Program Participant - NYAS

A drop of water splashes into a large puddle.

Winners of the Junior Academy Innovation Challenge Spring 2023: “Water Sustainability”

Published July 1, 2023

By Nicole Pope

Sponsored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA)

Team members: Yuanning (Helen) H. (Team Lead) (United States), Aadi M. (United States), Riya K. (United States), Nachammai A. (United States), Sheila M. (United States), Ayazhan K. (Kazakhstan)

Mentor: Kalyani Neti (India)

As climate change continues to threaten water supplies around the world, the ability to access clean water– a right taken for granted by many people in developed countries– is an ongoing struggle for many populations around the world, particularly in tropical regions. According to the World Health Organization, only 53% of medical facilities in these tropical regions have secure, clean water sources. This results in epidemics of cholera (3 million annually) and diarrhea (1.7 billion cases annually).

Additionally, sepsis from dirty water causes 670,000 infant deaths per year. Six enterprising teens from the United States and Kazakhstan heard the call. The formed Cleaners of Warm Water: Air to Water to Healthcare. They won the Spring 2023 Innovation Challenge on Water Sustainability, sponsored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA). The team consisted of Yuanning (Helen) H. (United States. Team Lead), Aadi M. (United States), Riya K. (United States), Nachammai A. (United States), Sheila M. (United States), and Ayazhan K. (Kazakhstan). They worked under the guidance of their mentor, Kalyani Neti (India), to devise an ingenious solution for an acute problem. That problem: Lack of access to sterile, medical-grade water, crucial for healthcare in the tropics.

A Broad Range of Skills

The team began their mission, coordinating across time zones to meet online, swapping ideas, and considering various approaches. The multidisciplinary nature of the challenge meant they had to draw on a broad range of skills.

“I got to use knowledge from biology, chemistry, and physics to devise a coherent plan for our prototype and to identify a legitimate target group,” says Team Lead Yuanning (Helen). “I learned so much from all my teammates whose different personal experiences led to their different approaches to problems. For example, I, who lives in the cold and moist Northeast of the United States, would never have come up with the idea of creating sterile water for tropical regions.”

Dividing and Conquering the Workload Across Time Zones

Eventually, the six students decided to develop an affordable air-to-water generator that uses fans to capture humidity in the air (typically between 77% and 88% in tropical countries) and turn it into water. Drawing on their respective strengths, they divided the tasks among the group and created focused roles.

Sheila took on a research-centered role. “I read multiple reports of the World Health Organization and the United Nations in addition to research papers to gain a deeper understanding of the numbers and the types of people affected. I am passionate about global, equitable healthcare, so I was excited to use our water sustainability project to address both the problems of water insecurity and inadequate healthcare.”

Her teammate Ayazhan gathered and organized statistical data on water issues in the tropics. “I searched a lot for statistics and learned that water pollution is a really big problem in tropical regions, justifying it with metric research results,” she explains.

The team members’ intense online sessions soon generated exciting new ideas. “It is a rewarding experience to meet every week, share ideas, plan our solution and work on implementing our idea in the real world,” says Nachammai. “I worked on data confirmation, conducted interviews, and evaluated the results produced through our surveys. I also did research on future collaborations and on ways we could improve our prototype and solution as a team.”

Designing Blueprints — and 3D Models

Their efforts resulted in the development of an affordable 3D prototype of their machine, which can generate 63 liters, (half a bathtub) of water. By trapping groundwater molecules before they get contaminated by germs, parasites or chemicals, the air-to-water generator reduces the need for filtering and delivers small amounts of clean water cheaply, using sustainable energy sources.

Team member Aadi was in charge of designing and developing the blueprints as well as the 3D model. “I also created the simulation where I demonstrated the construction along with the explanation of each part of our prototype,” he says. To complement their air-to-water generator, the students also developed an app that facilitates the maintenance of the machine and enables users to find the nearest source of sustainable hydropower to fuel it.

During the third phase of their project, the students focused on marketing their invention, building a website that details the technology used and touts its benefits to potential users. “Each team member brought with them a different skill set and perspective,” says Riya, who worked on the website design. “I really loved working with a team of dedicated and passionate individuals interested in STEM fields.”

And it doesn’t end there. The team members plan to use 3D printing to turn their model into a functioning and marketable machine, and seek to take their project even further by collaborating with local governments and non-profit organizations in the targeted countries.

Developing a New App to Empower Urban Farmers

Winners of the Junior Academy Innovation Challenge Spring 2023 “Urban Gardens”

Published July 1, 2023

By Nicole Pope

Team members: Tianze H. (Team Lead) (United States), Tianlai H. (United States), Radwa A. (Egypt)

Mentor: Olusola Ladokun (Nigeria)

Urban gardening can be an effective way to provide fresh and healthy food at a low cost, particularly in parts of the world where food security remains elusive. But it involves many variables– climate, soil, location, sun exposure, type of crop– and urban residents often need education and guidance in order to be successful gardeners right from the start.

