SKYE’S THE LIMIT

Bend high schooler wins prestigious science award

By Elizabeth Warnimont | Photo by Maile Mason

Summit High School freshman Skye Knox came home a winner after attending the 2022 nationwide Broadcom Masters STEM competition in Washington, D.C. last fall. Her cloud seeding project won her a place among 30 national semi-finalists and a top technology award that she will use to attend a nine-day science camp in Maui this summer.

Using materials provided by the Bend Science Station, a learning facility offering science educational programs for third- to 12th-graders, Knox created a simulation model that could test various chemical compounds for seeding clouds to produce rain.

The impetus of the idea was Knox’s desire to discover cloudseeding materials that were less environmentally damaging than the previously favored silver iodide, which proved to be significantly harmful to sea life in past experiments begun in 1946. She learned from a science article that the silver iodide worked in part because its structure was chemically like that of water crystals.

When she saw a rocket launcher another student had constructed at the science station, Knox got the idea to modify that device for use with her own experiment. “I noticed how the moisture built up inside the bottle (a clear 2-liter soda bottle), and I saw that it could be used to make a cloud chamber. I tried some other methods, but I found that this was the easiest. When I released the pressure into the bottle, the light sensor could measure the density of the cloud. The darker the cloud was, the less light would get through.”

“Finding the right chemicals to use was really hard,” she says. “There was a lot of trial and error. One chemical that didn’t work would coat the inside of the bottle and prevent light from coming through, so the sensor was measuring the density of the substance instead of the cloud.”

In the end, Knox’s experiment didn’t produce the results she expected, but in the context of the scientific process, that doesn’t make it any less valuable. “In the future I want to experiment with different temperatures,” she says. “Since clouds are high-altitude, maybe with the cooler temperature the crystals would bond better together to create a bigger cloud.”

Knox completed her project last year while she was a student at Pacific Crest Middle School. “When Skye started, she had two ideas (for projects),” says Bend Science Station Instructor and Co-founder David “Bermie” Bermudez. “One was cloud seeding; one was measuring the bacterial load above the surface of public swimming pools.” Knox says she pursued the pool idea first but soon found that she was much more intrigued about the cloud seeding idea.

The Bend Science Station offers morning and afternoon classes for grades K to 12, plus a guided independent research program for those middle- and high-schoolers who want to pursue their own ideas. “Our primary goal is to provide critical thinking skills,” Bermudez says. “Learning to hypothesize, collect data, analyze and make an informed decision.” Instructors encourage students to formulate their own questions, then help them discover how to go about getting the answers.

The science station also offers teacher education programs, designed to provide science methods training to schoolteachers. “We walk them through some of the curriculum we helped design or modify,” Bermudez explains. The teachers also come away with access to teaching materials and equipment-borrowing privileges. “There’s a model at the station of consolidating expensive instructional resources and talent, making something that’s difficult to approach a little easier.” Participation in the program also counts toward the teachers’ professional development credit.

Knox enjoys telling other people about the Bend Science Station and encouraging them to give it a try. She would like to see a lot more people at least become aware of the opportunities that are available. At the station, “kids can choose whatever they want to research,” she says. “A lot of kids did things with plants— one girl even had guinea pigs.” There’s a wide range.

“A few of my friends are interested and thinking about it, and a lot more people don’t know about it yet,” she says. “I would like the schools to be more involved with the middle school Broadcom Masters and the high school ISEF (Regeneron-sponsored International Science and Engineering Fair) competitions,” she adds. “I think it would be a cool thing to incorporate.”

This year, Knox is taking a break from science projects to allow more time for other activities. “I’m doing a lot of sports right now and I thought since it’s my first year of high school, maybe I’d just have a little down time.” She hopes to work with the science center again next year.

Limited scholarships are available for all Bend Science Station programs, thanks to a local private donor. For more information, contact them at 541-330-0433 or online at bendsciencestation.org.