DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Colin Ong, a Kailua Intermediate School seventh grader, set up a display yesterday with the guts of a working personal computer in full view. His was one of many student projects prepared for the 45th Hawaii State Science and Engineering Fair at the Blaisdell Center exhibition hall.

Isle science fair stellar,
astronaut says

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By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com

An astronaut who performed three space walks to repair the Hubble Space Telescope last month looked at the work of Hawaii's top young scientists and said he was amazed.

"There are some geniuses out there," said Richard M. Linnehan, Space Shuttle Columbia crew member who spent more than 21 hours in space upgrading the Hubble Telescope.

Still recovering from the March 1-12 mission, Linnehan spoke to a packed auditorium of students yesterday at the 45th Hawaii State Science and Engineering Fair at the Blaisdell Center exhibition hall.

He served as a celebrity judge for research projects exhibited by more than 470 students from 74 public and private secondary schools.

The fair is open to the public today from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but some fans showed up yesterday.

DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Amanda Garcia, from Kamehameha Schools, performed experiments yesterday to see if extracts from the Kukaepuaa plant could be used as an anti-inflammatory agent.

Bob Kong, a Moiliili resident, scrutinized a project by Joel Sabugo, Waialua High and Intermediate School student, on "The Undercover Story of Gas Stations: Do Gas Stations Affect the pH Level of Soil Around Them?"

Kong noted there has been talk about gas stations affecting plants around them but Sabugo's research showed no effects.

"This cleared up some things I was questioning," he said.

He said he visited the fair last year and "found something relevant" and was back this time to learn what he could about soil to help with his gardening.

"A lot of adults don't seem to take an interest," Kong said, adding that he learns a lot from young people.

Linnehan told some of the students, "When I was doing science, I wasn't as good as you are ... You all deserve a lot of applause."

A veterinarian, Linnehan was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps and spent more than four years at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe as veterinarian for the Navy's Marine Mammal Program, now closed.

"I'm hoping they reopen it," he said.

He is still in a period of debriefing and presentations about the trip to Hubble.

Although it was his third space mission, he admits to "plenty of nervousness," wondering if everything was going to work. But years of training kicked in and more than 100 percent of the mission was accomplished, he said.

Students listened raptly as he described his recent space adventure and showed a video of the seven astronauts stabilizing and repairing the Hubble telescope and boosting its observing power 10 times.

Moving slowly in space suits that "felt like armor," the crew carefully replaced the telescope's twin solar-cell arrays, each weighing 700 pounds, he said.

"We were right over the Hawaiian islands while we were putting the arrays up," he said.

Students asked how he happened to become an astronaut and if straight As are needed to get into NASA. He said "marks are good," but students should follow their interests; NASA is interested in people with diverse backgrounds.

"You can do whatever you want to do," he said. "The fact that you're here says a lot."

He said the students' projects "are an excellent example of never knowing where science will lead you."

Interest in playing computer video games, for instance, led Colin Ong, Kailua Intermediate seventh grader, to learn all he could about a computer. Then he took one apart and mounted the pieces on a board, where it still works.

Asa Chun, Waialua High and Intermediate School junior, got his classmates involved in a study of whether music affects an athlete's performance. He tested sports and classical music and no music on students throwing a football, running across a basketball court and shooting basketballs.

A few performed better to classical music but most did their best to sports music because their heart pumps faster and blood flows to the muscles better, said Chun.

He said he performs football and judo better with sports music "but I didn't know if it was just me."

The hundreds of projects cover myriad topics, ranging from such practical issues as "Which Bleach Works Best?" to complex questions about pollution, microbial growth, chemicals, and many other health and science.

An award ceremony was scheduled at 4:30 p.m. today with State Schools Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto as guest of honor.