Three students — Tianze H. (United States, Team Lead), Tianlai H. (United States), Radwa A. (Egypt) — worked under the guidance of their mentor, Olusola Ladokun (Nigeria) to address this knowledge gap, and ultimately won the Spring 2023 Junior Academy Innovation Challenge with their project, “Family Farming: The Ultimate Planting Companion”. The project aims to promote urban gardening around the world by providing useful tips to city dwellers that enables them to supplement their diet with home grown crops.

“After long discussions we finally settled on the current idea,” says Tianlai. “Personally, I contributed creative ideas for our projects, like using deep learning algorithms in our application. I also worked with my teammates on the slides, adding things that they might have missed.” To identify what information would-be gardeners might need, the team conducted a small survey before designing an eco-friendly app called Family Farmers. The app contains a scanner that taps into existing plant and weather databases in order to identify the best potential garden locations based on available amount of space and local climate. The app also provides information about farming methods. It also shows how common household items can help reduce gardening costs.

Adding a Fun Factor to Urban Gardening

Family Farmers is designed to be the ultimate tool for aspiring gardeners, with an AI search engine that can be used to find suitable plants, an option to share progress and tips with a community of like-minded garden enthusiasts, and a calendar to remind users when to water and take care of their plants. The students also added an element of entertainment to their app, with plant-related games that provide fun facts about gardening.

Developing this innovative solution required hard work. The small but mighty team size (just three people) did not deter the committed students– in fact, it helped with the difficult task of coordinating online meetings across time zones.

Strengthening Relationships

“The size of the group does not matter. In fact, it might have even helped everyone strengthen our relationships,” says Team Lead Tianze.

“We were also able to help each other and make up for what we may not be good at. The teammates were willing to cooperate and overcome the time differences that we have,” says Tianze. “We were also able to help each other and make up for what we may not be good at. Helping to solve a real-world problem was a great experience.”

Team member Radwa enjoyed researching the issues surrounding gardening in an urban environment and collaborating with international students. “This was my first time in a program that involves meeting students from different nationalities and working together on new ideas,” he said. “This is a wonderful thing and I’m very glad to have gone through this experience, meeting new friends and learning many things in a field that I’m passionate about. I hope to do something that is related to it one day.”

The Junior Academy was supported by the Stevens Initiative, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government, and is administered by the Aspen Institute.

Urban Gardens Innovation Challenge in Rwanda, sponsored by Clifford Chance

Rwandan students stand around a garden planter they designed and fabricated.

With more than 500 participants, the Urban Gardens Innovation Challenge was a great success.

Published March 10, 2023

By David Freeman

With the participation of 547 students in 118 teams, the Urban Gardens Innovation Challenge organized in Rwanda by The New York Academy of Sciences in partnership with Association Mwana Ukundwa (AMU) has been a great success.

Sponsored by the Clifford Chance Cornerstone Initiative, the Spring 2022 competition tasked students aged 13-17 from Kigali, the country’s capital, to use micro-gardening techniques to broaden access to nutritious food sources.

Kigali is considered one of the most food-secure cities in Africa, but the ability to obtain nutritious food remains a concern for many poorer households. Malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies can result in stunted growth and put children and adults’ health at risk.

Eager to address food scarcity and poor nutrition, which affect their communities, the students took up the challenge with great enthusiasm and came up with a wide range of practical and creative solutions to help people living in crowded urban environments supplement their diet with home-grown vegetables.

Challenge participants dedicated many after-school hours to their projects, spending time researching urban gardening methods and suitable crops, brainstorming with their teammates and developing their projects.

Ten public schools and three charter schools, coordinated by AMU, supported the competition and gave students access to computer labs. Several Rwandan science teachers acted as mentors for participating teams.

After carefully reviewing submissions, the judges selected a winning project and five runner-up projects of distinction. Members of the winning team got a chance to showcase their project at the 2022 Global STEM Alliance Summit, organized by The New York Academy of Sciences.

Winning Team: Growing Vegetables

Team members: Tarah (Team Lead), Emerance, Solange, Emmanuel, Sandrine, Hirwa
Mentors: Baseka Didier (in Kigali) and Gaurangkumar Sharma

The team came up with an innovative solution to address food scarcity. To enable low-income households living in cramped conditions to grow vegetables, the team hung recycled PVC pipes and old bottles and used them as planters. Because PVC pipes contain toxic chemicals, the team stressed that they need to be cleaned with ashes before use. After careful research, the team opted to grow produce like onions, garlic and green vegetables, which do not grow long roots and can fit into these containers. The students also developed a simple but effective irrigation system consisting of old jerrycans, a tap and small tubes.

“We did the project after class, so the challenge was going home late and tiredness,” says Team Lead Tarah. But developing this project that can improve the lives of their relatives and the community around them was also a powerful experience for the enterprising students. “I learned a lot from my teammates,” says Emmanuel. “This group is very important to me, it helped me to be happy and work together.”

