2016 Finalists

2016 Semifinalists

rose schnabel

International School of Indiana, Indiana

The Emergency Thrombocyte Applicator (ETA) is a solution to the issue of hemorrhage. This problem falls under the category of “Global Health” because it is related to wellbeing of people worldwide. Over 4 million people die each year as a result of losing too much blood. The ETA aims to lower this statistic by providing temporary protection to a wound. It is designed to work in intense, high-pressure situations such as ambulances en route to the hospital, operating tables, and war zones, because that is where most deep wounds occur. However, if this technology were to be implemented on a large scale, it could also be a common household item, as it is incredibly simple and quick to use.

The ETA consists of two main components: a piston syringe filled with artificially created platelets and fibrin, and a computer algorithm used to determine the number of platelets needed. The first step of the creation process is to create a substance just like human bone marrow. To achieve this, microtubes are printed from porous silk to mimic capillaries, and filled with Megakaryocytes. Then, the bone marrow cells naturally produce platelets identical to those found in human blood. Each individual platelet is only about 2 microns large. About 5 trillion of these platelets are then transferred into a piston syringe and mixed with fibrin, a protein that will later help with coagulation. The syringe is kept in 22ºC and is constantly moved to maintain functionality.

The platelets produced will last about 5-7 days, but if they are not used in that time period they can be frozen and thawed when needed. When the time comes to put them into action, a computer algorithm will determine how many are needed. This is necessary because there are consequences if not enough or too many are applied. These could worsen the injury, and then the patient’s chances of survival would drop even lower. To avoid this, the user (an EMT or other professional) simply enters the dimensions of the wound and then notes the output, which says how many platelets should be dispensed. The simplicity for the user ensures a quick response. In order to make things simple for the user, the code needed to have multiple facets. (See below)

Once the user notes the number of platelets needed, they then administer that many through the 2-millimeter tip of the piston syringe. They make sure to distribute them evenly, and then set the syringe aside for future use. Finally, they apply a moderate dose of collagen (a protein) to the wound to speed up platelet aggregation. Once the process is over and a “platelet plug” has been formed, the patient won’t suffer from rapid blood loss and will be able to continue to the next phase of professional medical care. Writing code and designing this solution will lead to saving lives. That is the power of women in computer science. 

Lindsey rose berry

Shiloh Middle School, Illinois

I developed my game for the ProjectCSGIRLS competition, and using computer technology I decided to help the autistic population under the theme of Global Health. My inspiration came from my former Language Arts teacher’s son, who is autistic. Realizing that he was really into computers, I though this could help him and a lot of others, too because one of the main challenges for a person with ASD is that they can’t tell how others are feeling, and so they shy away from human interaction a lot and either want to and don’t know how or have no interest in socializing in the first place. If they could register someone else’s emotions, however, they might be more social, and as people with ASD normally have specialized interests they really excel in, they could contribute a lot if they could socialize and share their expertise. That’s where S.T.E.E.R comes in! S.T.E.E.R, the name of my game, is an acronym that stands for Something to Enhance Emotional Recognition. And with that, let me tell you how it works. The user plays a game where 11 different emotions are shown to them one at a time: happiness, sadness, frustration, silliness, boredom, upset, confusion, disgust, embarrassment, anger, and fear. Then a menu pops up with a choice of two emotions. If the user gets the emotion correct, then they get five points and how the emotion is displayed is explained to them. If they don’t get it right, then no points are added or deducted, but the emotion is explained to the user and then they move on. There is no time limit on the game, but it typically takes 2 minutes to complete it. You can play it multiple times by pressing the 0 key when you finish each round. 

isabela perdomo

Norman S. Edelcup/Sunny Isles Beach K-8, Florida

The inspiration for this project comes from a desire to find a better way to prevent barnacle growth on marine vessels than the current method available.  The most common method for preventing barnacle growth today is to paint the hull of the boat with a paint called anti fouling paint.  This paint is made of many toxic materials that are detrimental to the environment.  Anti-fouling paint is a very heavy paint which means it puts extra weight on the boat.  So, the boats engine has to put extra effort into pushing the boat through the water, causing unnecessary consumption of fuel which is also detrimental to the environment.  Not only does anti fouling paint hurt the environment through the release of dangerous toxins, damage the boats engine by exerting its use, and burn fuel unnecessarily emitting pollutants into the atmosphere, it is also very expensive. The price range for a gallon of this paint ranges from $30-$200.  Multiple gallons are typically needed to cover the bottom of the average boat.

