LOUISVILLE, Kentucky USA — What began six years ago as a fun time shooting off rockets in the back yard led Megan Perkins to a first-place award in physics and Best of Show honors at the Kentucky Science and Engineering Fair.

"We had this pretty little cornfield in our back yard and every fall when it was cut down, we'd go shoot off rockets the first thing," Megan said.

Megan Perkins, 13, took first place in physics at the 2007 Kentucky Science and Engineering Fair, along with the honor of best middle school science project. (Courtesy of Megan Perkins).

MEGAN PERKINS:

Age: 13.

School: Eighth-grader at Meyzeek Middle School.

Hobbies: Piano, flute, Girl Scouts, swim team, Beta Club, cross country team.

When the opportunity came to prepare a project for the Meyzeek Middle School Science Competition, Megan immediately thought of rockets. She designed experiments to study how aerodynamics — or "drag" — affect rocketry.

Megan's project began with three types of rockets: Blue Ninja (the basic model-rocket kit), Sandy and Fat Boy. She fired each type of rocket six times.

"The main thing was finding the altitude and time" of each flight, Megan said. "Then I'd see how much drag was acting on each and compare them to each other." The results of her experiments became the basis of her science fair presentation.

The Sandy rocket had a rough surface and crashed prematurely because it was too heavy. So Megan modified it and called the new design Sandy II.

"I was trying to build a rocket that was more efficient — that was cheaper to make and used less resources," she said.

Megan won in the space science category at the Meyzeek Science Fair in January. At the Louisville Regional Science Fair, she placed third in the weather and space science category, enough to qualify her for the Kentucky Science and Engineering Fair later in the spring.

Contestants usually take the same project, unchanged, through subsequent competitions, but they are allowed to add new details.

"I barely made the cut to go to the Science and Engineering Fair," Megan said. "I knew it would go nowhere" in that competition. Megan remembered her dad telling her about Space Ship I, the first privately funded and constructed spaceship to reach outer space, which won the $10,000,000 Ansari X-prize for spacecraft designer Burt Rutan.

Megan decided to add a scale model rocket based on Rutan's design to "add more pizzazz." She found the information she needed on the Internet and named her rocket Space Ship I.

But Space Ship I didn't change Megan's previous conclusions: The size of the frontal area is more important for efficiency than the smoothness of the rocket body. And it is possible to use model rocketry experiments to calculate aerodynamic drag without the use of a wind tunnel.

Her improved project netted her a first-place trophy in physics at the state competition, and she was recognized for having the best middle school project at the fair. It also earned her a place among 400 national semifinalists in the 2007 Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge. She was one of just seven from Kentucky.

Megan, now an eighth-grader at Meyzeek, lives in Forest Springs with her parents, Jennifer and Bob Perkins, and younger brother, Mitchell.

She said Meyzeek is challenging, and she has lots of friends from all over town.

"Her friends are all focused on grades and careers," said Bob Perkins. "She's very competitive. She likes to take tests. She's one of those overachiever kids: 'Don't get in my way.'" For Megan, the science fair competitions were "extremely nerve-wracking." Contestants had to wait for their turn to present their projects to the judges and answer their questions.

"While I was sitting, waiting, I'd try to read a book, but it was hard to concentrate," Megan said. "When I knew I was next, I'd start shaking, but once I got started it went pretty well.

"Shooting off the rockets is definitely the best part," she said.

Megan said she has always wanted to be a pilot — or an engineer — and hopes to go to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But first she hopes to be accepted to Manual High School. And she plans to "stay with rockets" in future science-fair competitions.

Copyright © 2007, The Courier-Journal.

11-05-2007 02:51 PM  #1
Sheri Certified Level Two   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 71	That's great for Megan! It's nice to see some of the younger kids be interested in Science. You Go Girl!!! Sheri

11-08-2007 08:46 PM  #2
Edbob New Member   Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 1	Congratulations! What a pleasure it is to see someone her age excelling in school, developing her intellect and skills, preparing for a great career. Learning to do your best early on serves people well throughout life.

11-09-2007 12:04 AM  #3
denverdoc Hall Monitor   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 3077	Very cool. Of interest locally is that there are several prominent female faculty members in CU Boulder's aerospace dept and a Nobel laureate in their physics dept.