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 The Research Club, directed by Dr. Paul McElligott, is designed to allow students creativity while researching an original project. Club members work hard and have earned some well-deserved recognition. Check out what they are doing! Dr. McElligott Reaches 2nd Stage for Lemelson-MIT Grant
His project now has tentative approval with funds received to further work on the project this summer. He is currently seeking facilities to involve FHHS students. In October, 25 people will be awarded a $10,000 grant for their research ideas. World Record Attempt Made by FHHS StudentsOn May 14th, FHHS was the competition site for the Guinness World Record challenge for most potatoes fired from a potato gun. Dr. Bunhead of England holds the current record in December 2004. Eighteen members competed in seven teams, beating the previous record of eight. The top three participants were Colin Blaney, Eric Moser, and Kyle Link. In the final event, Kyle Link, assisted by S. Fortner and C. Figurski, received a 14 potato score - six potatoes above the record. We have contacted the Guinness organization who will determine if the record is official based on the video and still photos of the event. SRP Gives Sixth Grant for Engineering Program
The course entitled "Engineering Analysis Tools and Techniques" will be co-enrolled with ASU’s Engineering school for three university credits. The course covers a wide variety of engineering topics. The school has submitted grants to several sources in order to fund much of the curriculum needs. FHHS has submitted over ten grants to potentially cover the expenses. The total that the course needs to operate is $50,000. SRP has been a consistent grantor toward Fountain Hills Research Club since 2005. Fountain Hills High Receives Photo Panel Donations from ASU Joint Venture
The PTL labs at ASU were at one time the only UL approved photo panel testing labs in the US. ASU spun them off a year ago to be a joint venture. Dr. Tamizmani, who heads the operation, still teaches part-time at ASU. Fountain Hills High will receive photo panels as they become available to expand its solar lighting project, which has been a successful installation at the Einstein building on the high school campus. Our school has taken possession of two match panels, and we look forward to receiving more in the future. The group responsible for the maintenance and operation of the high school system is the Research Club led by Dr. Paul McElligott. Physics Day at Castles and Coasters
The competitions they competed in included Vroom Broom, Egg Drop, and the Tallest Tower. In tallest tower they needed to create the tallest free standing structure from two pieces of paper and 3 feet of tape. In Vroom Broom they had to beat the best time to push a bowling ball through an obstacle course with a broom. Finally, the students were given two sheets of paper and some tape and asked to create a device that will keep an egg safe from the tallest drop position. The students had a great time doing the tasks and enjoying park rides. The event sponsor is the Scottsdale Physics Club. Fountain Hills was in 1st through 3rd place in paper tower competition. Ms. Behnke, who recently won the gold medal in Decathlon, led her team to win with a 92 cm free standing tower. Fountain Hills also placed in the top ten in both Vroom Broom and Egg Drop. FHHS Car ShowFHHS's Research Club hosted a car show on the FHHS campus to spotlight classic cars and promote engineering courses on campus. About 30 vintage cars were on display on the high school's upper campus viewed by students as they walked between class breaks and school lunch periods. Most of the owners were local Fountain Hills residents with some connected to the FHHS Research Club's Hydrogen Car Project.
Phase One of Off Grid Solar Demonstration at Fountain Hills High SchoolOn January 13th, 2010, Fountain Hills High School held an Off Grid Solar demonstration on campus at Einstein Hall. The Arizona Education Association “Lift Grant”, The Toyota Motor Corporation through the NSTA Tapestry Grant, and donations from SRP provided the combined funds for this project. This research system involves state of the art high Intensity lights provided by Neutek Lighting in Mesa, Arizona. Dependable Solar, also of Mesa, Arizona, provided Engineering.
Four 130-watt solar panels mounted on the roof of Einstein Hall support and recharge the system each day. These panels recharge the batteries in Dr. McElligott’s lab class each day and then the batteries provide the power at night. There is a 24/7 computer monitoring system also in the lab staffed by Mr. Jeffery Lau and Mr. John Hottenstein, seniors who plan to use their data in the Intel research competition later this spring. Among those attending the first phase demonstration were Mayor Jay Schlum, Council member Ginny Dickey, Raymond Rees the environmental planner for the town, Richard Davis the town manager, members of the School board, School Superintendent Dr, Bill Myhr, Lea Bushman from Dependable Solar and A.J. Saperstein from Dependable Solar.
Phase two is scheduled in the next thirty days to include first of a kind IR LEDs from Japan that will improve the security and camera quality as well as additional anti-tamper devices newly developed by Neutek. The system has been running in part since November last year but only recently reached full capacity. The Research Club of Fountain Hills High School, sponsored by Dr. Paul McElligott, monitors this project. Green Efforts RecognizedA group of retired engineers from Fountain Hills are taking an active approach to retirement. Rather than focusing on recreation, the group of Bob Leach, Phil Graziano, Bob Hoge, Hugh Henry and Tony Pistilli are rolling up their sleeves and sharing their knowledge as mentors for students from the FHHS Research Club. Together, the engineers and students are currently modifying a four-piston small MG gasoline engine. Please read the press release from the January 19 edition of AZ Public Schools Make a Difference. FHHS Research Club Uses Local Mentors
These mentors are: Bob Leach, Phil Graziano, Bob Hoge, Hugh Henry, and Toni Pistilli. We are starting with the design and modification of the carburetor. Phil Graziano, a local realtor with MCO, was the force behind the drive to bring these men together. Research Club Gets a $1,000 GrantThe KISS Institute of Robotics has approved a $1,000 grant for the purchase of equipment and competition costs this coming year, 2010. The Research Club is grateful to the KISS Institute for the continued support of our STEM activities. In addition to our work with high school students, the Research Club is working with the 8th graders for a Vex Competition in January of 2010. The Research Club is competing in the Progressive Automotive X Prize competition, building the Falcon Future. We Made the News!