Runner-up Team: Reducing Lack of Vitamin in Urban Settlements

Team members: Landry (Team Lead), Marthe, Esperance, Sandra, Prince, Christine
Mentor: Rajit Sahu

After brainstorming on the best way to encourage urban dwellers to improve their vitamin intake by growing and consuming more fresh vegetables, members of this team considered three key factors: potential users in urban settlements tend to move frequently; they have little space to cultivate vegetables; and they are short of time. As a result, the team focused on creating a vertical, space-saving micro-garden on wheels. With recycled wooden planks, they fashioned a stair-like structure consisting of terraced planters, irrigated with tubing, which can be used to grow fresh vegetables.

Building their prototype required hard work but the team learned a lot in the course of working on this project and enjoyed the process. “In this project, I had a lot of fun and did hard work with the group, brainstorming and searching for a solution,” says Esperance.

Runner-up Team: Growing Vegetables

Team members: Fabrice (Team Lead), Nziza, Teddy, Ally, Djanati, Samuel

This team also focused on portability and created a vertical garden with wheels to cultivate a variety of crops. As planting containers, they used old jerrycans cut in half while wooden sticks provided legs. They then added wheels for easy transportation. Team members explored the nutritional qualities and health benefits of several types of vegetables and consulted experts, and opted to focus on carrots, cabbage, onions and green peppers.

“I thought our project would help the poor who do not have a large farm, as they cultivate small and fertile land,” says Ally. Team Lead Fabrice concurs and says he, too, has benefited from the project. “This project helped me in different ways: it got me thinking and work hard and helps my parents to have our own food garden with a great expense.”

Runner-up Team: Urban Garden

Team Members: Kamana (Team Lead), Aziz, Kamana, Ivanka
Mentor: Idowu Obisesan

The team conducted a survey in the community and discovered that many people lack knowledge and time to grow vegetables. Team members therefore focused on cultivating fast-growing plants such as lettuce, onions, cabbage that require minimal care. They found that by placing plants in a transparent jar filled with water that is changed every second day, roots would grow within two weeks. By encouraging their community to develop basic gardening skills, the team hope their initiative will have a positive impact on people’s daily lives.

“This project taught me that there are multiple ways to grow plants and that growing plants is actually really interesting if you give it time and attention,” says Ivanka. “It was an enlightening experience,” concurs her teammate Albina. “It has improved my communication ability. I would love to do it again.”

Runner-up Team: Growing Crops at Home by Using Discarded Materials

Team: Cedric (Team Lead), Esther, Jean-Marie, Christian, Kevin, Axelle
Mentor: Rubarema Maurice (in Kigali)

Having identified the high cost of vegetables as a root cause of poor nutrition, the team focused on using widely available discarded materials such as plastic bottles, glass and sacks to build a tiny kitchen garden. Using old timber, they constructed a small frame that they lined with sack fabric and filled with soil and manure. They carefully selected the vegetables they planted after researching the amounts of water and manure required for each crop.

“As team leader, I helped my team to find the land where we built our kitchen garden,“ says Cedric. Says team member Arielle: “I helped my team with the irrigation of our crops. I learned why we have to irrigate our crops and put manure in soil for every crop.”

Runner-up Team: Using Different Local Tools to Increase Crop Production

Team: Elias (Team Lead), Samantha Kiara, Englide, Glory, Uwase
Mentor: Rubarema Maurice (in Kigali)

To optimize the use of space, water and manure, and increase crop production, this team experimented with different seeds that they planted in a variety of recycled containers. For example, they drilled holes in the sides of plastic tubs to plant green onions. They also discovered that they could accelerate germination by poking small holes in nutrient-rich ripe bananas, planting seeds, then covering them up with soil.

“Working in this challenge helped me to think further and brainstorm. I also got new skills in making kitchen gardens, how to create innovation and transform useless tools into useful things,” says Team Lead Elias.

A broad positive impact

In September 2022, Academy and Clifford Chance staff visited Rwanda’s capital Kigali and discussed the Urban Gardens Innovation Challenge in a series of interviews with local stakeholders. They confirmed that the innovation challenge had left a lasting, positive impact at several levels:

Participating students supplemented their studies about nutrition and urban agriculture by deeply researching the subjects and were then able to apply their extended knowledge to improve soil quality and grow vegetables. In addition to improving their own family’s access to food, the students also gained self-confidence and developed a broad range of skills, including leadership, problem solving, critical thinking, teamwork, computer skills, and design and technology.
Teachers and participating schools expressed great satisfaction with the challenge. The nineteen local science teachers who mentored and supported students during the competition reported that the challenge had improved their own self-confidence. They expressed pride in the students’ contribution to address malnutrition in Rwanda. The challenge brought a new approach to teaching STEM, making it more relevant and rooted in the students’ living experience.
Families and the greater community also benefited from the challenge. Students’ parents followed their children’s progress with great excitement and acknowledged that the Urban Gardens Innovation Challenge had improved food stability in their household. They shared their children’s achievements with neighbors and the wider community.
Policy makers also highlighted the potential for further positive effects, since the Urban Gardens Innovation Challenge reinforced a government policy that encouraged households to grow their own food.

Technology for More Sustainable Agriculture

Winners of the Junior Academy Innovation Challenge Fall 2022: “The Green Redesign”

Published December 1, 2022

By Nicole Pope

Challenges in Agriculture

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has identified lack of innovation as one of the biggest challenges in agriculture. In a world facing multiple challenges such as depleted natural resources, climate change, and pollution, developing more efficient agricultural systems is crucial for our survival.

