PCHS Students Shine at the Provincial Science Fair
by Marilyn Santucci
Last month, students from Pierrefonds Community High School advanced from the Regional to the Provincial Science Fair.
Heli Patel, Alysha Vania Azzahra, and Adam Hamdaqa proudly represented their school and earned awards for their outstanding projects.
AI Showdown: A Comparative Analysis of LLM’s Reasoning in Game of Chess
Adam Hamdaqa
Adam’s project accessed the reasoning capabilities of different large language models, finding out which one has the most logical thinking, and he did so by using chess, because it’s a game that has never been mastered.
“At the beginning, I just wanted to play against Chat GPT and beat it, so I came up with an idea. If Chat GPT is bad at chess, then are the other ones just as bad? Could this mean that they are not thinking logically? And if so, if we are using AI for things such as driving cars, can we really trust it with people’s lives?”
Adam won several awards for his project including the Ubisoft Award, Polytechnic Award, the McGill University Engineering Award ($500), and the Young Talent Award, which covers the tuition fees for the first year of a bachelor’s degree at any institution within the Université du Québec network.
Pillpilot: An Automatic Pill Dispenser
Heli Patel and Alysha Vania Azzahra
Heli and Alysha designed an automatic pill dispenser to support individuals in taking their medication on time. Their inclusive invention features both auditory and visual reminders and is adaptable for users with varying mobility needs. The device is also customizable, allowing adjustments to the number of compartments, dispensing frequency, and scheduling preferences.
“We wanted our project to help people. A lot of people take pills, whether it’s vitamins, minerals, or prescription medication, and it’s important to take them on time because they can lose their effectiveness. We wanted to help find a way to simplify this task for people with cognitive and mobility issues, such as Alzheimer’s or even for caretakers.”
Helia and Alysha also won several awards for their project including McGill University Faculty of Engineering Award ($500), Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering McGill University Award ($100), the Shad Canada Program Scholarship ($750), and a research award.
Congratulations to Adam, Heli and Alysha!
