Muhammad Mustafa Arif isn’t even in high school yet but he’s already taking the STEM and AI world by storm.
The Grade 8 Errol Village Public School student recently competed in the Lambton County Science Fair, winning not only gold and best in the junior division but the best in fair award.
Thoughts-To-Text: A Novel Approach to BCIs (brain-computer interface) is his winning project.
In layman’s terms, Arif fabricated a device that would use real-time EEG (electroencephalogram) data and artificial intelligence (AI) models to determine the intended letters that users were thinking of.
“I really like STEM, I like any form of science, AI technology, and mathematics,” Arif tells the Journal. “What I like about them is that I can fix so many solutions with such little technology and how that can help humans improve their daily lives and not just improve their lives, but the lives of patients with medical disorders. My device, for example, can help patients speak to their doctors,” explains Arif.
The young science superstar believes AI isn’t something to be afraid of and is excited to explore the technology further. “Most people think AI is going to take over the world and all, but I think we should use it to help humanity rather than be afraid of it so that’s what I love about science, that with enough research, time, and effort you can find solutions to basically anything. Nothing is impossible.”
This isn’t the first time he’s taken part in the science fair. Arif has competed the last four years, representing Lambton County at the Canada-wide science fair last year in Edmonton, Alta. As for those looking to follow Arif’s science journey, he offers up this advice, “I would probably say that they shouldn’t pick a project based on how cool it is but rather how interesting and how helpful it is while staying around their interests…once they know what to do they should plan ahead how they want to distribute their effort and time.”
Following in his footsteps are his two younger brothers, Ahmed and Ali, who competed in the science fair alongside their older brother, with Ahmed winning silver and Ali winning gold in their division.
“We are very excited and proud,” says Thareem Fatima, Arif’s mother. “He has worked really hard for this project…This was a harder and more advanced project, even for him.”
As for what’s next for the oldest Arif, “I’m interested in computer science and data analysis, so I plan on taking computer science in the future. Computer science and robotics are the two main fields I’m interested in,” he says.
But for now, in addition to travelling to Ottawa to present his project, there is still much to do with thought-to-text. “I plan to pursue this project since it’s a very novel approach, and so I do plan to upgrade this and bring it to the everyday world as soon as possible.”
2024 LAMBTON COUNTY SCIENCE FAIR WINNERS:
Rotary Exhibition Gold: Vanshi Shah – “What matters for Solar Energy"
Rotary Exhibition Gold: Naina Patel – Earthquake-proof buildings
Rotary Exhibition Gold: Dylan Mitchell – Growing Plants under different lights
Rotary Exhibition Gold: Cohen Huybers – Growing Plants under different lights
Rotary Exhibition Gold: Gordon David – The Shot
Rotary Exhibition Silver: Matthew Mills – More carbon please
Rotary Exhibition Silver: Zarek Martinez – More carbon please
Rotary Exhibition Silver: Nathan Pavli – Bar down flex up
Rotary Exhibition Silver: Eva Charman – white – Buttonbush
Rotary Exhibition Silver: Ariya Parmar – Which Brush Is The Best?
Rotary Exhibition Silver: Larisa Wszolek-Edey – Which Brush Is The Best?
Rotary Exhibition Silver: Gwen Curry – Which Snow is Cleaner
Rotary Exhibition Silver: Tisha Desai – H20 Hound: From Bottle to Sky.
Rotary Exhibition Bronze: Dev Patel – The Strongest Design
Rotary Exhibition Bronze: Payton Matheson – Rainbow Flowers
Rotary Exhibition Bronze: Cameron Barneveld – Beyblades
Rotary Exhibition Bronze: Connor Vasey – Beyblades
Rotary Exhibition Bronze: Rowan Spiller – Es-tu gamer?
Rotary Exhibition Bronze: Vander Martin – Es-tu gamer?
Rotary Exhibition Bronze: Keira Hagan – La science du son (The Science of Sound)
Rotary Exhibition Bronze: Anaïs Robie – La science du son (The Science of Sound)
Rotary Exhibition Bronze: Katelin Paillard – Does music affect plant growth
Rotary Exhibition Bronze: Adele VanVeldhuisen – Catnip: Dry or Fresh?
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Gold: Cynthia Rayson – Washing Away The Environment: An Environmental Analysis on Laundry Detergent
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Gold: Muhammad Mustafa Arif – ‘Thoughts-to-Text': A novel approach to BCIs
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Gold: Riley Edmunds – Breaking the Ice: Measuring the Environmental Impacts of Road Ice Removal Substances
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Gold: Avery Vasey – Power of a Pencil
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Silver: Kaleigh Edmunds – Remedy Rumble: Testing the Effectiveness of Natural Antibiotics
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Silver: Ahmed Mujtaba Arif – dopamine-loaded nanoparticles for treatment of Parkinson's disease
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Silver: Hemadri Dayala – Artificial Pancreas
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Silver: Braelyn Callahan – Artificial Pancreas
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Silver: Mikael Hussain – “Messing with memory” Manipulating memory using optogenetics in mice
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Silver: Ainsley Mueller – 5 second rule
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Silver: Robeel Chaudhry – Blood vessel elasticity and how it affects blood pressure
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Bronze: Sierra Hathaway – The GREAT Energizer batteries race!
