NYSF 2014 Alumni Jackson Huang from Queensland has taken out first place in the 2015 BHP Billiton Science and Engineering Awards ceremony in Melbourne.
Jackson, a recent high school graduate from Queensland Academy of Science, Mathematics and Technology, investigated the interactions between different heartburn drugs and how they might affect or weaken one another.
Working at the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology, Jackson found that one combination of heartburn drugs involving magnesium hydroxide may be more effective than another combination involving aluminium hydroxide.
As well as finding out why this weakening occurred, he is also trialling an alternative additive.
Winning the award gives Jackson the opportunity to compete in the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in the United States.
ISEF brings together more than 1,000 of the brightest scientific minds from around the globe to compete in one of the world’s largest pre-university celebrations of science.
The BHP Billiton Science and Engineering Awards operating since 1981 are a partnership between BHP Billiton, CSIRO and the Australian Science Teachers Association. The Awards are also supported by Intel Corporation.
Jackson is no stranger to winning awards. When he was just 16, he was named the International Brain Bee Champion after winning a neuroscience competition for young students, 13 to 19 years of age for two years running. He participated in the championship held in Vienna, Austria.