Edgewood senior caps science fair career with winning marks for lagoon project
When Erin Gaydar graduates from Edgewood Jr./Sr. High at the King Center this Saturday, she'll walk away with more than a diploma.
A Brevard County native with an eye on ecological concerns, she's also earned acclaim and gleaned a great deal of pride for her work on solutions to problems in the Indian River Lagoon.
A science fair participant for the last 10 years, she's focused her attention on projects related to the lagoon for the past five years.
Her work and diligence have paid off. Gaydar won first place in the regional and state science fairs, earning her a Dr. Nelson Ying Scholarship — $1,000 and a bid to the International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta, where she competed with the brightest science and engineering students in the world. There, she placed fourth in her category:
"I was born and raised in Melbourne, so I have been very familiar with the lagoon starting at a young age," she said.
"I like fishing, boating, and spending time outside so I have watched the lagoon decline in health the past few years. I wanted to identify what was going wrong, but not only find the problem ... create solutions."
Her project is titled "Abolition of Unfurling Nutrients is the Solution for Elimination of Microalgae in the Indian River Lagoon."
In layman’s terms, that means providing solutions for algae concentrations in the lagoon. She came up with three different methods: phosphate binding, oyster mat simulation and live clams acting as a natural filter.
“My project is designed to produce multiple solutions to reduce excessive elements in the water, which will in return reduce algae concentrations,” she said. “High concentrations of algae lead to the majority of the issues the lagoon is facing today, such as manatee die-offs, fish kills, red tides, etc.”
In case you're wondering: Her experiment on the oyster mat method was the most successful, followed by the phosphate binder method and then the live clam method.
Her work has caught the attention of National Geographic: The publication has had a film crew shadowing Gaydar and fellow classmate Bisrat Kassahun, one of eight other Brevard public school students chosen for the International Science and Engineering Fair.
Gaydar, who will attend the University of South Florida as a marine biology major in the fall, is proud of her fourth-place honors on the international level.
"Pretty good, I would say," she said. "Competing at ISEF as a senior is the best way to end my science fair career.
"It is super hard to qualify for ISEF, especially at the state competition, because only eight students from the state competition get bids. Even if you receive first at state in your category, you may not get an ISEF bid."
Malcolm Denemark is a FLORIDA TODAY photojournalist. Contact him at mdenemark@floridatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Edgewood senior wraps science fair career with winning lagoon project
