CEPi1 (28)

The CEPi1 team (#28) is from Albuquerque. This year they've submitted a project titled AntiCancer.

Proposal
http://mode.lanl.k12.nm.us/get_proposal1112.php?team_id=28

I’m proposing to do an experiment by extracting oils from two plants, Aloe Vera and Yerba Mansa and making either a lotion or soap out of the extractions. My teacher, Mr. Esquivel had told my class stories on how the Yerba Mansa plant had cured many things, such as colds, sore throats, and cuts. I’m sure we all know Aloe Vera is good for burns, but we are looking for a cure for cancer. Pharmaceutical companies charge so much for these so called, “Cures”. We hope to find an all natural cure, so they wouldn’t have to pay a thing.

Interim Report
http://mode.lanl.k12.nm.us/get_interim1112.php?team_id=28

We all know the problem of cancer we have in this world, but what a lot of people don't understand is the cost those suffering need to pay. Their famlies pay as well. It's not only a physical and emotional burden, but also a financial burden. What we hope to obtain from our research is a cure. A free cure, using natural herbs and plants that grow naturally in the enviornment.

So far, we have taken extractions using water. We learned that didn't work so well. So, now we are in the process of approching different ways of taking oil extractions from the plants Next, we plan on using rubbing alcohol. We hope to see better results from using the alcohol than the water.

We plan on using StarLogo this year, because we plan on using a more complex program while we get furthur into our research. We hope to show you how we took the extractions, we're still in the process of figuring out our entire computational model.

So far, such as research has gone we spoken to a our science teachers about different extraction teqnuiques. We have also used http://medplant.nmsu.edu/yerba.html, and www.wiki.com for different questions we've had.

Team Members

 * Allyssa Cordova
 * Alyssa Romero

Sponsoring Teacher
Jerry Esquivel

Interim Comments
Introduction Hello, Team 28. I am Cheri Burch, a long-time supporter of the Supercomputing Challenge, with experience as a computer scientist and as a high school computer science teacher.

Progress Your goal of finding plants in our local environment that might cure cancer is admirable, but I wonder how your project design will indicate success. It appears what you are doing is extracting oils from the plants, admittedly one step. However, I do not see how you plan to identify those that might help cure cancer. Maybe you have done some research to know what chemicals are helpful in healing cancer and are looking for those in local plants?

Mentors If you do not yet have a mentor, please contact consult for help in finding a mentor to help you with this ambitious project.

References

Please be sure to include your references at your upcoming face-to-face evaluation.  Model I cannot tell from your interim report how you plan to model your work. Maybe you are looking at locally eaten plants, then looking at where they are eaten or amount eaten vs. incidence of diagnosis or incidence of cure of particular forms of cancer? For example, chile is eaten more often in this state than in, for example, Oklahoma. Is there anything known about cancer incidence vs. chile consumption? Or do you have a different plant in mind? Whatever you choose to model, you will need input data to demonstrate what your conclusions are and why. You would want geographical data on cancer, and data on locally available plants. Mathematical models depend on data and/or equations. Please look at the judges’ rubrics with the links below and see what judges will be hoping to find when they evaluate your project.

Face-to-Face Evaluation Your next milestone is a face-to-face evaluation in February 18th at UNM.

Rubrics The judges will use this rubric to evaluate your projects. Use it as a checklist for what you need to communicate to the judges.

Expo Judges Rubric

Good Luck!!