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MCAST students won all top three prizes at the 2008 National Student Travel Foundation (NSTF) Contest for Young Scientists. The Contest, organized by NSTF Malta, was held at St James Cavalier during the Science Week between the 7th and 13th of April 2008. Students enrolled in the MCAST Institute of Community Services placed first and third and a student following a course at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering placed second.

The Contest for Young Scientists, an initiative of the European Commission, was set up to promote the ideals of co-operation and interchange between young scientists. The Contest is the annual showcase of the best of European student scientific achievement. This Contest gives students the opportunity to compete with the best of their contemporaries at European level. The young scientists also have the chance to meet others with similar abilities and interests and to be guided by some of the most prominent scientists in Europe.

The three winning projects were entitled ‘Biological and Non-Biological - Is there a difference?’, ‘Object Separation vis Pick and Place’ and ‘Fermentation By-Products in Beer’.

The project ‘Biological and Non-Biological - Is there a difference?’ was awarded first prize. It aimed to explain whether there is any difference between biological and non- biological washing powders, in terms of their ability to reduce, or eliminate completely, the presence of microorganisms in the material being treated. The students who carried out the project are Dorianne Calleja and Anthea Zammit, with the support of their third year colleague in the Applied Science Course, Ismael Gauci who provided original ideas and advice. This project will participate in the 20th Edition of the EU Contest for Young Scientists to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The project that placed second was entitled ‘Object Separation vis Pick and Place’ by Electrical and Electronics Engineering student Alessandro Vella and mentored by Deputy Director Mr Ronald Curmi. The student, who is currently enrolled on the

MCAST Diploma in Industrial Electronics Course, carried out bitmap recognition using a video capture board. Edge detection was carried out by the scanning and vertically marking of 0’s and 1’s. The aim of this project was to sort different items on an assembly line using edge detection. Alessandro Vella will be participating in the Science Expo Europe 2008 to be held in Budapest between the 13th to the 20th July 2008.

The project that placed third - ‘Fermentation by Products in Beer’ was designed to investigate the amount of the chemical sulfur dioxide in beer, to explain what sulfur dioxide is and its importance in the brewing industry. The project was carried out by Bernice Bonello, who found great help and support from her student colleagues, Roderick Grech and André Attard. Both Bernice and Roderick are actually doing their workplacement component of the course at Simonds Farsons Cisk plc, Malta. The project will also be participating in the Science Expo Europe 2008 in Budapest.

The students at the Institute of Community Services are enrolled in the BTEC National Diploma in Applied Science Course. The BTEC Unit, Scientific Investigation, is a core unit within the BTEC National Diploma in Applied Science, which requires the students to carry out practical innovative scientific investigations. This course unit is taught by Ms Maria Pia Griscti, who supervised both projects from the conceptual stage throughout the Young Scientist Competition.

The announcement of these prizes brought overwhelming joy, satisfaction and a sense of pride and fulfillment to all staff at the College. The projects did not only win the vote of the panel of independent expert judges, yet one project, ‘Fermentation By-Products in Beer’ has been requested and will be used as a model by the University of Malta students during their Chemistry practical experiments. The success of these projects will now take MCAST from St. James Cavalier in Valletta to the EU Contest in Copenhagen and the Science Expo in Budapest.

This is the second time that the Applied Science course students successfully participated in the Contest for Young Scientists, organized by NSTF Malta. In 2006, the project ‘Strands of Life’ by Ismael Gauci and his colleagues Leanne Buhagiar and Maria Stella Grima under the supervision of Ms Maria Pia Griscti and Mr Gervais Marcel Cishahayo placed second and took part in the 2006 Wetenschaps Expo Sciences in Brussels, Belgium.

The students are now looking forward to both Copenhagen and Hungary where they will be proud to fly the MCAST and Malta flags at these international events. Above all, this experience proved that although obstacles exist, through hard work, dedication and appropriate support, students can achieve and reward themselves with truly holistic enriching experiences, a testimony of the potential success that lies behind MCAST and close cooperation with other institutions such as NSTF.