​​​​​​​Brothers Shine at UT Arlington-Fort Worth Regional Science & Engineering Fair

Brothers Sean Hong ’27 and Harmon Hong ’29, showcased their scientific innovations at the UT Arlington-Fort Worth Regional Science & Engineering Fair, held at the University of Texas at Arlington’s College Park Center on February 24, 2025. Both students received distinctions for their work.

Harmon, competing in the Medicine and Health Sciences Category, Junior Division (Middle School), earned second place for his project, “Enhancing Breast Cancer Image Analysis with a Customized High Accuracy Machine Learning Model.” His research focuses on using an artificial intelligence model to improve early breast cancer detection. Reflecting on his experience, Harmon shared that he enjoyed the competition and learned valuable insights from his peers to make further improvements for future applications. He will advance to the 2025 Texas Science & Engineering Fair in College Station on March 28-29.

In the Senior Division Computer Science Category, Sean placed third with his work, “nAIca: A Novel and Accessible Intelligent Companion Assistant for Mental Health.” His research is aimed at providing an AI-based device that supports mental health prevention, treatment, and maintenance through humanlike conversations, personalized music selection based on emotional recognition, and customizable happy memory visualization. Sean’s AP Computer Science Teacher, Felipe Parra, provided solid support and mentorship in this project.  Passionate about STEM and its real-world applications, Sean also founded FWCD’s first Python and AI Club, sponsored by Parra. The club meets weekly to learn Python coding language and conduct AI-related projects. Sean hopes to inspire more students to study AI and leverage the technology for meaningful change.

Now in its 74th year, the UT Arlington-Fort Worth Regional Science & Engineering Fair is Texas’s longest-running event of its kind, drawing hundreds of participants from across North Texas.