For these reasons I am going to try to create a cost effective and an environmentally friendly device that will still do the same or better job at reducing barnacle growth on marine vessels.  To do this I have decided to use an ultra-sonic speaker, also known as a Piezo electric speaker.  This speaker is meant to produce such high frequencies that an almost perfect human ear would not be able to hear.  But how is this speaker able to do this?  A regular speaker converts electricity to motion by causing the magnet and coil inside to repel and attract at a certain speed.  But to make a higher frequency, the speaker must have less mass.  So, scientists discovered that a higher frequency could be made by directly sending electricity to a PIEZO element with no magnet or coil.  This speaker can produce sounds higher than what the human ear can hear (more than 20,000 Hz).

Five squares of plexi-glass will be left in the water for two months.  They will be weighed prior to submerging.  The Piezo electric speakers will be attached to squares of plexi-glass and placed into a canal.  Each Piezo electric speaker is programed to make a different frequency.  The first two speakers will have a single frequency the entire time. The third speaker will scan through different frequencies.  The idea of having a speaker that scans through different frequencies came about because there might be a possibility that different barnacles stop growing at different frequencies. There will also be one square of plexi-glass with no speaker as a control and another square that is painted with anti-fouling paint.  After a pre-determined period of time (approximately 2 months), the 5 squares of plexi-glass will be weighed and compared to when first placed in the canal. Throughout the experiment the squares will also be visually observed and video-taped.

simrithaa karunakaran

Quimby Oak Middle School, California

I wanted to use my passion for science and my need to give back to my community to save the lives of others. That is how my Drowning Alert System came about! With the help of a sponsor, I hope to patent this device and make my prototype a reality so if you like my idea, I would really appreciate any help you could provide me with! Read on to learn more about my device, the Drowning Alert System.

y project is the Drowning Alert System. Drowning is a prevalent danger worldwide, causing many deaths yearly. According to the World Health Organization, drowning is the second leading cause of death for children ages 1 - 14 in America. Worldwide, drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional death, with 372,000 cases yearly. Drowning can happen in any level of water and should be prevented in any way possible. My Drowning Alert System is a one of a kind, original device that sounds an alarm and sends a text message to the user’s phone when submersion into water for over 10 seconds has occurred.(time limit configurable)

This device has two water sensing probes to be placed above each nostril. When these two probes are submerged in water, it is for certain that both one’s nose and mouth are submerged in water, hence in the state of near drowning. The submersion of these two probes completes the circuit, which begins to calculate how long the submersion has been occurring. If the submersion time exceeds the configured time limit, then an alarm will start sounding and a text message will be sent to the configured phone number. Once the probes are taken out, the time period would reset and the calculation for the submerged time would restart. To create this device, I mainly used an Arduino Uno microcontroller board, a Geeetech GPRS shield, and a breadboard.

This device would greatly benefit our society and humankind as a whole. My Drowning Alert System makes the world safer, resulting in less deaths due to the lack of parental monitoring. My device can also be used to detect water leakage or water damage in a house, outdoors, or in businesses, which could potentially save the loss of millions of dollars for restoration of the damaged property. It could also be used to check the cleanliness of the water, for the alarm and text message will only be sent if the water has high conductivity, which should be absent in any sort of drinking water. This would prevent the thousands of deaths caused by water-related diseases such as malaria and typhoid. In our world, IoT is emerging rapidly. What was once done solely by manpower is now being done through technology with immaculate accuracy.  In a world like this, it is not practical to believe that the only solution to many problems is by constant human observation. My Drowning Alert System provides a solution to one of these problems. 

manaal shareh, dishita sen, isabella chaves

Windemere Ranch Middle School, California

Our project is what we call a Translation Earpiece. This practical and easy to use device can be the difference between life and death. The basic idea is that the user inserts the earpiece and connects it to an app on any smartphone that we have developed through Bluetooth. The device is what we call it, a Translation Earpiece. Imagine running into a person who has collapsed on the street, and they cannot speak fluent English. In desperate times, it is important to focus on speaking to the person. So with the Translation Earpiece, our application dials the number of a “Help Center”, where an expert directs you to a person who can speak the language that you need translation to. This way, you can assist the person and speak with them hands-free. This is very important in a situation like this so that the person can stay calm. Situations like this are difficult to foresee, so for that reason, the Translation Earpiece is small and portable. We have seen other devices similar to our prototype, but they are large and costing thousands of dollars. To ensure that our Earpiece is easy to use and quick to set up, we ran an experiment using a young girl fluent in English, a middle-aged woman not fluent in English, and an older woman fluent in English. Given instruction on how to set up the device, all three subjects were able to complete the setup process in less than twenty seconds. We believe that it is easy for everyone, especially because the subjects were not given extremely explicit instruction. All in all, we sincerely believe that the project we have created has the ability to save lives of all types, and change lives of all types. 
 

