NHS Student Participates In

International Science Competition

By Eliza Hallabeck

Dayton Horvath has been participating in science fairs for three years, but this year was his last as a Newtown High School student. He has won awards from different fairs and competitions, made it into the semifinals of the Intel Science Talent Search this past February, and now he has created methanol from carbon dioxide.

He was not the first person to accomplish the task of creating methanol from carbon dioxide, Dayton said, but he combined two researchers’ findings to invent a new method.

“My project was essentially a better way to produce [methanol],” said Dayton, a senior at Newtown High School. “I looked up a method for converting carbon dioxide to methanol and I created a better way.”

Methanol is a liquid that can be used as an efficient source of fuel, according to the Methanol Institute. According to the United States Department of Energy, cars were made that ran on methanol, but since the early 1990s no further efforts have been made in the field.

Carbon dioxide is known best for being a greenhouse gas, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

“I tried the original method,” he said, “and it didn’t really work. Then I tried my own method. Surprisingly, it worked.”

Dayton went to Atlanta last month to participate in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair as one of four students representing the state of Connecticut. He was the only student from Newtown to attend the international science fair this year; he won recognition for his effort.

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the world’s largest international precollege science competition, and it annually provides a forum for more than 1,500 students from more than 40 countries to display their independent research, according to the Society for Science & The Public, which owns and administers the program.

According to the Society for Science & The Public,  millions of students from across the world compete in local science fairs, and the winners go on to participate in Intel International Science and Engineering Fair affiliated regional and state fairs. The winners from the larger events gain access to participating in Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, where the students showcase their work before professional scientists.

In February, Dayton was named a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search for another project he was working on. For that project he developed a speedy and accurate way to test for e-coli contamination in crops. He won $1,000 for being named a semifinalist, and Intel, which sponsors the competitions, also gave $1,000 as a donation to Newtown High School, as reported in The Newtown Bee.

Dayton said he has been interested in science since middle school when he was attending Frasier Woods School in Newtown. Dayton was told he was the first student at the Newtown High School to request to take both a physics and a chemistry class at the same time freshman year, he said.

“I always wanted to know why things are the way they are,” said Dayton while he explained looking at the world as a science project.

He said two of his teachers were a large help to him. Frank LaBanca, he said, shared the information with him about the science fairs available in the area, and Christian Canfield, head of the science department at the high school, and Timothy DeJulio, a science teacher at the high school, also helped.

Mr Canfield said he helped only with the paperwork. “He had the idea for the project and he did all the work,” he said.

Dayton spent the time he was working on this project in the chemistry preparation room, because he needed space where other students would not affect his set up, according to Mr Canfield.

Dayton also spent many hours putting work into this project, despite the fact that it is a completely independent project from the high school, according to Mr Canfield.

“One day he called a professor who wrote one of the essays at another university and in another state,” said Mr Canfield. “That’s what you do when you are doing real science projects.”

As far as the future goes, Dayton said he does not have specific plans for another project. He said he was accepted into the University of Connecticut’s honors program for either physics or chemistry.

“I hope I can find the resources and a mentor there for material science,” said Dayton regarding what he wanted to do when at the University of Connecticut.

Dayton also said that his dream job would be “working in a research and development lab and just discovering new things.”

Students doing independent science projects is not as uncommon as it used to be, according to Mr Canfield. He said students have been more apt to participate in science fairs lately, and other students in the Newtown High School now have been creating their own projects.

“He’s very focused,” Mr Canfield said. “He’s very smart and I think he enjoys the competitions.”