Five "Best of Fair" High School division projects from the Austin Energy Regional Science Festival advanced to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles earlier this month, and resulted in awards for four AISD students.

Of the five "Best of Fair" projects from the AERSF, Austin Independent School District students won the following:

• First Place ($3000 award and an asteroid named in their honor) —Engineering: Materials and Bioengineering

"Algae-based Atmospheric Revitalization for Zero-G and Aerospace Application," a project submitted by Alex Crisara, 16 and Jahan Rabii, 14, both students at Anderson High School. This team also won gold at the International Sustainable World Energy and Engineering Environmental Projects Olympiad.

• Third Place ($1,000 award) — Environmental Management

"Detecting Oil Spills Using Synthetic Aperture Radar," a project submitted by Calvin Ling, 16, and Mark Sands, 17, both students at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy at LBJ High School.

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the largest pre-college science competition in the world. More than 1,500 students from all 50 states and 65 countries and territories participated.