Through online brainstorming, the team concluded that emerging technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can address some of these issues and can help farmers who often lack the skill set to optimize agricultural methods. Overuse of fertilizer, for example, can pollute waterways, burn crops, deplete the soil of minerals and increase air pollution.

“It was an amazing experience to have connected with like-minded individuals and research world-changing approaches!” says Riya.

Greetopia team members decided to develop a web application that would tackle the excessive use of non-renewable resources.

“I got to research and learn more about the important crises around the world, such as concrete pollution, irrigation, etc.,” says Arshroop. “The constant communication within the team allowed us to keep up with the information and learn a lot of valuable lessons through the program.”

Utilizing the Internet of Things

In particular, the students opted to use the Internet of Things (IoT) to increase efficiency in irrigation and modernize farming practices that have remained unchanged for centuries.

“As team lead, I worked on planning our work, informing each member of what they have to do until certain target dates, creating documents to make the process efficient, and of course, conducting research about our research topic and filling in the milestones,” explains Team Lead Jiho.

The team devised “Kanad”, a farming application that delivers four main functions. First, it senses soil moisture levels by using a machine-learning component called Long Short-Term Memory Network (LSTM), which gets more accurate with use. Second, farmers can enter information on the Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK) content in the soil, (also analyzed by sensors) to identify the most optimally adapting crops for these soil characteristics and locations.

Utilizing Machine-Learning

Machine-learning can also recommend the optimal amount of fertilizer based on the same NPK levels in the field. Finally, farmers can enter images of their crop into the web-based application, which will use the Convolutional Neural Network deep learning system to identify potential crop diseases with an accuracy of 95.25%.

Arriving at this successful solution did not prove easy: the team decided to change direction halfway through the Challenge.

“I’m glad that the team members understood the sudden change in our projected target in the middle of the program, which led to a successful ending,” says Ansh. In the end, perseverance paid off and the outcome amply justified the effort involved.

“Despite the obstacles we encountered, we made it till the end,” says Rawnaq. “We did not just complete the challenge but the result was awesome.”

[1] Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organisation
[2] Source: US Department of Agriculture
[3] Source: World Wildlife Fund (WWF-UK)

An Innovative Approach to Predicting Forest Fires

Winners of the Junior Academy Innovation Challenge Fall 2022: “Forestry for a Sustainable Future”

Published December 1, 2022

By Nicole Pope

Sponsored by Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA)

Prolonged droughts, caused by climate change, have amplified the risks of forest fires around the globe– making blazes bigger, more frequent, and more intense.

These fires devastate vast swathes of forests and often spread into residential areas, threatening lives and housing. Research by the University of Maryland suggests that fires cause forests to lose 3 million more hectares annually than in 2001. Furthermore, the UN Environment Program estimates that by 2100, the number of forest fires will increase by 50%.

The team Intelligent Forest — Chinmay R. (India, Team Lead), Rohan S. (India), and Soumik P. (India) — worked under the guidance of their mentor Malarvizhi Arulraj (United States) to tackle this critical issue as part of the “Forestry for a Sustainable Future” Fall 2022 Junior Academy Challenge, sponsored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA). Intelligent Forest bested the field among 175 competitors. Their innovative method to predict the risk of fire helped them to win.

“It was great taking on real world problems and using our intellect to solve them. I learned various things throughout the course of the challenge such as AI, weather patterns, machine learning applications and much more,” says Rohan. “We worked hard as a team and came up with a solution in the end together.”

Understanding Forest Fires

Forest fires can be triggered by natural factors, such as lightning, or by human factors, such as the careless dropping of a cigarette or the lighting of an unnecessary fire in severe drought conditions. Crown fires burn the entire length of the trees while surface fires only scorch dried leaves and grass.

In some cases, fire can rage under the ground. As the team discovered over the course of their research, climatic conditions play a critical role– the hotter and drier the weather, the more destructive the fire is likely to be.

Finding ways to mitigate the impact of these now-frequent infernos required hard work, but the team members worked collaboratively to achieve results.

“There were times when I was uncertain as to whether we would even reach the end, but here we are,” says Soumik. “It was a fun experience working with my team members, and I had the opportunity to add and develop my skills. My main contribution was helping with the research side of things and suggesting ideas and edits.”

Utilizing Artificial Intelligence

With support from their mentor, the students decided to focus on harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyze forest and temperature data, in the hope that it would be possible to predict the risk of fires.

“I was impressed by the plans and ideas the team put together and was absolutely delighted to mentor the team,” says their mentor, Malarvizhi. “They chose a problem and approach that was hard and challenging. Especially, finding the best dataset and creating working machine-learning algorithms needs a lot of effort.”

Using data on fire alerts and meteorological information (minimal and maximal temperatures, rainfall, solar radiation and daily evaporation) collected in the Brisbane area in Australia between 2012 and 2022, the team tested two different AI approaches: Decision Tree and Random Forest.

