I was always a science fair geek. In fifth grade, I built a solar powered heater made out of coffee cans, wood, and black paint with my dad. Not only did it do well at the science fair, we actually used it to provide some additional heat to our house!

Some of my fondest memories as a kid are of competing in Pennsylvania's Junior Academy of Science. I competed from 7th grade through 12th grade, coming up with original experiments each year and learning how to think and work like a scientist. It would be hard to pick my favorite project, but I have to say that the year I made different lightning rod shapes and measured which ones worked the best was really fun. No really, you should see if your parents will let you "make lightning" in the house. Have I mentioned how cool my parents are? 

So, I was really excited to see the photos from this year's White House Science Fair! To be honest, I didn't know that the White House sponsors a science fair every year, but a friend sent me a news article on it last week. How cool is that?  All of these projects are amazing and show how creative kids are at thinking about solutions to the world's problems. All of the projects sound amazing, but I was especially excited about Trisha Prabhu's work on cyber-bullying because that's something we all need help with! I also loved Sophia Sánchez-Maes's work turning algae into fuel! Too cool! 

My friends and I like to joke that we love to "do science." So, here we are looking at water samples we took on a dive last summer when we were learning the basics of how to conduct scientific research underwater! 

Not surprisingly, a lot of my writing has to do with thinking about science and how to use science to tackle the problems that face our world today. It's an idea that's very important to me and influences much of my writing. 

So, have you ever participated in a science fair? If so, what was your favorite project?

What are your great ideas about how to tackle our world's problems using your amazing ideas and science?