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Bronze: Shelby Hathaway – The GREAT Energizer batteries race!
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Bronze: Hisan Khan – How Black Holes are formed
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Bronze: Katie Bouma – Citric Battery Power
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Bronze: Morgann Racher – Music with Memory
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Junior Bronze: Aastha Khattra – Sugar to Fuel: Unleashing the Power of Molasses for a Greener Tomorrow
Bright's Grove Knights of Columbus Senior Gold: Tej Patel – Heartbeat of Health: Implementing Machine Learning to Predict Heart Disease
Llew Falla Innovation Award: Aastha Khattra – Sugar to Fuel: Unleashing the Power of Molasses for a Greener Tomorrow
Marshall Engineering Award: Naina Patel – Earthquake-proof buildings
You've Got the Spark: Payton Matheson – Rainbow Flowers
You've Got the Spark: Tisha Desai – H20 Hound: From Bottle to Sky.
You've Got the Spark: Sophia Dale – Soap and Spice
You've Got the Spark: Jocelyn Downey – Soap and Spice
You've Got the Spark: Ariya Parmar – Which Brush Is The Best?
You've Got the Spark: Larisa Wszolek-Edey – Which Brush Is The Best?
Inquiring Minds: Kaleigh Edmunds – Remedy Rumble: Testing the Effectiveness of Natural Antibiotics
Inquiring Minds: Cynthia Rayson – Washing Away The Environment: An Environmental Analysis on Laundry Detergent
Lambton College - Best Project in Life Sciences: Ainsley Mueller – 5 second rule
Lambton College - Best Project in Life Sciences Runner-up: Mikael Hussain – “Messing with memory” – Manipulating memory using optogenetics in mice
Lambton College – Best Project in Engineering and Computing Sciences Sciences – Tej Patel Heartbeat of Health: Implementing Machine Learning to Predict Heart Disease
Lambton College – Best Project in Engineering and Computing Sciences Sciences – Runner-up: Adam Sattar – Radio Wave Circuit
Lambton College – Best Project in Engineering and Computing Sciences Sciences – Runner-up: Yusuf Sattar – Radio Wave Circuit
Lambton College – Best Project in Earth and Environmental Sciences: Cynthia Rayson –Washing Away The Environment: An Environmental Analysis on Laundry Detergent
Lambton College – Best Project in Earth and Environmental Sciences: Runner-up – Riley Edmunds – Breaking the Ice: Measuring the Environmental Impacts of Road Ice Removal Substances
Lambton College – Best Project in Physical and Mathematical Sciences: Avery Vasey, Power of a Pencil
RBC Wealth - Sir Isaac Newton Award: Gordon David – The Shot
RBC Wealth - Sir Isaac Newton Award: Payton Matheson – Rainbow Flowers
Lambton Wildlife Natural Environment Award (Exhibition): Vanshi Shah – “What matters for Solar Energy"
Lambton Wildlife Natural Environment Award (Exhibition): Matthew Mills – More carbon please
Lambton Wildlife Natural Environment Award (Exhibition): Zarek Martinez – More carbon please
Lambton Wildlife Natural Environment Award (Exhibition): Almeer Hashmi – Blown Away by the Wind Pump
Lambton Wildlife Natural Environment Award (Junior): Cynthia Rayson – Washing Away The Environment: An Environmental Analysis on Laundry Detergent
International Society of Automation Award: Vanshi Shah – “What matters for Solar Energy"
International Society of Automation Award: Adam Sattar – Radio Wave Circuit
International Society of Automation Award: Yusuf Sattar – Radio Wave Circuit
International Society of Automation Award: Braelyn Callahan – Artificial Pancreas
International Society of Automation Award: Hemadri Dayala – Artificial Pancreas
Dr. Soparkar Healthcare First Place: Kaleigh Edmunds – Remedy Rumble: Testing the Effectiveness of Natural Antibiotics
Dr. Soparkar Healthcare Second Place: Muhammad Mustafa Arif – imperial‘Thoughts-to-Text': A novel approach to BCIs
Dr. Soparkar Healthcare Third Place: Reeham Chaudhry – To vape and not to vape
Dr. Soparkar Healthcare Third Place: Ella Colussi – To vape and not to vape
RiTech Water Protection: Riley Edmunds – Breaking the Ice: Measuring the Environmental Impacts of Road Ice Removal Substances
RiTech Water Protection: Cynthia Rayson – Washing Away The Environment: An Environmental Analysis on Laundry Detergent
IEEE London Section GREEN Science Fair Award (Junior): Cynthia Rayson – Washing Away The Environment: An Environmental Analysis on Laundry Detergent
IEEE London Section GREEN Science Fair Award (Exhibitor): Matthew Mills – More carbon please
IEEE London Section GREEN Science Fair Award (Exhibitor): Zarek Martinez – More carbon please
PEO Engineering Award (Visionary): Almeer Hashmi – Blown Away by the Wind Pump
PEO Engineering Award (Innovation): Muhammad Mustafa Arif – ‘Thoughts-to-Text': A novel approach to BCIs
PEO Engineering Award: Tisha Desai – H20 Hound: From Bottle to Sky
PEO Engineering Award: Vanshi Shah – “What matters for Solar Energy"
PEO Engineering Award: Ali Arif – Can wind power move a car?