The Results

The goal was to create four categories: no risk, low risk, medium risk or high risk of fire. The results provided the proof-of-concept the team expected. With the Decision Tree approach, they were able to predict fire risk with 70% accuracy, while the accuracy was 79% using the Random Forest approach.

These findings demonstrated that with the help of AI, it is possible to predict the risk of forest fires with 70–80% accuracy, which, in turn, allows for increased preparedness and limited impact.

“The project was a great learning experience for me,” says Team Lead Chinmay. “I had taken Artificial Intelligence as a subject in high school and this project taught me how I could apply what I had learned in a real-life situation.”

Meeting Electricity Needs in the Philippines

A shot of planet Earth taken from space.

Winners of the Junior Academy Innovation Challenge Spring 2022: “Flexible Use of Electricity”

Published July 1, 2022

By Roger Torda

Team Members: Abhi G. (Team Lead) (India), Marianne I. (Philippines), Shreya J. (Canada), Angel I. (Philippines), Elijah U. (Nigeria)

Mentor: Muhammad Mahad Malik (Pakistan)

For this Junior Academy challenge on Flexible Use of Electricity, the five Power On team members chose to address a thorny issue: the energy deficit in the Philippines, where electricity demand is growing rapidly, and supply falls short of demand– leaving close to 30% of the population without electricity or facing significant fluctuations in electricity supply known as brownouts. Constraints on access to power are especially acute in rural areas and on the country’s numerous islands.

“The flexible electricity challenge is one of the most complex research projects I’ve ever worked on as it took quite a while for me to decipher the exact problems that needed to be tackled,” explains Elijah. “However, this pushed me to engage more in extensive readings, and actively be a part of reaching out to and interviewing numerous experts.”

After conducting a survey in nine countries, consulting their mentor and experts, and brainstorming through the Academy’s Launchpad platform, the team members narrowed down potential solutions to focus on three approaches.

“Asking questions and making sure that we understood the concepts fueled me to keep on collecting more knowledge,” says Marianne. “Interviewing different experts from different fields gave us new perspectives when we dealt with this challenge. Because a problem has deep roots, it is important to look at it from different angles.”

Raising Public Awareness

First, based on the results of their survey, the students determined it was important to raise public awareness of electricity issues such as peaks/non-peaks, flexible use of electricity, and supply, storage and distribution. They’ve addressed this need for awareness with an entertaining game designed to educate consumers.

“I had to meet experts from around the globe to hear their perspectives on flexible electricity,” explains Angel. “It made me realize that people may have different geographies and have various living standards, but what we have in common is that we face similar problems, such as balancing the demand and supply of electricity.”

The second pillar of the students’ project is Demaflex, an app to forecast demand and improve the response. The app would analyze data to predict times of high demand and encourage consumers to reduce the pressure on the power grid by scheduling their use of various appliances (such as dishwashers or washing machines) during off-peak periods. By sending recommendations to power users, the app would promote flexible use of electricity.

Finally, the team focused on developing Electrade, an app-based, decentralized, user-friendly energy trading platform that would allow people to buy energy and sell excess electricity back to the grid. The enterprising students will be working with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD), which have created a partnership program to grant startup funding towards commercializing their solutions.

An Eye-Opening Experience

Seeing their project take shape has given the team members a great sense of achievement.

“Electricity, in particular, always seemed like an intimidating challenge to tackle, but now, I’ve learned so much,” says Shreya. “I’m proud of the solution that we created and the work we’ve done to create, test, innovate, and communicate our project to the world.”

Participating in the Junior Academy challenge has been an intense learning experience and the students are delighted that their hard work has paid off– winning the challenge is merely the icing on the cake.

“The Flexible Electricity Challenge, for me personally, was quite an eye-opener. From all the research done by everyone on the team, I’ve learned quite a few things about the grid, electricity supply, and the demand response system,” says Team Lead Abhi. “The late nights and the sheer amount of work each and every one put in on our project is something I’ll always remember and be grateful for.”

Raising Awareness about Water Quality in Ukraine

Meet Sea Saviors, the winning team of the Fall 2021 Junior Academy Challenge “Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems.”

Published December 15, 2021

By Roger Torda

In the fall of 2021, six budding scientists entered the Junior Academy Challenge and teamed up online to address eutrophication in the Black Sea area and the Dnieper River that runs across Ukraine. Team members were Anzhelika-Mariia H. (Team Lead) (Ukraine), Kusum S. (Nepal), Aman Kumar F. (India), Manan P. (India), Ksheerja S. (India), and Viktoriia L. (Ukraine); the team worked under the mentorship of Pratibha Gupta (India).

Eutrophication is a naturally-occurring process that affects the chemical composition of water bodies. When this process is accelerated by human factors like industrial waste, sewage and fertilizers from farms, it causes excessive growth of algae and phytoplankton, oxygen deficiency, and dead zones – thus threatening ecosystems, biodiversity, and public health.

As a first step, the Challenge participants conducted research to better understand the root causes of the problem in the Dnieper River basin.

“I got tons of insights on eutrophication and how it is destroying our planet’s life,” explains Aman Kumar.

