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Skyway STEM Poster Competition:
Designed for students in the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference.
Projects evaluated student’s ability to use the process of science.
Poster must pose a question and/or use knowledge gained through the
scientific process to address the problem or question.
Posters must be in a science, technology, engineering, or math.
2015 Competition is Friday April 17th, 2015 at Prairie State College.
Competition here at Elgin Community College…Soon!
2015 Timelines
Feb 9, 2015 Application and abstract due online…Pitchburner System
10 projects selected to represent the institution.
Students have until April 3rd to finish research and create poster.
April 3, 2015, 5 p.m.
April 17, 2015
Posters and papers due.
Competition held at Prairie State College
Arrival, set-up, and breakfast 9:00 a.m. – 9:50 a.m.
Judging and workshops (3 rounds) 10:00 a.m. – 12:50 p.m.
Lunch and awards 1:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.
Past Winners:
April 25, 2014 Event Held at Morton College
Biology
First Place:
Ammar_Elmajdoub and Julia Prieto of Oakton Community College
The Allelopathic Properties of the Invasive Species Rhamnus cathartica
and its Inhibitory Effects on Tomato Seed Germination
Second Place:
Alan_Mitchell of Prairie State College
Genetic Variances Accountable for Increased Pathogenicity of the Human
Influenza Virus
Third Place:
Eric_Johnston / Marisa Ascencio of Waubonsee Community College
Bacterial Resistance to Antibiotics
Chemistry
First Place:
Michael Nazario and Arianna Bello of McHenry County College
An Investigation of the 2012 Fish Depopulation in Wildflower Lake
Second Place (tie):
Dustin Dunigan of Prairie State College
The Use of Emission Spectrophotometer to Test the Purity of Household
Drinks and Substances
Daniel Eichler and Diana Demarchi:Prairie State College
Spectroscopic Characterization of Metal Binding to Animo Acids and
Proteins
Engineering
First Place:
A_Rodriguez, Leno Neri, Gerald Healy: Moraine Valley Community College
The Effects of Angles of Incidence of Solar Rays on the Performance of
Solar Panels
Second Place:
Andrew_Meyer and Aaron Gonzalez of Waubonsee Community College
Maximizing Solar Energy Output
Physics/Earth Science/Mathematics/Computers
First Place:
Angelo Niqula, Yousef Abdulla, Sungjun Park, Timothy Szymanski and
Anthony Dudlo of Moraine Valley Community College
Principles of Acoustic Fire Suppression Accounting for Variable
Frequency, Intensity and Distance
Second Place:
Eliza Ikiz and Szymon Koszarek of Moraine Valley Comm College
Testing Sympathetic Vibration Frequency on a Guitar
Third Place: Osvaldo Arroyo of Waubonsee Community College
Hydrogeology of Waubonsee Community College Wetland
April 12, 2013 Event Held at Oakton Community College
Chemistry
1st Place
Preparation and Development of Novel Diaminomaleonitrile-Derived
Porpyrazine Photosensitizers
Oakton Community College
Kenneth Gore, Hyun Lee, and Elina Golsteyn
2nd Place
Preparation of Biodiesel Surrogates by Stereoselective Hydrogenation
of 3 Alkynoates
Oakton Community College
Miae Lee, An Lam and Min Ho Lee
3rd Place
The Reactions of Sucralose in the Presence of Emulsifiers
McHenry County College
Alejandra Hernandez
PHYSICAL SCIENCE, PHYSICS, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS
1st Place
Lovie Smith, NFL and Separating Hyperplanes (Mathematics)
Prairie State College
Timothy Colin Dannels
2nd Place
Environmental Sensor (Engineering)
Oakton Community College
Hsiang-Yi Tseng
3rd Place
The Effects of Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Interactions on Melting
(Physical Science)
Moraine Valley Community College
Matt Dixon, Leah Stankus, Sara Dunn, David Dunn
Life Sciences and Earth Sciences
Tie 1st Place
Development of 3 Dimensional
Alginate Culture System for A549
Lung Cancer Cell Line
Microarray Comparisons of Male
and Female Brains
Oakton Community College
Prairie State College
Nicholas Sielski, Leandro Brahimaj,
Vikki Jones
Mariya Radkevich, Razina Hakimiyan
2nd Place
Extinguishing Your Heartburn or Your Wallet?
