Freshman MST Student Succeeds at WSSEF

MST freshman Sujatha Chutkay recently recently participated in the Washington State Science and Engineering Fair (WSSEF) at the Bremerton High School & Performing Arts Center, Bremerton, WA. More than 800 students from all over the state of Washington competed for honors in different categories, albeit many of them were on their spring breaks. Her project, titled “Can Natural Substances Serve as Effective Alternatives to Synthetic Antibiotics in Treating E. coli?”, was awarded Second Place in the “Biomedical and Health Sciences” category! She had a great experience conducting her research and presenting her findings. Congrats, Sujatha!

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2025/05/freshman-mst-student-succeeds-at-wssef/

Frosh Magnetos Win National Co-Designer Award at MIT/Beaver Works Challenge

Camas High School’s Team 744, CHS Dream Builders, has earned national recognition by winning the Co-Designer Award in the 2024–2025 MIT/Beaver Works CRE[AT]E Challenge, a prestigious engineering competition that tasks students with designing assistive technology in collaboration with individuals with disabilities.

Students Katherine Liu and Emily Liu began the project in October 2024 as part of their MST Magnet research project. They worked closely with their co-designer Mrs. Carson, a Camas School District employee and stroke survivor, to develop a suite of four customized assistive products to improve her daily independence and quality of life.

The team was mentored by Dr. Gang Liu, with additional support from a Beaver Works mentor and Camas High School’s Ms. Abe.

The final event, held last Saturday in a hybrid format at MIT, featured four awards. CHS Dream Builders received the Co-Designer Award, given to the team that best meets the needs of their co-designer with an innovative and practical product.

“This project was deeply personal and rewarding,” said the team. “We’re grateful for Mrs. Carson’s partnership and proud to have created tools that can make a meaningful difference.” Congrats, Katherine and Emily! We are so proud of you!

For more information on the MIT/Beaver Works CRE[AT]E Challenge, visit https://beaverworks.ll.mit.edu. Check out a video of their final presentation, too!

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2025/04/frosh-magnetos-win-national-co-designer-award-at-mit-beaver-works-challenge/

MST Info Night Presentation

Thank you to those who were able to make it to last night’s Zoom Info Night Webinar for the CHS MST Magnet Program. If you were unable to make it and/or you’d like to review the presentation, see below for a recording of the event: MST Info Night, Thursday, 4/10/25.

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2025/04/mst-info-night-presentation-3/

MST Magnet Info Night Thursday, 4/10

We’d like to invite current 8th grade parents, guardians, and students to an informational Zoom webinar about the Camas High School MST Magnet program that’s scheduled for Thursday, April 10th, from 6:30 – 7:30 pm: https://camas-wednet-edu.zoom.us/s/87517139808

During the meeting, you’ll hear from MST students and staff about the application process and the unique characteristics of our program and its students. You will also have the option of asking questions in real time via the chat that will be answered by MST staff as they are asked.

For more information about the program prior to the meeting, please visit our website to review the admissions timeline, application process, sample schedules, etc. CHS MST Magnet Program Website

If after reviewing the website you have questions ahead of the informational meeting, please feel free to contact Tom Morris or Sam Greene at Camas High School.

Sincerely,

The CHS/MST Staff

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2025/04/mst-magnet-info-night-wednesday-4-10/

SWRSEF Yields Success for Magnetos

Congrats to MST juniors David Li and Zaina Abu Hweij for their recent successes at The Southwest Washington Regional Science and Engineering Fair (SWRSEF). This fair is open to all students in grades 9 -12 in Wahkiakum, Skamania, Pacific, Cowlitz and Clark counties from public schools, private schools or home schools.

David’s project, VoltMatrix: An Analog Computing AI Chip Architecture for Scalable and Energy-Efficient Inference, earned him a first place in his category and best overall project. By virtue of that, he’s earned an all expenses paid trip to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) May 10-16, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio.  Zaina’s project, Optimizing Mechanical Heart Valve Geometry via Generative Design and Fluid Mechanics, earned first place in her category of Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics and two special awards from Regeneron Biomedical Science and United States Air Force. Congrats to both of these amazing Magnetos!