Encouraged by their mentor Pratibha (a.k.a. “Power Girl”), the students also looked at existing solutions before brainstorming new approaches that could improve the aquatic environment.

“Our mentor’s enlightening advice and expertise showed me just how vital the role of mentor is,” says Manan. “Hopefully, some day, I can become a Junior Academy mentor!”

Focusing Ecological Ditches

The team eventually opted to focus on ecological ditches, a traditional drainage system that developed in Ukraine in the 1960s, when the country was still part of the Soviet Union. Located at the edge of fields, eco-ditches allow excess rainwater to be carried away. In their conventional form, the drainage channels are inefficient at filtering unwanted fertilizer or nutrients and the team sought ways to improve them with better engineering.

“The diversity of our group, not only geographical, but also the unique personality that each of us carried added immense value to our work,” says Kusum.

The students identified a potential solution of adding plants with strong filtration capacity to eco-ditches, and looked at hydraulic flow rate control.

“I met hardworking individuals who helped me improve my own skills and taught me many valuable lessons in teamwork and analytical thinking,” says Ksheerja.

Eco-ditches require regular maintenance to remove sediments. While polluting industries can be easily identified, farms are harder to locate – yet farms release nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers that affect the delicate chemical balance of water bodies. The students saw a potential path to a sustainable solution: by mapping agricultural farms and existing canals, they could be linked into common drainage systems that could be monitored.

Raising Awareness Through Gaming

Raising awareness of the threats posed by eutrophication is also crucial. The Sea Saviors designed a web-based computer game aimed at children aged 8-13 to sensitize them to environmental issues.

“My role was to be a game designer and developer. Because of the Junior Academy, I found out about different ways of creating the video game and practiced one more game developing engine,” says Viktoriia.

In the two-level game, a friendly sea monster tries to make the aquatic environment more habitable for his fish buddies. In the process, Bob the Monster introduces young players to ecological ditches and the cultivation of oyster shells as ways of regulating the aquatic ecosystem.

“My team was tenacious and industrious from the beginning,” says Pratibha, thrilled with her mentees’ achievements. “Each member had faith in the other one to work diligently.”

For the winning team members, the project has been a stimulating learning experience that allowed them to form strong bonds.

“Working on this project boosted my motivation to continue my studies in the hope of becoming a scientist one day,” said Anzhelika-Mariia.

Empowering Girls in STEM, Improving Futures for All

An engineering from Google gives a presentation.

The New York Academy of Sciences empowers young women to pursue STEM-related careers.

Published November 10, 2020

By Roger Torda

The New York Academy of Sciences and its Global STEM Alliance partners want to grow the STEM pipeline, and engage and retain more young women in STEM-related careers. Our programs connect motivated, enthusiastic female mentors with smart, STEM-focused high school girls from around the world to help them develop essential 21st century skills.

In this video meet some of the amazing girls in the 1000 Girls, 1000 Futures program committed to a future in STEM.

NYC Teacher Brings STEM to Her Social Studies Class

A woman poses for the camera with NYC's Brooklyn Bridge in the background.

Servena Narine, who teaches at a New York City public school in Brooklyn, uses science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills to help her elementary school students master their social studies curriculum.

Published November 2, 2020

By Roger Torda

This summer, Narine used time made available because of the COVID-19 shutdown to take The New York Academy of Sciences’ online course STEM Education in the 21st Century. During the eight-week course, she designed a curriculum for fourth-grade students. One of the units called for students to use data analytics in creating an infographic to “tell a story about the effects of immigration on New York City’s industrial growth in the 1900s.”

The Seven Essential STEM Skills

Servena Narine outside her classroom at PS 307 in Brooklyn

“It was a course where we incorporated seven essential STEM skills into our teaching,” Narine said in a recent phone interview. “I think sometimes as teachers we do that naturally, but through the course I was able to more deeply integrate the STEM skills into my lesson plans.”

Narine was referring to seven skills Identified by the Academy’s STEM Education Framework. critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, communication, collaboration, data literacy, and digital literacy and computer science. These skills form the foundation of the course.

“The Academy developed its Framework back in 2016 as a research-based tool that can be used to ensure students receive high-quality STEM learning,” said Chris Link, the Academy’s Director of Education. “Our online course coaches teachers on strategies they can use to help their students build critical 21st-century skills.”

“Eight years ago, my school became a magnet school for STEM studies,” Narine explained, referring to PS 307, which serves pre-K through fifth grade in the Vinegar Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. “I’m always looking to learn more about what it means to be a STEM school, and what it means to integrate the principles of STEM into the classroom. When I saw that this course was available, and that it was free, and that I had time on my hands because everyone was self-isolating because of COVID-19, I jumped right into it.”

Continuing Teacher and Leader Education

Narine was one of 100 New York City teachers enrolled in the course through the sponsorship of Medidata, which has supported several Academy STEM programs. Narine and other teachers who completed the course received 30 Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE) credits required by New York State to maintain certification.