Research Club Installs State of the Art Off Grid LightsThe Research Club is installing a $10,000 high tech (one of a kind) solar test system in stages at the Fountain Hills High School Einstein Building. The off grid system involves specialty white LED lights, IR lights, and a remote motion sensor system that will light up as students approach their lockers at night. The goal of the project is to minimize the use of high wattage halogen lights that burn all night on campus and replace them with sensor lights that will come on when people approach buildings. Our lights are solar fed and stored with a bank of batteries for usage at night. The novelty is that we are one of the first in the nation to use LED IR lights and remote sensors in this fashion. The funding comes from Toyota Motor Corporation, the Arizona Education Association (AEA) Lift Grant, and others.
Research Club to Present at NSTA ConferenceThe National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), in conjunction with the Toyota Corporation, has asked the Fountain Hills Research Club to give a presentation at the regional NSTA conference on December 4 between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. The presentation will be an update on the 100 mile per gallon car sponsored by the Toyota Tapestry Grant last year as well as the LED green light experiment that Toyota is sponsoring this year. The session allows present and past grant winners a chance to discuss their experiences and results of their projects. Robotics and Research Clubs are in High Gear at FHHS
The clubs have drawn over 15 students each and are continuing to draw interest from other students in their activities. The students want to enter innovative competitions such as the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, and the KISS Institute robotics competition. The robotics club is dividing students into three groups: game strategy, programming, and robot construction. The first semester will involve training students in the various skills sets needed to compete. In the new research room students will build robots and work on programming. In the project room, the students will set their robots against each other under simulated competition conditions. The Research clubs students are already back to work on the car having spent part of their summer working on it. The group has a research room to do on line research of new LED lighting that the school will soon install on to the Einstein Building as well as perform studies on an alternative fuel engine donated by SCC Chemistry Department. A new grant involving turbine engines will be available for review in the spring involving more efficient alternative fuel engines other than the tradition piston car engines. The research room is located in the Einstein Building and the project room is located in Poets Corner building. All the students are excited by their new facilities and are eager to start. Energy Calculations of Falcon Future CompletedEngineering evaluation and performance predictions for the Falcon Future, a car being built by the research students of Fountain Hills High School, are extremely promising. A registered contender in the multimillion dollar Progressive Automotive X Prize competition, the Falcon Future is an alternative class three-wheeled vehicle that will weigh less than 1,800 pounds, seat two to three people, and use compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel. Based on the specifications of the purchased hydraulic equipment and the car engineering schematics, the Falcon Future is predicted to be capable of achieving 100 miles per equivalent gallon at 60 MPH (highway conditions) and an amazing 170+ miles per equivalent gallon at 25 MPH. The car will be able to reach 120 MPH at top speed. Pat Conway of Trinity Hydraulics and Scott Meyers of Advanced Propulsion completed the engineering evaluation. Falcon Future team members are very pleased by the initial predictions and look forward to completing the prototype car and start road testing by October 2009. For more information about the Progressive X Prize competition, visit the Progressive Web site or e-mail Progressive. The Research Club Starts Installing Aerospace FlooringHexagon-strengthened flooring at $2,000 per sheet was cut and installed as flooring in the car body as we start to close the body up. The flooring was provided by the Evergreen Maintenance Center of Marana Arizona. |
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FHHS Science Department Chairperson, Dr. Paul McElligott, has reached the second stage in the Lemelson-MIT grant process for developing safety devices for handicap and Alzheimer patients. Dr. McElligott was one of 40 researchers recently sent to Boston for research training and resource materials. In addition, Dr. McElligott is provided an MIT e-mail to help faciliate his project. Out of almost 800 applicants, only 40 are chosen for the Boston trip for the second stage of approvals.
Salt River Project (SRP) has given Fountain Hills High School its sixth grant for a new Engineering course. SRP announced on April 22, 2010 that they had selected our proposal on the funding of the FHHS engineering course. This funding will partially pay for robotics and software for the new engineering course starting in August 2010. The $5,000 grant will help pay for an assortment of Vex and Mind Storm robots as well as software for designing.
A joint venture of Arizona State University (ASU) has agreed to supply high efficiency photo panels to Fountain Hills High School to expand our green lighting project around the campus. Dr. Tamizmani, who heads the joint venture TUV Rheinland PTL, has previously supplied the school with four panels now on the high school campus.
Over 117 FHHS students, mainly the freshmen physics classes, attended a Physics Day at Castles and Coasters. The students are given a lab sheet to perform experiments on various rides as well as compete in three competitions.
A single strip of high intensity lights extends 108 feet above the lockers of Einstein Hall on the Fountain hills campus. These lights provide a combined total of 350 watts while using only 3.5 watts of energy. The lights provide (picture enclosed) bright well-defined lighting to the locker section. So that the lights do not drain the batteries each night, the lights are divided into nine sections of 12 feet each. Sophisticated sensors control the lights, shutting off the lighting in day light and activating them at twilight. The sensors are also equipped with IR motion detectors that turn the lights on when a warm object like a person approaches and will turn off 15 seconds after the person leaves.
The local community mentors for the FHHS Research Club have brought a new dimension to training local students. Retired engineers living in Fountain Hills are helping to support the research students modify a four stroke MG gasoline engine into an alternative fuel engine. Scottsdale Community College donated this engine to the research Club.
Research Club and Robotics club at Fountain Hills High School expanded into their own testing lab as well as an additional project room. The both clubs are growing clubs, gaining more students, interested in the areas of robotic building and programming, LED Green lighting projects, the 100 mile per gallon car build and alternative fuel engine testing. Dr. Paul McElligott runs these clubs.
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