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The top 30 finalists in the nation鈥檚 premier STEM competition, the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge, also known as the Thermo Fisher JIC, arrived in Washington D.C. earlier this week for Finals Week. Yesterday, finalists showcased their projects and answered questions about their work at Planet Word Museum. The students were selected from a pool of 300 to compete for more than $100,000 in awards and prizes. These talented kids are just starting their STEM journeys and are on track to become future STEM leaders.鈥疻e had the chance to catch up with six finalists at this year鈥檚 Project Showcase.听

In 2023, Alexander Godsey, 14, a resident of Hawaii, saw first-hand the detrimental fires that ravaged through Maui. Feeling a call to serve his community, Alexander decided to focus his research on how native and non-native grasses contributed to the spread of the fires.鈥�鈥淭here was $3.2 billion in property damage and 100 deaths, largely due to native grasses, I wanted to find an alternative for the replanting of those fields affected by the fires.鈥濃�疉lex鈥檚 project showcased that the native grasses were less flammable than non-native grasses.鈥�鈥�鈥淣on-native grasses originally came in the 1700s for cattle,鈥� Alex explained. 鈥淎nd after the cattle left, the grass took over the hills and fields and it’s still there,鈥濃�疉lex says the next step would be reaching out to the government about replanting efforts. Alex would advocate for the planting of native grasses, as his research showed native grasses took 41.3 seconds longer to ignite and non-native grasses burned 73.1 seconds longer.听

鈥淚 never expected to make it this far, but it鈥檚 really cool,鈥� Alex says about his experience in Washington, D.C. 鈥淚 hope my research will make some changes to the conversation around planting non-native grasses alongside native ones.鈥濃��听

Dalia Habib, 13, was inspired to help the environment after wondering what happens to leftover pumpkins, apples and corn from fall festivities. She studied how the enzyme cellulase breaks down plant cellulose to produce ethanol. Using seven types of plant matter, Dalia found that adding cellulase and yeast could double or even quadruple ethanol yield. Inspired by the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, she hopes to test her project in a lab using gas chromatography.听

While Dalia investigated plant aftermath, finalist Sophia Hou, 15, studied the early stages of plants, focusing on seed germination.鈥疭ophia, who is from Livingston, N.J., studied whether methylcobalamin (an active form of B12) could improve mung bean germination under high temperatures. Her research suggests that seeds treated with methylcobalamin water could potentially better tolerate heat stress due to antioxidants.鈥疭ophia says the effects of global warming cause an increase in ROS, which negatively impacts germination.鈥疭ophia says her work 鈥溾��could help farmers, especially in climate, vulnerable regions.鈥� 听

Arya Hirsave, 12, from Austin, Texas, researched the effect of various antibiotics on digestive enzyme activity.鈥疉rya was aware of the effects of antibiotics on the gut microbe but wanted to test how different antibiotics might affect digestive enzymes. Arya tested four different antibiotics 鈥� penicillin, erythromycin, ampicillin and neomycin.鈥疊ased on her results, she concludes that neomycin is the safest antibiotic as it doesn鈥檛 cause G.I. tract side effects due to reductions in nutrient digestion.鈥�听

鈥淢y research could help doctors and patients to identify which foods are safe to eat while taking antibiotics,鈥� she explains. Arya, who plans to go into aeronautical engineering, says that since third grade, she has chosen different research topics to see what she likes the most.鈥�鈥淚t鈥檚 really cool to be here and hang out with other finalists who are like me too.鈥� Arya shares.鈥疻hile Arya researched the effects of what goes into our bodies, Mackensey (Macky) McNeal Wilson researched the effects of what goes into our furry friends.鈥�听

From Riverside, Conn., Macky, 14, wanted to shed light on the prevalence of harmful BHT preservatives in artificially made dog foods. After noticing significant skin irritations in her two dogs, she thought that their food could be contributing to the symptoms. Macky investigated three popular dog food brands, using a spectrometer, to find how much BHT was in each.鈥疘nitially, Macky didn鈥檛 think she would find BHT in the food since the nutritional label did not list BHT, however, she discovered the brand Acana included 0.101% of BHT, Wilderness included 0.124% and Wellness included 0.104% of BHT.鈥�听

鈥�鈥淣ext steps include finding safer preservatives to keep dog food fresh, while also not posing as much risk,鈥� Macky says, who hopes to become a veterinarian.鈥�鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing to be here鈥擨 didn鈥檛 expect to go to do the state fair, let alone to Thermo Fisher JIC.鈥澨�听

Yash Mehta, 14, who hails from Durham, N.C., solved a problem that he noticed while visiting a school for the blind in Old Delhi, India. He noticed that the students were using modern electronic braille readers because of the cost.鈥痀ash then created an electronic braille reader that could be built for less than $50, using tiny rotating motors to poke users’ fingers in braille patterns. He tested his machine with students at the school in Old Delhi; the students could read his braille motors with 86 percent accuracy compared to printed braille.鈥疕is model costs only $35 and he has filed a patent on his device.鈥�听

鈥淭he next thing I would like to do to expand this project is incorporating OCR (Optical Character Recognition),鈥� Yash says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome being here and seeing how everyone wants to collaborate with everyone. I think having teams is a great idea to get everyone involved.鈥濃��听听

Stay tuned for the Thermo Fisher JIC winners鈥� announcement on the evening of October 29, 2024. Check out the finalist projects here.听听

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