Two Rolling Hills Middle School students captured awards from a prestigious science fair last month, with one getting some attention at last weekend’s big comic convention in San Jose.

Seventh-graders Tanvi Rao and Arijit Ghoshal took home honorable mentions in physical science and engineering categories in the Synopsys Championship.

Tanvi, of Saratoga, designed an energy-efficient home to maintain a constant temperature year-round no matter the weather outside. Campbell resident Arijit focused on testing which gears would be the best to use for different robotic functions.

Tanvi said she’s wanted to design an energy-efficient home “since I’ve noticed that many home utility bills are increasing in price. I wanted to create a house that doesn’t require an AC or a heater.”

Inspired by houses in the desert, Tanvi used clay, foam, Plexiglas and Popsicle sticks to build her house. To simulate sunlight and warm temperatures, she used a heat lamp and ambient light. For cooler temperatures, she put her house in a foam bin with ice packs.

This was Tanvi’s first time entering the county-wide fair. Her older brother had entered a few times, and she wanted to participate.

“I also wanted to enter something that more people competed in,” Tanvi said. “I wanted to see the different projects that were contributing to everyday life. It’s nice to be a part of something like that.”

Tanvi’s project was featured with 40 other projects at the Silicon Valley Comic Con last weekend in downtown San Jose. In recognition of Earth Day, a portion of the event showcased projects that aim to help the environment.

For Arijit, this was his second time entering the fair. His project last year compared liquids to see which could hold heat the longest. His latest project coincided with work he had done in First Lego League robotics competitions.

“My friends and I were building this robot for the competition, and we were using different gears for different stuff.” Arijit said. “I thought that knowing the efficiencies of different gear trains could help us build a better robot.”

Arijit said he hasn’t tested his robot experiment but has plans to use the collected data to help him and his teammates.

While he was preparing for Synposys, Arijit was also training for his the CBS Bay Area Regional Spelling Bee. While he didn’t advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, he said it was a fun experience. He was eliminated in the fourth round on the word “vimineus.”

Eighth-grade science teacher Sujatha Raghu helped guide the students in their science fair endeavors. She started an after-school science club roughly five years ago. This was the first year she had students submit projects to Synopsys. Four projects, including Tanvi’s and Arijit’s, were submitted.

“The quality of their experiments were good,” Raghu said. “Even for other students who didn’t win, it gave them a lot of confidence. Just going through this process is a good experience for them.”