“I loved that the course was asynchronous, so I could set a schedule for myself,” Narine said. “The participants, the other teachers, all reviewed each others’ work, and offered feedback. That was a great benefit. And I loved that for each of the seven skills there was an expert in the field who was able to share information.

Narine’s course not only incorporated STEM skills, but aligned closely with the state’s Passport to Social Studies curriculum. To develop critical thinking skills, one of her units calls on students to analyze documents from the Colonial and Revolutionary War periods. A unit on problem solving asks students to develop solutions to clashes between Native Americans and colonists.

Cross-Interdisciplinary Skills for Students

A unit on the geography of New York calls for creativity in designing maps to promote tourist destinations. Yet another unit is designed to promote collaboration skills as teams make a game to test knowledge of material covered in earlier units. These cross-disciplinary skills serve students in their social studies classes, their STEM classes, and beyond.

“The curriculum asks students to look at Native Americans as the first inhabitants of New York State,” Narine said, explaining how she started thinking about a unit that would focus on communication skills, another area of focus in the Academy’s online course.

“I remember thinking that we’d be learning about Native Americans in the region around the time we’d be celebrating Thanksgiving,” she continued. “And I thought it would be nice to have the children create a public service announcement to give thanks to Native Americans for the contributions they have made to New York State and to our society, rather than the other way around, where we pretty much look at the European influence and teach that it is because of the Europeans that we have Thanksgiving. I said, ‘Let’s turn it around and say thank you to the first inhabitants of New York for their contributions.’”

Advancing Science of the Global Public Good

A shot of various hands coming together in unity.

Teams, made up of 28 students from 11 countries, win international challenges in Space Exploration, Smart Technology for Home and Health, Cybersecurity, Sustainable Transportation, and the battle against COVID-19.

Published August 12, 2020

By Roger Torda

Five international teams made up of 28 students from 11 countries have demonstrated they can solve challenges that vex the most experienced scientists and engineers. The students are among more than a thousand that competed in 2020 Challenges run by teams, made up of 28 students from 11 countries, won international challenges in various fields of science as part of The New York Academy of Sciences’ Global STEM Alliance. The teams collaborated across borders to develop solutions related to the coronavirus pandemic, routine healthcare monitoring, cybersecurity, lunar exploration, and sustainable transportation.

The Combating COVID-19 Challenge

“I didn’t want to stand by and passively wait for the pandemic to be over,” said Young Chen, explaining why he assembled a team to enter the Combating COVID-19 Challenge. “It was a combination of curiosity, risk-taking, and desire to help my community.” Chen, from Ashburn, Virginia, four other students from the United States, and another from New Delhi, India, won first place among 200 entries in the global competition. Their winning project, called GOvid-19, was a chatbot to provide users with information about government responses, emergency resources, and statistics on COVID-19, and ways they can help fight the pandemic.

The Academy’s goal with the competitions is to help students develop capabilities necessary for effective work and leadership in STEM fields. “Providing opportunities for students to build 21^st-century skills like problem solving, collaboration and communication are core goals of our challenge programs,” said Hank Nourse, Senior Vice President & Chief Learning Officer for the Academy, in announcing the winners of the Challenges. This year, several of the Challenges were especially valuable as non-classroom projects for students whose schools had closed because of COVID-19. “Several of these teams completed their work during shutdowns due to the pandemic,” Nourse explained. “We are happy to know that our digital tools allowed students to continue working and learning without interruption.”

The Intelligent Homes & Health Challenge

Zoe Piccirillo, leader for the team that won the Intelligent Homes & Health Challenge, described some of what she learned: “I have become a more open-minded, collaborative and creative individual from working with the motivated and bright members of our team… My team members also helped make our final solution more inclusive. The diversity of the group provided new perspectives regarding what values and concerns are prevalent across the world.” Zoe’s Health Sync team designed a secure, in-home health monitoring system connecting patients, doctors, and pharmacists. Zoe, from New York City, worked with another student from the United States, two from Sweden, and one each from the Philippines and Australia.

I have become a more open-minded, collaborative and creative individual from working with the motivated and bright members of our team.
Zoe Piccirillo

After assembling their teams, the students use the Academy’s Launchpad platform to connect with a volunteer mentor and then to reach out to other experts as they conduct research. “Mentors are often early career scientists, from academia and industry, who volunteer their time to help guide the students with their projects,” explained Kaari Casey, GSA program manager.

“I’m incredibly proud of my teams,” said Jessica Black, the mentor for Health Sync and a veteran of nine previous Challenges. “Often, the topics that are presented for these challenges are varied and out of the scope of what most students are studying in school,” Black continued. “They have to integrate their knowledge base with newly acquired information that must be obtained through research. It’s a new process for many of them. To see the resolutions and presentations they formulate by the end of the challenge is incredible.”

Black is a fellow in pediatric oncology at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City. “As a female in STEM I feel it’s really important to act as a role model not just for my female students, but for all of my students,” she added. The Intelligent Homes and Health Challenge was sponsored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, AstraZeneca, and Chalmers University of Technology.

