Fraser Heights Secondary student makes Team Canada for International Science & Engineering Fair

Timothy Cai’s award-winning rocket project is taking him to new heights, as one of just 10 students from across the country selected to represent Canada in the 2022 Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) – the world’s most prestigious youth STEM project competition – taking place virtually May 7-13.

The Fraser Heights Secondary student’s project, An Investigation into Active Control for Accessible Orbital Flight, previously received four awards at the 2021 BC/Yukon Virtual Science Fair and five accolades at last year’s Canada Wide Science Fair for examining the feasibility of developing smaller, cheaper homemade rockets capable of controlled flight and the ability to land vertically.

“In my mind, it’s a cardboard tube with a lot of electronics in it,” said the Grade 12 student. “It was something I wanted to show everybody, but I didn’t really expect it to go farther than the provincial science fair.”

Now Cai’s cardboard tube will be competing against teams from more than 80 countries. Their projects may not be rocket science, but his is.

“I’ve always been really interested in rocketry – I read this one book about Saturn when I was in grade school and I was hooked,” he said. “Over quarantine, I had a lot of free time and I started following the SpaceX Starship program where they’re building a 17-storey rocket that looks like a water tank but it’s filled with methane and liquid oxygen and it flies.

“What really amazed me was, on the way down, the flames jetting out the bottom from the engines were moving and tilting, and that got me into researching active control. Simultaneously, I was looking for ideas for a science fair project, and all of that came together. I found out the launch industry for space really could use something like this, which essentially is small scale active control that’s affordable and scalable.”

Many hours of electronics design and coding have led Cai to the international competition, along with filling out numerous forms, data submissions and an extensive interview process. Finding out he was selected was something of a relief.

“It was a sunny Sunday afternoon and I was anxiously awaiting the phone call,” he said. “They said they would call around 6 p.m. eastern, but that any calls before that would be for a second interview. I was hoping for a phone call afterwards but they called around 1:30 p.m. here – I was rushing upstairs to put on my suit again for an interview and they said, ‘Congrats! You’re on the team!’

“It was an emotional rollercoaster, up and down, in the space of 30 seconds.”

Beyond Regeneron ISEF, Cai’s project has put him on a trajectory to working in rocket design, having been accepted to UBC’s Department of Applied Science for engineering, with hopes to pursue their aerospace option. But before that, he’s looking forward to showcasing his project to judges and industry experts at the competition, up against top projects from students the world over.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he said. “I’m very excited to present my projects and my work and what I’ve done – I want their feedback, I want to see what they think.”

Congratulations on making Team Canada in the Regeneron ISEF, Timothy Cai!