2017 California State Science Fair
Science Fair Student of the Year

The award citation at the Awards Ceremony reads:

The Student of the Year award represents more than just academic excellence. The Student of the Year is also a well-rounded individual who performs community service, has interests and hobbies outside of science, and is someone who shows leadership to their peers. This year’s winner embodies all of this and more.

Our Student of the Year is the only student from their school that made it to the State Science Fair. Their passion is to use their computer science skills to help communities. After making a cell phone app for their own use, this student realized that it could greatly benefit the visually impaired and blind community. Through building relationships in the blind community, this year’s winner realized glaucoma was a major cause of blindness that needed to be addressed. They then created a new diagnostic tool and algorithm, which detects early signs of glaucoma. This automated glaucoma screening kit can be used without immediate access to a doctor at a low cost.

When not working on apps, our recipient enjoys traveling, taking photographs, and playing tennis. Their plans for the future are to continue to solve problems in their community as well as worldwide.

Please join me in applauding our 2017 Student of the Year — from Tesoro High School in Las Flores, Orange County — Shalin V. Shah!

Shalin V. Shah presented the following project this year: S1523. He also presented a project in 2016.