Top Honors for Whiz Kid Erica Budina

It would be difficult to top awards for academic excellence in English, History and Social Science, Math, Foreign Language, and Highest Cumulative GPA.  Erica Budina did indeed top this, by winning the US Air Force First Place award at Intel's International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles.

Erica Budina is a freshman at Medford High School.  This was her first foray into science fairs. Who knows what she'll achieve as a sophomore!

Erica's amazing trajectory began with a book on bioplastics and became a journey to make a stronger material without petroleum-based plastics.  Her homemade plastic won her the William K. Richardson Patent Award before she ever competed at the International Science Fair in Los Angeles.

Erica explains her interest: "Bioplastics has the potential to be a great solution to common environmental problems that are caused by the use of petroleum-based plastics.  However, it is a fact that most bioplastics are not as strong as conventional based plastics." 

Erica set out to make a stronger bioplastic.  Using starches, agar, and eggshell powder in a series of experiments, Erica "created a new bioplastic composed of agar and several natural additives."

"Because I am only in ninth grade, I don't have the strongest chemistry background." She achieved this international-level of understanding from outside reading. "What really helped me was a book that introduced the science as well as the environmental need for bioplastics. When it came to making the bioplastics, I also relied on online sources."

Erica would like to carry this research further. "I would love to continue this project...Nothing would please me more than to spend my time creating and improving these materials to benefit society in the future...As I progress through High School, I intend to continue this project and improve it as I gain more knowledge in chemistry and physics. In college, I would like to major in materials science and/or engineering to further continue my research on biomaterials.  As of now, this is where my passion lies."

And over the summer, like many Medford teens, Erica plans to go to summer camp, go on vacation, read, spend time in the Medford Public Library, and have ice cream at Colleen's. 

When she puts her scientist hat back on, she offers this advice to other young scientists: "I think that the most important thing that a person should be driven by is passion...Never give up.  If you are studying a topic that you really, truly love then there should be no reason to quit.  Although at times you may be tempted to cease the experiment, you should always persevere and try again."