 US Savings Bond. The students will get a chance to present their winning project to
members of Congress and to invited guests. The team will also compete for a chance to present their project to President Obama at the White House.