Junior scientist Kapil Sinha takes top honors at state science fair

Kapil Sinha, a junior at Salinas High School, was awarded first place for his plant biology project on sugar beets at the 64th annual California State Science Fair held May 18-19 at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

Sinha’s project examined factors related to increasing a plant's resistance to Rhizomania, a disease that poses a major threat to sugar beet production worldwide.

Sinha designed and conducted the experiment himself, with the assistance from researchers at the U.S. Agricultural Research Station in Salinas.

Two other students from Monterey County who were top finishers at the California State Science Fair were:

Kyle Groves, a senior at Salinas High School, received a second place award for his physics and astronomy project on solar flares.

Roha Bhusha, a freshman from Monterey High School, took third place in the microbiology classification for his project on a freshwater microorganism.

The most amazing Kapil Sinha wins the science fair. Again.

For the third year in a row, Kapil Sinha, a junior at Salinas High School, earned top honors at the Monterey County Science and Engineering Fair, which was held this past weekend at CSUMB.

Sinha won with his Plant Biology project: "Characterization and Utility of Resistance Sources against Resistance-Breaking Rhizomania in Sugar Beet."

Second place went to Rohan Bhushan of Monterey High School, for his Environmental Science project: "Gravitactic Effects of Copper Pollution on Glucose Metabolism in Euglena gracilis."

Third place went to Chaitra Subbarao also of Salinas High School, for her Biochemistry/Molecular Biology project: "Molecular Detection of Spinach Downy Mildew before Symptom Appearance."

The three winners will advance to the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair, to be held in Pittsburgh, Penn., in May.

About 330 projects with nearly 500 student scientists from public and private schools across the county took part in this year's event.

Twenty-two  top projects will advance to participate in the California State Science Fair, May 18 and 19 in Los Angeles. They are, in alphabetical order:

• Isabella Allen, All Saints’ Day School
• Finn Barry, York School
• Nick Batterman, York School
• Rohan Bhushan, Monterey High School
• John Chapman Caddell, Stevenson School
• Grace Davis, All Saints’ Day School
• Fletcher Gaucher, International School of Monterey
• Caitlyn Giannini, All Saints’ Day School
• Kyle Groves, Salinas High School
• Gabriella Gutierrez, San Carlos School
• Jack Hayes, Carmel Middle School
• Edhel Marie Joseph, Salinas High School
• Magnus Lauer, International School of Monterey
• Molly Mancina, All Saints’ Day School
• Riley Mann, International School of Monterey
• Trinity Mobley, International School of Monterey
• Danya Novak, International School of Monterey
• Tyler Onciano, International School of Monterey
• Cherrie Mae Paghasian, International School of Monterey
• Nahomy Pinedo, Salinas High School
• Madeleine Powley, Salinas High School
• Maya Pruthi, All Saints’ Day School
• Rohan Sethi, International School of Monterey
• Kapil Sinha, Salinas High School
• Chaitra Subbarao, Salinas High School
• Eve Wharton, International School of Monterey
• Kyle Worcester-Moore, York School

Kapil, who's grown like a mile since I interviewed him eons ago, also took top honors at the 2014 Science Fair, and teamed with his sister, Aradhana, to win top project in 2013. Aradhana was top finisher in 2012.

Kapil Sinha, second from right, has won the science fair three times.

Amber Hess from Stevenson School was the only other student to have the top project two years, in 2004 and 2005, according to project coordinator Ginny Brown. She said she doesn't know if  any other student has garnered top honors more than three times.