Elea Vander Burgh, Bohuen Tong

Talbert Middle School, California

As middle school girls, we use emojis every day to communicate. They are everywhere. They are either on a top or a pair of leggings. Sometimes even socks! There is a world of non-verbal or minimally verbal children and young adults, and we believe we can use the fun of emojis to make their lives safer. 

Lots of times, the lack of verbal capabilities can stop non-verbal and minimally verbal children from communicating when help is needed. Many kids can cognitively think what they want to say, but they are unable to say what is going on in their minds. This project, Connect Charms, targets the needs of non-verbal kids. While currently only in protype stage, Connect Charms will one day be a tech wearable that will build a safer world for children using fun and trendy emoji push buttons, pre-programmed to say phrases on a comfortable, 3D-printed or fabric band. 

Using Connect Charms, non-verbal kids will be able to express themselves at the push of a button on their Connect Charms band. Not feeling well? Need help? Want to connect with a family member or friend? Need a “time out” or quiet time? Soon, Connect Charms will do what no other tech wearable is doing for the non-verbal or minimally verbal market. Connect Charms will provide audio output for a non-verbal child, in addition to other future add-ons like GPS boundary alerts, I.D. information, and fitness tracking—all which are being requested by the families we know with non-verbal kids. 
Connect Charms strives to create a safer, friendlier world by helping non-verbal kids “speak” their needs. 

Anoushka Shrivastava

William Hopkins Junior High School, California

Many people suffer strokes in the US. This is a huge problem because stroke has long-lasting effects like vision blurriness, memory loss, and even getting paralyzed! The problem I decided to solve was hemiplegia. Hemiplegic people are those who are paralyzed on one side of the body. This has many restrictions, the main ones being walking and writing. There are ways to recover, usually through a process called physiotherapy- exercising and advice giving by an instructor. However, writing was a new task. How could I help individuals who had lost their writing abilities?

A few weeks later I received a “Zen Art” kit for my birthday. Zen Art is for children and adults to color in soothing patterns, which relieves stress. That was the opposite of what stroke patients feel when having to exercise. I know because that is what happened to my grandmother. She hated her physiotherapy practices, though it makes sense; why would she want to willingly hurt herself?

That was when HDA, or Hemiplegic Drawing Application, was born. HDA is a tool I created that lets hemiplegic people draw on their touchscreen devices to regain hand mobility and independence.  This app are supplementary to exercises, meaning it won’t replace them but just work alongside them. Users daily practice drawing simple figures such as lines, arcs, points, and other shapes to get their hands moving. For example, one day the hemiplegic will practice points, and then they might move on to another skill. One benefit is that users can choose their own levels: nothing is locked. They can redo levels if they want more practice, or skip some if the levels are too easy. To keep motivation up, along with keeping the skills light and fun, I added a nice scene, unique to each skill.

The day I modeled was “Day x”, and it was about practicing drawing lines. Users trace the line with their fingers, clearing the screen if they mess up. Once they are satisfied with their work, they can save what they drew as a file, and go to the next line. After some work like so, they are rewarded with a fun scene with a person, house with roof, tree, cloud, balloon, and sidewalk. Noticeably, there are many obvious lines in these figures, just to practice the user’s skills. Besides tracing lines, they can color different parts of the image and personalize it. Then they can save the image, and they’ve completed Day 1!

I showed my app to my grandmother, who is qualified after being hemiplegic and a doctor. She said that she had fun doing the application and was motivated to try more days. She also said she wasn’t bored and felt accomplished after she finished “Day x”. In the future, I hope to add more days, drawings, and even games to help each individual recover from stroke. 

Manasa Hari Bhimaraju

Kennedy Middle School, California

"For the more than 20 million Americans living with vision loss, being unable to read drug container labels and package inserts is a scary reality." said Mark Richert, Director of Public Policy at the American Foundation for the Blind.
Not able to properly identify medication even if they were ever to become blind, is a problem acknowledged by 65% of Americans surveyed. With the projected increasing number of cases glaucoma and cataracts, this is a cause for grave concern.

