Broadcom MASTERS 2022 Media Kit

Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars), a program founded and produced by the Society for Science, seeks to inspire young scientists, engineers and innovators who will solve the grand challenges of the future. The competition took place in Washington, D.C., back in person for the first time since the 2019 competition. Each of the 30 finalists participated in team challenges in addition to being judged on their science research projects. The challenges leveraged project-based learning and tested their mastery of 21st Century skills of critical thinking, communication, creativity and collaboration in each of the STEM areas.

 

2022 Top Award Winners, Broadcom MASTERS

Photos Credits

Photos with a “JY” in the file name should be credited as follows: Photo by www.jessicayurinko.com or if using on Instagram tag @Jessica_Yurinko_Photography

All other photos should be credited: Courtesy of Lisa Fryklund

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Broadcom MASTERS 2022 Top Award Winners

Thomas Aldous Samueli Foundation Prize Broadcom Masters 2022

Thomas Aldous, $25,000 Samueli Foundation Prize

Thomas Aldous, 14, Pittsburgh, PA, won the $25,000 Samueli Foundation Prize, for his project designing a robotic hand as well as his leadership, collaboration and critical thinking skills. The prize is a gift of Dr. Henry Samueli, Chairman of the Board, Broadcom Inc., and Chair of the Broadcom Foundation and his wife, Dr. Susan Samueli, President of the Samueli Foundation.

Thomas’s design for a remote-controlled robotic hand connects fingers on a glove to threads that link to spools with electronic devices. A control board uses data from the devices to prepare and send instructions to the hand, which then mimics the glove-wearer’s movements.

Rory H, DoD STEM Talent Award, Broadcom MASTERS 2022

Rory Hu, $10,000 DoD STEM Talent Award

Rory Hu, 12, San Jose, CA, won the $10,000 DoD STEM Talent Award for demonstrating excellence in science, technology, engineering or math, along with the leadership and technical skills necessary to excel in the 21st Century STEM workforce and build a better community for tomorrow.

Rory’s tests with honey bees suggest that feeding them tea polyphenols and caffeine could boost their ability to learn and remember. She also showed that the chemicals might repair some of the harm done by pesticides, which could help dwindling honey bee populations.

Jeanelle Dao, Lemelson Award for Invention, Broadcom MASTERS 2022

Jeanelle Dao, $10,000 Lemelson Award for Invention

Jeanelle Dao, 13, San Jose, CA, won the $10,000 Lemelson Award for Invention, awarded by The Lemelson Foundation to a young inventor who creates a promising solution to a real-world problem.

Jeanelle invented a foot-controlled welcome mat that wirelessly unlocks a door when someone presses numbers in the correct order. The device could help people with arthritis and other hand problems become more self-sufficient.

Elizabeth Shen, Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation, Broadcom MASTERS 2022

Elizabeth Shen, $10,000 Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation

Elizabeth Shen, 14, Cary, NC, won the $10,000 Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation, an honor made possible by Samueli’s generous donation of his 2012 Marconi Society Prize Award. The finalist demonstrates both vision and promise as an innovator, in the spirit of radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi.

Elizabeth drew inspiration from the way many flower petals grow to design a system for managing the wear on a computer’s memory. Her system reduced the average number of times cells were accessed, compared to other options.

Mina Fedor, Robert Wood Johnson Award for Health Advancement, Broadcom MASTERS 2022

Mina Fedor, $10,000 Robert Wood Johnson Award for Health Advancement

Mina Fedor, 14, Berkeley, CA, won the $10,000 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Advancement, which recognizes the student whose work and performance shows the most promise in health-related fields and demonstrates an understanding of the many social factors that affect the health of communities.

Mina used electroencephalography, or EEG, to measure a certain type of brain activity as people did active and passive learning tasks. “Understanding how the brain processes memory brings us closer to treating memory-related disorders,” she says.

Ankit Biswas, Broadcom Coding with Commitment Award, Broadcom MASTERS 2022

Ankit Biswas, $5,000 Broadcom Coding with Commitment Award

Ankit Biswas, 14, Charlotte, NC, used an optimization tool called the simplex algorithm to try to rein in rockets’ greenhouse gas emissions. His work suggests the best mix going forward would be 41 petroleum-fueled rockets and 11 cryogenic-fueled rockets per year, with an average payload of 29 metric tons.

Interview Maya Ajmera, the President & CEO of the Society for Science

We invite you to interview the President & CEO of the Society for Science, Maya Ajmera, to learn more about the Broadcom MASTERS and this year’s winners.

Please email communications@societyforscience.org for assistance.

  • Maya headshot
  • About Maya
  • Quote from Maya: “Congratulations to Thomas Aldous on winning the top award in the 2022 Broadcom MASTERS,” said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of Society for Science and Publisher of Science News. “Thomas’s robotic hand has the exciting potential to help search and rescue workers. Like so many other of our amazing finalists, Thomas looked around him and identified a problem in our world that he sought to solve through STEM.”
President & CEO of the Society for Science, Maya Ajmera
Photo courtesy of Society for Science

Interview Paula Golden, the President of Broadcom Foundation

We invite you to interview the President of the Broadcom Foundation, Paula Golden, to learn more about the Broadcom MASTERS and this year’s winners.

Please email  info@Brcmfdn.org for assistance.

  • Paula headshot
  • About Paula
  • Quote from Paula: “These finalists hold a special place in our hearts as our last Broadcom MASTERS class,” said Paula Golden, President of Broadcom Foundation. “Broadcom Foundation is excited to hand the baton for the middle school competition over to Thermo Fisher Scientific, a company that we know places equally high value on STEM education, and we look forward to being part of their celebration of excellence through the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.”
Paula Golden, the President of Broadcom Foundation

Broadcom MASTERS 2021 highlights

This year, the Broadcom MASTERS competition was in person in Washington D.C. — as thirty middle school scientists and engineers competed virtually for over $100,000 in awards! We welcome you to use this highlights reel from 2021 as background footage in your story.