PEO Engineering Award: Yusuf Sattar – Radio Wave Circuit
PEO Engineering Award: Adam Sattar – Radio Wave Circuit
CF Industries Junior Encouragement Award: Ariane DeGroot Furtado – Bernoulli
CF Industries Junior Encouragement Award: Annabelle Parizeau – Bernoulli
CF Industries Junior Encouragement Award: Mohid Chaudhry – Can humans recognize AI generated images?
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Charles MacDonald – Glowing Up In Sarnia
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Lana Agheneim – Potato battery experiment
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Aliya Imran – 3D structure of deoxyribonucleic acid DNA+ DNA extraction from strawberry
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Cela Agheneim – 3D structure of deoxyribonucleic acid DNA+ DNA extraction from strawberry
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Ashley Giles – The Science of Snow
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Ivory Noble – The Science of Snow
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Presley Williams – Earthquake Sim
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Chelsea Norton – Earthquake Sim
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Brandon Browne – Explore The Science Behind Kashmiri Pink Tea
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Robin Melo – Lemon valcano
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Mya Finch – Lemon valcano
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: William Hubert – minecart physics
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Claire Thomson – What skin care is good for kids and why?
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Ashley Babin – Dormez-vous? (study) Life science
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Kylie Cutler – Dormez-vous? (study) Life science
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Grace Kola-Ishola – LED Light and Circuit
CF Industries Exhibitor Encouragement Award: Bentley Van Den Assem – The Science of Density!
Tecsar Innovation and Teamwork Award (Exhibition): Ariya Parmar Which Brush Is The Best?
Tecsar Innovation and Teamwork Award (Exhibition): Larisa Wszolek-Edey – Which Brush Is The Best?
Tecsar Innovation and Teamwork Award (Junior): Brooklyn Curry – Pain Test
Tecsar Innovation and Teamwork Award (Junior): Victoria Preston – Pain Test
Chemical Institute in Canada Award (Junior): Cynthia Rayson – Washing Away The Environment: An Environmental Analysis on Laundry Detergent
Chemical Institute in Canada Award (Junior): Katie Bouma – Citric Battery Power
Chemical Institute in Canada Award (Junior): Riley Edmunds – Breaking the Ice: Measuring the Environmental Impacts of Road Ice Removal Substances
OACETT Junior Acheivement Award Riley Edmunds – Breaking the Ice: Measuring the Environmental Impacts of Road Ice Removal Substances
Bluewater Power Achievement Award (Exhibition): Vanshi Shah – “What matters for Solar Energy"
Bluewater Power Achievement Award (Junior): Muhammad Mustafa Arif – ‘Thoughts-to-Text': A novel approach to BCIs
Bluewater Power Achievement Award (Senior): Tej Patel – Heartbeat of Health: Implementing Machine Learning to Predict Heart Disease
Pembina Innovation Award: Riley Edmunds – Breaking the Ice: Measuring the Environmental Impacts of Road Ice Removal Substances
Pembina Innovation Award: Cynthia Raysonn – Washing Away The Environment: An Environmental Analysis on Laundry Detergent
Pembina Safety Award: Naina Patek – Earthquake-proof buildings
Pembina Safety Award: Dev Patel – The Strongest Design
WEAO Award: Cynthia Rayson – Washing Away The Environment: An Environmental Analysis on Laundry Detergent
Sanofi Biogenius: Hemadri Dayala – Artificial Pancreas
Sanofi Biogenius: Braelyn Callahan – Artificial Pancreas
Best of Division
NOVA Exhibitor Best of Division: Vanshi Shah – “What matters for Solar Energy"
Pembina Junior Best of Division: Muhammad Mustafa Arif – ‘Thoughts-to-Text': A novel approach to BCIs
NOVA Senior Best of Division : Tej Patel – Heartbeat of Health: Implementing Machine Learning to Predict Heart Disease
TransCanada Judges Choice: Cynthia Rayson – Washing Away The Environment: An Environmental Analysis on Laundry Detergent
Imperial Oil Judges Choice: Riley Edmunds – Breaking the Ice: Measuring the Environmental Impacts of Road Ice Removal Substances
Arlanxeo Best of Fair: Muhammad Mustafa Arif – ‘Thoughts-to-Text': A novel approach to BCIs