William Preston is 17 year old student from Vineland, Ontario. He has maintained an interest in science and engineering since the earliest years of elementary school. Fueled by a fantastic science teacher and after school line-up’s of Mythbusters, William completed his first science fair project in seventh grade. The project, titled “Catfood-o-matic” focussed developing a more user friendly cat feeder specifically for senior citizens facing physical and health constraints. Though it appears as a lowly start, the project featured in-depth market research which translated into the final design elements on the cat feeder prototype. The innovative design approach earned William four special awards at the Niagara Regional Science and Engineering fair, and demonstrated the power of a well placed question to William at an early age.
Since then, William has completed a project almost annually (with the exception of his 9th grade year, which he claims was filled with academic pressures) making it to the Canada Wide Science Fair in 2011, 2013, and 2014. His most recent project, and entry in the 2014 Canada Wide Science Fair, Torsion Core “Plywood,” was an innovation in the realm of alternative materials and material science. The project focussed on developing a more lightweight, highly durable, and more environmentally sustainable, sheet good material, as an alternative to plywoods and composites currently used in the furniture manufacturing industry. William found inspiration for creating Torsion Core “Plywood” in his previous, CWSF bronze winning project, “Nomadic Furniture,” which demanded incorporation of a more light-weight material. William took notice to designs such as hollow core doors and aircraft wings, which maintain chambered cores, while still retaining rigidity. As these designs utilized considerably less material than solid equivalents, William quickly recognized the potential for a more environmentally sustainable material. He decided to pursue the creation of his Torsion Core Material with environmentally sustainability as a main focus. His Torsion Core Material (TCM) samples demonstrated great efficiency and met (in some cases, exceeded) all industry standards for furniture construction materials. William hopes to pursue a patent for his material within the near future, and integrate into his future design work. Torsion Core “Plywood” was awarded silver in the grade 11/12 division at the 2014 Canada Wide Science Fair.
Will Preston – “Rock Star”
Beyond science and engineering, William also maintains interest in music, art, politics, skiing and wood/metal working. Currently, he is the committed bassist for alternative band, The Polar Bear is Mine, as well as being the bass accompaniment for Zach Preston, while playing with various other acts/artists or side projects on occasion. Immediately after high school, William hopes to study music and furniture making, using both as outlets for his desire to create, innovate, entertain himself and others, but most importantly, to provoke emotion, thought and question among anyone who develops a relationship with his work.
CWSF 2011 Toronto, Ontario – Wyatt Hoadley & Will Preston
https://secure.youthscience.ca/virtualcwsf/projectdetails.php?id=2619&year=&province=&keyword=&name=Will%20Pres&categoryid=&divisionid=&challengeid=®ionid=
CWSF 2013 Lethbridge, Alberta – William Preston
https://secure.youthscience.ca/virtualcwsf/projectdetails.php?id=3581&year=2013&province=&keyword=&name=William%20P&categoryid=&divisionid=&challengeid=®ionid=
CWSF 2014 – Windsor, Ontario – William Preston
https://secure.youthscience.ca/virtualcwsf/projectdetails.php?id=4025&year=2014&province=&keyword=&name=William%20P&categoryid=&divisionid=&challengeid=®ionid=
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