In science news this week, local student Témoc Zamora has been recognized as the only student at Vets advanced to the UIL state science fair.

“It feels good being able to represent my school, but at the same time I want more people not just from the school but from the district and region to get to larger competitions with me and represent the Costal Bend as a whole,” he said.

Zamora’s invention, a wearable athletic heart monitor, was what brought him so far in the competition. The monitor was composed of a small micro computer and a temperature sensor. When worn by the athlete, the sensor picks up and monitors the athletes body temperature and alerts the athlete or coach of an unhealthy spike in temperature.

“I combined a raspberry pi zero and a temperature sensor that records the athletes temperature and sends the information to a graphical interface that coaches and athletic trainers are able to monitor,” he said. “If the athletes temperature gets to a dangerous point which the trainers are able to adjust, a text message alert will be sent to the coach or trainers. It can be worn under the athletes practice uniform.”

Even though the fair already happened, Zamora was able to earn a spot at the ISEF science fair as well as a $5,000 scholarship from the port of Corpus Christi despite not placing in the actual science fair.

“The top projects at the state fair got an invitation to attend the International Science Fair aka ISEF being held in Atlanta, Georgia but unfortunately I didn’t place in the top 3. However, I was fortunate enough to earn my spot at ISEF through the Costal Bend regional fair and I was also lucky enough to earn a $5,000 scholarship from the Port of Corpus Christi while at state,” he said.