Markham science fair champ defends gold medal at Canada-wide competition
If there’s a science to winning science fairs, Aidan Aird, 15, seems to have figured it out. The Grade 10 whiz has claimed the gold medal for the past four years at the regional York Region Sci-Tech Fair, claiming his first victory by beating out a hundred projects when he was only 12.
Now the student from St. Brother Andre Catholic High School in Markham is headed to the Canada Wide Science Fair in New Brunswick in early May to defend his gold medal win from last year. We talked to Aird to find out how he keeps cracking the science fair code.
His winning record:
2012: Aird’s first win was as a Grade 7 student, when he designed an 2.4-metre long portable and functional “subsonic open-circuit wind tunnel” (which now resides in his basement) to perform aerodynamic studies on objects. “I was going through this phase where I was recently interested in aerodynamics … and building the wind tunnel was the ultimate test for me to test any future designs,” he said.
2013: The next year, he built an aircraft wing system for the Boeing 737 that could be retrofitted to any other plane and had better aerodynamic properties that any other wing system currently in use.
2014: Aird changed his focus from the skies to poverty alleviation, and created the “Turbo-Eco Cookstove Plus,” a highly efficient stove that can cook food, purify water and charge small electronic devices such as a mobile phone or LED light, all at the same time.
2015: This year he created a water wheelbarrow to transport water, which can also purify it and create energy through solar panels and the body heat of the person pushing the cart. He’s taking this idea to the nationals in two weeks.
Bringing his experiments to life:
Forget the Popsicle sticks and papier-maché from the science fairs of your youth. Think detailed computer-aided designs, 3-D printout models, hundreds of hours of work and months of designing, redesigning and testing a project to perfection. “On this year’s project, I have spent at least 200 hours of work,” he said.
“I start with something basic. I design it using Solidworks (3-D design software) to have a visual model. If I want to hold it, I will print a 3-D model, and after that I will add to the design, change the design and do countless tests within the design so I can get to the optimal design,” he said.
Everyone is a winner:
Aird was so moved by his first science fair experience in Grade 7, he decided to find a way to make everyone a winner. So he created a non-profit organization called Developing Innovations to help youth develop a love for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).
“Through my science fairs, I met all these amazing kids who don’t get a lot of recognition for what they do, their amazing research and all the time they put into it,” he said. “Originally, it was a way for me to share other people’s scientific innovations.”
The website features science fair projects from kids around the world. And here at home, Aird goes out with more than 30 volunteers to school and community centres every weekend to encourage elementary kids to pursue careers in STEM.
Inspired and inspiring:
His role model is astronaut Chris Hadfield, for his ability to create so much interest in space and STEM.
And what’s the secret to Aird's success? “For me it really comes down to passion,” said Aird, who hopes to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “I take something I am interested in, and I really work hard at it,” he said.
His current passion is mechanical engineering, but don’t hold him to it. “My interests always shift, so things could be different by this time next year,” he said.