UPDATE: Leo Zhao has been also been awarded First Place in his category of Robotics and Intelligent Machines and received the American Psychological Association Award for Achievement in Research in Psychological Science at the 2025 Southwest Washington Regional Science and Engineering Fair (SWRSEF) for his groundbreaking project, “Detecting Healthcare Fraudulence Using Machine Learning.

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2025/03/swrsef-yields-success-for-magnetos/

Frosh Magnetos Soar at BPA Regional Science Bowl

MST students Narayan C., Alex Y., Winston Z., and Shaunak D. represented Camas High School at the BPA Regional Science Bowl held at the University of Portland on February 22nd. Competing for the first time, they made their school proud by winning all their round-robin games and advancing to the double-elimination round as the #5 seed out of 16 teams. In the double elimination round, they faced a tough journey, winning one match between two losses before concluding their campaign. As the only team composed entirely of freshmen, their achievement was remarkable, and they are eager to compete again next year.  Congrats to them on their strong showing. Let’s go!

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2025/03/frosh-magnetos-soar-at-bpa-regional-science-bowl/

MST Admissions Timeline and Webinar

Planning on applying to the CHS MST Magnet? Please attend our Parent & Student MST Magnet Info Night / Webinar scheduled for Thursday, April 10th, from 6:30-7:30, to learn about the program, the application process, and to hear insights from current students about the program’s benefits and opportunities. In the meantime, visit our Admissions Portal to learn about how to apply.

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2025/03/mst-admissions-timeline-and-webinar/

2024 December to Remember Grad Panel

Each December our freshmen and sophomore students present their 1st semester project study progress to a panel of staff and program graduates. It’s one of the highlights of our year, as graduates returning home from college, grad school, work, get to spend time with family and friends and also reconnect with our program and help give feedback. After formal presentations from the students, our grads participate in a panel where they share their post-high school experience with us. Here are a couple of the panels that took place in our  presentation rooms. If you watch the video of the grad panel, be sure to turn on the auto-generated subtitles to help you “hear” what they’re saying. (Room #1 PanelRoom #2 Panel)

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2024/12/2024-december-to-remember-grad-panel/

MST Senior Symposium 2024

On December 9th, 2024, the Magnet senior class presented their summer internship work and projects to the Camas School District school board and community at the Zellerbach Administration Center. After the poster fair, staff, students, and community convened for the regular school board meeting to hear formal presentations of internships by seniors Yuna Lee and Alex McNutt.

Ms. Lee conducted an internship at the Oregon Health Sciences University. Here’s an overview of her research focus:  “A frankenbody is a synthetic protein created from a main protein body with a hexahistidine tag (also known as a HisTag), biotin, and BirA. The development of a frankenbody would simplify and speed up the procedures in the lab and reduce lab spending exponentially, as it would provide a quick way to access target proteins without having to purchase them through a third-party business. This research aimed to optimize the production and purification of a frankenbody by evaluating two strains of Escherichia coli, T7S and BL21, to determine which was more effective in generating and isolating the target protein.” Poster: Developing a Frankenbody to Probe for HA Tags on Specific Target Proteins

Ms. McNutt interned with Professor Atul Ingle at Portland State University. Here’s a synopsis of her work: “The stereo vision system utilizing the HP Intel RealSense camera was developed to enhance depth perception in low-light environments by generating accurate disparity maps. This system operates by capturing images from two perspectives, using stereo lenses and an infrared projector, and calculating the disparity between corresponding points to produce a 3D depth map. My research focuses on optimizing the Normalized Cross-Correlation (NCC) algorithm, a technique that enhances accuracy by scaling pixel values for improved robustness in challenging lighting conditions.” Poster: Developing an Optimized Computer Vision Algorithm for Disparity Map Generation in Low Light

Congratulations, Seniors, on completing your internships and moving one step closer to graduation!

Cheers!

Mr. Greene and the MST Staff

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2024/12/mst-senior-symposium-2024/

Sophomore Magneto Earns Mill Town Pride!

The Camas School District had the honor of celebrating Kai Pan at the recent September Board meeting! Scientists Rikeem Sholes and Patrick Cooney from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service presented Kai with the Mill Town Pride Award for his outstanding work in streamlining their video review process for monitoring fish populations. Congratulations, Kai—your innovation is making waves!

Permanent link to this article: https://chsmstmagnet.com/2024/09/sophomore-magneto-earns-mill-town-pride/