The Cybersecurity in the Age of IoT Challenge

A team calling itself Cybercastle won the Cybersecurity in the Age of IoT Challenge, with a system that uses blockchain technology to encrypt medical records. Team lead Rasmus Häggkvist, from Norrbotten, Sweden, described his criteria for forming a team using Launchpad, saying he “was looking for kind, organized, diligent, and prudent perfectionists.” He found them in all corners of the world, including India, Morocco, Canada and the Philippines. The Cybersecurity Challenge was sponsored by the S&P Global Foundation, with 25 employees from S&P Global serving as mentors to student teams.

The Space Challenge

The LunarX team won the Space Challenge for its plan to colonize the Moon, including designs for shelters, sustainable food and water systems, and artificial intelligence tools for energy and mobile transport. Sachee Kachchakaduge, the team’s leader from Vancouver, Canada, pointed to the importance of using digital communications in a global project: “We used asynchronous collaboration to work on our own time. Distance and time zones did not prove to be issues, and we were able to work as if we were school friends or classmates.”

Sachee also pointed to opportunities to expand skills in sometimes unexpected ways: “At the surface, challenges seem like they only teach you about the topic at hand. However, in reality, you learn many other things. The team provides a safe space for everyone to try new software, and to learn from others and to test out your ideas.” Sachee’s teammates were from the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Moldova, India, and the United States.

LunarX team mentor Garret Schneider, a retired aeronautical and astronautical engineer who worked in the Air Force and in industry, said the team worked hard to avoid becoming overwhelmed: “I think their biggest obstacles were digesting all the information and possibilities, and also deciding where to focus their energies…. [This] contributed to their success, as well as their dedication to tie all the elements of their solution together in a thorough, coherent manner.” Garret, who has volunteered with the Academy for close to 20 years, said he benefits as well as the students: “I have a renewed respect for the intelligence and capability and spirit of our youth – I feel pride to have been associated with them.”

The Chain of Transportation Challenge

A team calling itself LiFe won the Sustainable Chain of Transportation Challenge. The team designed a battery, a vehicle and an app to match specific transportation needs with the most efficient transportation solutions. Team member Abby Liang, from Troy, Michigan, said: “My new knowledge about the scientific research and design process, as well as both technical and creative skills from coding to policy frameworks to project management, will stay with me as I continue in my studies… I am so proud of our final comprehensive design.”

Members of the team were from Mexico, New Zealand, Egypt and the United States. The Sustainable Chain of Transportation Challenge was sponsored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and the Volvo Group.

Winning teams will receive a trip to New York City for next year’s annual GSA Summit, as this year’s Summit was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. In lieu of the in-person event this year, a virtual summit was held last month. Nicholas B. Dirks, the Academy’s President and CEO, addressed almost a thousand students and mentors, with a message about the importance of cross-discipline curiosity.

Laura Helmuth, Editor-In-Chief of Scientific American, delivered a keynote address, describing career pathways to science journalism and explaining the importance of good communication in the practice of science.

One of S&P Global’s 25 Challenge mentors echoed the belief that the exchange of ideas is a two-way process. “I wanted the chance… [to] get some exposure to what the next generation thinks about the problems the world is facing,” said Ryan Duve, a senior data scientist. Ryan worked with several teams and mentored a team called Symblot, which competed in the Cybersecurity Challenge. “I think the most important part of mentoring is just being a positive example of what you can be when you grow up,” he continued. “Too many young people only hear about different professions in articles and never really get a chance to do Q&A with a practitioner, which is a role I thought I could help fill.”

Winning Teams for the 2020 Global STEM Alliance Challenges

Combatting COVID-19

Abhay Sheshadri, Monroe Township, NJ, US; Anshul Mahajan, New Delhi, India; Regan Razon, Morrisville, NC, US; Tanush Swaminathan, Monroe Township, NJ, US; Young Chen, Asburn, VA, US.

Cybersecurity in the Age of IoT

Rasmus Häggkvist, Norbotten, Sweden; Sneha Pullanoor, Mumbai, India; Ouahib Timoulali, Kenitra, Morocco; Subaita Rahman, Toronto, Canada; Ma. Rizza Cerilles, Cavite, Philippines; Max Kenning, Stockholm, Sweden.

Space

Sachee Kachchakaduge, Vancouver, Canada; Sreenidhi Vijayaraghavan, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Andreea Bujor, Ungheni, Republic of Moldova; Abhinav Agarwal, Jaipur, India; Arnav Hazra, San Francisco, CA, US; Naveen HV, Mysore, India.

Intelligent Homes & Health

Sara Rydell, Stockholm, Sweden; Jana Montanez, Parañaque City, Philippines; Ansh Gadodia, Princeton Junction, NJ, US; Sophia Li, Melbourne, Australia; Alice Forslund, Göteborg, Sweden; Zoe Piccirillo, New York, NY, US.

Sustainable Chain of Transportation

Cynthia Ramirez Meneses, Texcoco, Mexico; Izabela Zmirska, St. Augustine, FL, US; Evie Rose Grace, Dunedin, New Zealand; Ishita Bhimavarapu, Princeton, NJ, US; Abby Liang, Troy, MI, US.

Learn more about educational opportunities at the Academy.

Older posts

Newer posts