Amana Student Wins First Place at Fulton County Science Fair

The Fulton County Science Fair was held on February 9th at Westlake High School. Amana 8th grade student, Isbah Ibrahim won first place in Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences.

Eighth grade Amana Academy student, Isbah Ibrahim, wins 1st place in Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences at the 2019 Fulton County Science Fair on 2/9/19. Ibrahim also won the Broadcom Masters Award for finishing in the top 10% of all junior category participants nationwide. She will go on to compete at the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair in Athens, GA from 3/28 to 3/30/19.

For her project, Ibrahim engineered a prosthetic limb out of bamboo. Her motivation to innovate an affordable, accessible, and renewable alternative to expensive and inaccessible carbon prosthetics is born out of compassion for low-income patients, especially refugees. Ibrahim cites that the average cost of a carbon prosthetic limb is $50,000 and that most prosthetics must be replaced every 5 years. She also cites that there are 2 million amputees living in Syria as an example of the scale of this problem.

For her model, Ibrahim selected bamboo for its wide availability, speed of production, environmental friendliness, and resistance to water and extreme temperatures. Ibrahim’s presentation includes an informational board, binder, prosthetic model, and an oral presentation. The bamboo model costs $25 to make using a hacksaw, screwdriver, copper wire, electrical tape, plastic water bottle, and bamboo.

Ibrahim is a student at Amana Academy, a STEM certified public charter school in Alpharetta, GA. The mission of Amana Academy is to prepare students for high academic achievement beyond what they think possible so that they become active contributors to building a better world. A member of the school’s MDJunior chapter, Ibrahim is interested in pursuing medicine throughout her educational career.