Waubonsee Community College
Jonathan Richards
3rd Place
Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing in Staphylococcus aureus isolates
from McHenry County College Employees
McHenry County College
Patricia Kusek and Tara Nathan
April 20, 2012 Event Held at Moraine Valley Community College
Best in Show:
Biological Sciences / Life Sciences Category:
McHenry County College
Carla Scholpp and Dave Degrassi
Nasal Carriage of Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA in the McHenry
County College Biology Student Population
Waubonsee Community College
1st Place: Melissa Walker, Herbal Remedies: Using the Scientific
Method to Uncover Truth in the Myth
2nd Place: Lisa Booker, Bird Size vs. Seed Size
3rd Place: Katheryn E. Billing, Vermicompost: Eisenia fetida vs.
Lumbrcus terrestris
Earth Science / Physical Science / Chemistry Category:
Waubonsee Community College
1st Place: Hannah Dorn
Mastodont Enviornments? : Answers Beneath the Surface
Moraine Valley Community College
2nd Place: Carla McLaurin, Kaleb Elam, and Belissa Beltran
Bottoms Up: Safety and Health Awareness Against Human Pathogen
Residue During Toilet Use
3rd Place: Ashley Morris and Tiwana S. Morrison
Can a Common Food Additive Assist Coastal Communities During
Environmental Disasters?
Technology / Physical / Computer Science / Math / Engineering
Moraine Valley Community College
1st Place: Alexander Papak, Ivan Chow, Johnson Chan, Kyriakos
Anastasopoulos, Patrycja Guza, and Rohail Kidwai
Sparking Simplicity: Constructing and Testing the Effects of Several
Variables on the Performance of Lord Kelvin's Water Generator
College of Lake County: 2nd Place: Lori Brandon
How Do You Improve Video Streaming Performance?
Poster Details and Process
Poster Construction

Posters must be self-supporting poster board that is no larger than 48 x 36 inches.
 All elements of the poster shall be contained within this space. Three dimensional items are not
permitted.

The poster may not have any attachments (i.e. layers).
 Posters may include photographs, graphs, charts, or diagrams that explain or portray research
elements or study conclusions.
 Posters may include original drawing or computer created visuals designed to explain or portray
research or study conclusions.
 Poster template programs are available online or via Microsoft Power Point. An example can be
found at http://www.posterpresentations.com/html/free_poster_templates.html. The competition
website may have format requirements and specific information will be available in January.
Project Research Paper Expectations
A paper describing the project research and findings is required. This paper must be prepared in Word
and is limited to two pages. The purpose of the paper is to discourage excess text on the posters and to aid
judges in the evaluation process.
Electronic Poster and Paper Submission
The electronic version of the poster and the explanatory project paper must be submitted no later than
April 3, 2015, 5 pm via the Competition web site. Entries received by this deadline will be awarded 5
points.
Event Participation
The day of the Poster Competition posters will be assigned a judging time. There will be three judging
cycles. Projects will be judged in one of those cycles.
At least one member from a poster team must be present to respond to the judges questions. All team
members are encouraged to attend and should be prepared to respond to judges’ questions.
Only student team members may participate in the judging discussion. Faculty advisors, coaches, family
members and others will be asked to step out of the area (at the discretion of the judge) during the judging
conversation.
Selection of Judges
Judges will be provided by Argonne Labs. The selection of post-doctoral students in the Fellowship
program will be made by the administration of Argonne Labs based on the disciplines of the abstracts
submitted, matching fields of study and expertise. Judges shall not have affiliation with any participating
college.
