The second annual TAF Academy STEM Expo, formerly known as the Science Fair, showcased a number of innovations and ideas last Saturday from young teenagers and young adults alike.

Topics ranged from electricity generation and water purification and even social science studies looking at bullying and inequality. Tyler Tezloff, along with other classmates, proposed an idea of placing piezoelectric discs on stairs to produce power through foot traffic. While the amount of energy generated wasn’t monumental, the idea helped them design and test a theory.

Senior students looked into more broad spectrum topics ranging from transhumanism to income inequality between Federal Way elementary schools and Bellevue schools.

Joseph Kith looked into the effects of local funding on schools. Knowing that half of public school funding was local in Federal Way and Bellevue, Kith examined overall funding provided in the two districts and discovered that Bellevue received $15,000 in two weeks from a walkathon, while a comparable walkathon at a Federal Way elementary school raised significantly less.

Two judges at the fair commended the quality of the student’s work.

“They all have interesting research questions,” said Jason Hutchison-Quillian, a Google employee, “they all had personal reasons and they have good application, not just research for research sake.”

“These are really serious topics,” said Naomi Ishisaka, a journalist judging the fair, “and they’re diving into them with a lot of depth and seriousness.”

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