Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 7, 1994 TAG: 9406070072
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: NARROWS LENGTH: Medium
He finished ahead of more than 100 other students in that category, receiving a medal and $100 prize. His exhibit title was ``The Most Efficient Energy Storage in a Solar-Powered Chemical Heat Pump Using Methanol and Several Salts.''
Patel almost missed competing in the international fair. He had been an alternate winner in the third annual Blue Ridge Highlands Science Fair, sponsored by New River and Wytheville community colleges in April. The two grand award winners were Jamie Clark, Giles High School, and Sarah Simpkins, Pulaski County High School.
When Simpkins was unable to attend because of illness, Patel - who had also won first place in the engineering category and received several special awards at the regional science fair in Wytheville - went in her place.
Patel joins two earlier Blue Ridge Highlands Regional Science Fair representatives who also won fourth-place awards at past international fairs. In 1992, Jia Liu placed fourth in the medicine and health category. In 1993, Brooks Moses did the same in engineering.
Patel and Clark, along with their teachers, received all-expense-paid trips to the international fair complete with sightseeing trips, including a tour of Birmingham Southern University where they viewed a solar eclipse with astronomers at its observatory.
Don Linzey, director of the regional fair, said the two Giles County students competed against more than 900 of the best science exhibits from around the world. Patel lives in Rich Creek and Clark in Pearisburg.
by CNB