Upper School Students Shine at Badger State Science and Engineering Fair

Twenty-six Upper School students from University School of Milwaukee competed in the Badger State Science and Engineering Fair (BSSEF) on Saturday, March 14 at Milwaukee School of Engineering. Students took home a total of 11 awards, and were joined by Dr. Amber Bakkum, Upper School science teacher. This year, Anand George ’26 and Kaitlyn Paullin ’26 both received the prestigious 1st place Best of Fair award.

“It was a grueling day of interviews and activities, but all our students represented very well and I’m extremely proud of them for committing to the competition,” said Bakkum. “They committed themselves to meaningful research, and successfully completed projects that originated in their natural curiosity.” 

Congratulations to the following BSSEF award recipients:

Grand Award Recognition:

Best of Fair, 1st Place: Anand George ’26 and Kaitlyn Paullin ’26

Specialty Award Recognition:

Chloe Chen ’27: American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science Award
Grace Chen ’27: Society for In Vitro Biology Award
Anand George ’26: American Society for Quality Award
Yusra Khan ’26: American Psychological Association Award, United States Air Force Award
Emily Pan ’27: Yale Science and Engineering Award
Kaitlyn Paullin ’26: Association of Women Geoscientists Award, MacGyver Award, and NOAA Environmental Award

Category Awards Recognition:

Biology/Chemistry/Life Sciences
Second Award: Chloe Chen ’27
Third Award: Grace Chen ’27

Math/Computer Science
Second Award: Calder Ely ’27 and Raymond Yang ’27
Third Award: Eshaan Vasudev ’26

Medicine/Health
First Award: Anand George ’26

Engineering/Physics
Second Award: Nikhil Lazzaro ’26

Environmental Science
First Award: Kaitlyn Paullin ’26
Second Award: Emily Pan ’27

BSSEF 2026 Participants:

Elliott Boyd ’29, Jasleen Chahal ’26, Chloe Chen ’27, Grace Chen ’27, Elina Cheng ’27, Anand George ’26, Kristina Godonou ’28, Emmanuel (Chino) Igwike ’28, Eliana Igwike ’26, Jind Kaur ’28, Yusra Khan ’26, Sophie Kouklin ’29, Jayin Lazzaro ’28, Nikhil Lazzaro ’26, Max Miller ’27, 
Emily Pan ’27, Simrin Patel ’27, Kaitlyn Paullin ’26, Gosha Roginsky ’28, Manu Samantaray ’28,
Deven Sharma ’27, Michael Torinus ’27, Eshaan Vasudev ’26, Angela Wang ’26, Jason Wu ’27, and Raymond Yang ’27.

The Grand Award Recipients from BSSEF and top two from the USM Regional Fair move on to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix from May 9–15, where they will compete for nearly $5 million in awards, prizes, and scholarships. 

Eashan Anne ’26, Grace Chen ’27, Anand George ’26, Kaitlyn Paullin ’26, and Angela Wang ’26 will participate as members of USM’s Regeneron ISEF delegation.

Please join us in congratulating all our young scientists on their fine work throughout the year. Best of luck to our Regeneron ISEF Finalists!