(WTNH) — Two New Haven students win at the CT Science & Engineering Fair at Quinnipiac University.

The Connecticut Science & Engineering Fair is a yearly, statewide science and engineering fair open to all students in grades 7-12 residing, or enrolled, in Connecticut and Fishers Island schools. The primary objective of the fair is to attract young people to careers in mathematics, science, and engineering while developing critical thinking and public speaking skills.

Senior Maya Gerardi of Wilbur Cross High School won 1st place in the Physical Sciences Awards for her Synthesis and Separation Of a Chiral Compound In Preparation Of a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Radiotracer. Her radiotracer she is working on developing targets a receptor in the brain that can be used as an early by-marker for diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Maya has participated in the fair for six years.

Matilda Pethrick, 7th grader at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet school won 5th place in the Physical Sciences Awards for her ‘From Biomass to Biogas’ project, where she demonstrated how biogas can be produced from organic waste materials. This is Matilda’s first year participating in the fair.