Adam Dando, Hemali Vin and Kerrick Dando have been perfecting their science skills since they were young. All of their hard work has paid off.

The three Franklin Regional students were winners at this year's Pittsburgh Science and Engineering Fair.

Adam won first place in the physical science category for his project on terminal velocity. The project studied the relationship between mass and velocity. For Adam, it was something he had always wanted to do.

"I remember from being younger, playing with paratroopers and seeing if I could make them go faster," Adam said.

His brother, Kerrick, designed a way to make safer drinking water through solar energy. He got the idea from studying what issues were important to people.

"I saw there was a growing concern for access to safe drinking water," Kerrick said.

Hemali studied EKG signals and adapted existing software programs to help with the project. She said she became interested in the project while interning at a bio-medical lab during the summer.

Hemali and Kerrick both started working with the science fair when they were in sixth grade. Both hope to continue their careers in science after graduating from Franklin Regional High School. Kerrick hopes to be an engineer and Hemali hopes to go into medicine.

Adam has been experimenting with science for as long as he can remember.

"I remember I just did weird stuff, like make peanut butter," he said.

For Kerrick, the competition doesn't end in Pittsburgh. Next month, he'll take his project to Albuquerque, N.M. for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.