Awards
Award categories will be determined based upon the abstracts topics received to best reflect
submissions to provide a fair and equitable of those student projects submitted, There will be no more than
four award categories, with each category providing a first, second and third place. One poster may also
receive the Best of Show award at the discretion of the judges.
Categories
Projects will be evaluated on the student or team’s ability to use the process of science, as well as
rational and logical thinking to answer a question related to a STEM discipline. The poster must pose a
question and use knowledge gained through the scientific process to address the problem or question.
Categories are: biological science, chemistry, physical science, computer science, earth science,
technology, engineering, physics or math related disciplines.
Guide to the STEM Poster Competition Rubric
Problem:
Every project has a starting point, whether it is a desire to find a solution, the drive to help
the members of our community or ecosystem, or the need to gain a greater understanding of how our
universe operates. The project should be designed around some problem to solve, and students are
expected to explain what that problem is. What is it that led to this project being created?
Expected Outcome: In what way does the student(s) believe that the project has the ability to help mitigate
or solve the problem? Are they trying to engineer a solution, or are they taking the first steps toward a
bigger picture? What is the expected impact of the project upon completion?
Design:
The project needs to be shaped to address the problem. Students are expected to explain why the design of
their project does so.
Methodology:
Every design needs something built into it to ensure the data gained is of high quality. The types of
controls and variables built in are going to be based on the projects methodology. This could be a
foundation of theorems used to derive a mathematical proof, a control group in a biology experiment, a
constant in the experiment to test the other variables around, or a control flow statement in software
development.
Data Collection:
The type and amount of data is going to be based on the methodology of the project. The key is not to
gather vast amounts of data, but enough data to support your conclusion. A project in physics is likely to
collect a lot of data in support of the system being studied, whereas a mathematical proof is itself a single
data point. The amount of data can range from a single point to a rather large amount. Be sure the amount
of data is appropriate to justify the conclusion, and be sure it is presented in a proper format (single
statement, data table, graph, etc.) based on the amount of data.
Data Presentation and Analysis:
The way you present the data is going to be based on the methodology of the project, and the amount of
data you have. A software development project that is simply a “did or did not” work project can likely
discuss their data in a statement. A science project that gathers a large amount of data will need to decide
if it is better to format it as a data table or graphically. Be sure to do some sort of error analysis as well
(discuss sources, quantify error, etc.)
Rubric for Scoring:
Please rate the following aspects of the project presentation on a scale of 1
to 5 points, with 1 being the lowest score possible and 5 being the
highest score possible.
PROJECT SCORING
Question
Problem: To what degree is the problem innovative, original, important, and
well-expressed?
Expected Outcome: To what degree does the work demonstrate a high degree
of novelty and potential for positive impact?
Design: How well is the design clearly planned and explained?
Methodology: To what degree is a methodology designed for ensuring the
project is successfully executed?
Data Collection: To what degree is the quality and quantity of the data
appropriate? The key isn’t to have a lot of data, but to have the right amount
of data to justify your conclusion. This could be a single point or statement.
Data Presentation and Analysis: How clearly is the data presented on the
poster? How appropriate was the analysis of the information, including possible
sources of error? Data could be presented in any number of ways; data table, graph,
explanation points, etc.
Conclusion: How appropriate is the conclusion?
Applications: How significant are the outcomes of this project?
References: How relevant were the outside references listed on the
presentation? How knowledgeable was the student regarding these references? Was
the format of the references appropriate?
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PRESENTATION SCORING
Question
Visual Display: How well organized is the presentation? Are the spelling and
grammar correct? Is it visually appealing and easy to comprehend?
Professionalism: How professionally did the student conduct himself/herself
during the interview?
Knowledge of Design: How well did the student express his or her
understanding of the details of the design itself?
Knowledge of Topic: How well did the student express his or her
understanding of the subject matter addressed by the problem?
Knowledge of the Methodology: How well did the student express his or her
understanding of the methodology?
Ability to Communicate: How clearly was the student able to answer
questions?
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5