My solution provides an easy-to-use medicine management system.  It primarily involves inexpensive passive RFID tags that can be attached to any medicine bottle and an inexpensive RFID reading device that I developed. The reader reads these tags wirelessly if you just touch it to them, without line-of-sight. It then passes the tag ID to an iPhone that is paired to the reader via Bluetooth. My medicine management iPhone app then pulls up the medicine information paired to the tag previously by a caretaker and speaks out all the details, such as the expiration date, if the medicine is safe to use, and if a refill has already been placed. In case a refill is needed, it automatically brings up an email message with all the necessary details preloaded, and all the user has to do is press the Send button by locating it at the upper right corner of the screen. The app also offers a save view in which the caretaker can scan the tag and input the medicine details for the medicine that tag will be attached to. The caretaker can enter or just speak the details into the app. My app also provides a feature to list out all the medications used by a user along with the schedule and dosage by integrating Google spreadsheets. In addition, it has a reminder system that pops up an alert telling the user when to take which medicine, a feature that was found very useful by the users who tried my system. The overall solution is portable, not tied to any one pharmacy, not limited to prescription medicines, and not requiring of line-of-sight tag reading. For those that are comfortable to use raised QR codes, the app also has the ability to scan them as an alternative to RFID, in which case, the user need not carry the reader but can still use all the management functionality offered by the app. Also, in future, if iPhones offer built-in RFID readers, RFIDs can still be used without carrying my reader.

Benefiting from a comprehensive medicine management system as the one I developed helps not only the visually impaired, but spans so many other walks of life.

Anne Li, Alekhya Pidugu, Hetvi Shah

Lisa Academy West, Arkansas

Our project, Baymax, addresses the theme of Global Health. Baymax is a diagnostic app created using the flowcharts from the American Medical Association Family Medical Guide and written in the programming language C#. Baymax goes through a series of questions, beginning with an initial form prompting the user to select a region of their body in which they are experiencing symptoms. It goes on to ask increasingly specific questions until a symptom is identified. The program then displays a flowchart which uses yes-or-no questions to ultimately lead to a diagnosis. In the future, we hope to improve the program in many ways, especially by re-writing the program as a database listing diseases and their symptoms, such that it uses a new mechanism which matches symptoms to diseases, and will thus be more accurate and efficient. Baymax addresses the issue that millions of people don’t have immediate access to medical facilities or specialized physicians. If implemented globally, Baymax could potentially ameliorate this problem and save lives!
 

Pajaka Lakshmin, Aiko Lozar

Aviara Oaks Middle School, California

hen you're travelling in airports or going to an event with your family, wouldn’t you want to be sure that you are enjoying the time together and also feel safe by not having to worry about terrorist explosions? We have chosen the theme of a “Safer World” and specifically, the problem of explosions, in densely populated areas, caused by terrorist attacks. With increased terrorist explosions like the November 2015 Paris attack and the recent Brussels airport, we have become more aware of the prevalence and increased frequency of these attacks. When we hear about these terrorist events, we think about the lives of the those people who were impacted and also about our personal safety when we travel either long distance or locally. Our (theoretical) innovation to combat terrorism, called Explosive Sensing Paint (ESP), is aimed to predict and prevent a possible terrorist danger by detecting and identifying chemical explosives within indoor settings so that a rapid response to alert and evacuate quickly people would occur, if needed. These places may be an airport, a mall, a government or financial building, a train station, or other densely populated areas. As an overview, Explosive Sensing Paint (ESP), is a nanopaint, or coating, comprising of chemical nanosensor arrays made up of Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNT), which are designed to interact with and detect ambient gas/vapor molecules coming from different explosives. A secondary device would wirelessly transmit the sensor signal data remotely to a computer program which analyzes and interprets the data to determine the identity of the chemical being sensed using a database of pre-determined conductance values of chemicals found in explosives. Explosive Sensing Paint (ESP) can be used in a variety of applications. This system may be used to also detect drugs, biological weapons, environmental toxins and pollutants, smoke, and carbon monoxide. It has the potential to be painted on different surfaces of different shapes, like a table or a chair. It can also be coated on the inside of a box and placed over a suspicious object or standard luggage screening during check-in. Moreover, it can be modified to be used in a variety of indoor environments such as trains, buses, rail stations and even homes.
 

Anusha Ghosh

Challenger Shawnee, California

Diabetic retinopathy is a major side effect caused by both Type I and Type II diabetes, and affects 126.6 million adults. In 2030, the number of adults affected with the disease is expected to increase to 191 million. Diabetic retinopathy can first be detected by small blood leaks visible on the retina, also known as microaneurysms. The symptoms then progress to spots floating in the patient’s vision, followed by blurred vision, impaired vision, and finally, blindness.
 
The goal of my project was to build a portable and low cost device for detecting the disease diabetic retinopathy. I knew that my device and lens used to capture the image of the retina had to be low cost, lightweight and limited in size so that it could be portable. I therefore designed and built a 3D-printed device that can attach to a smartphone and be used to capture an image of the retina. I also coded a program that can be used to process the image of the retina to automatically identify microaneurysms in the retina, thus leading to the detection of diabetic retinopathy.
 
Traditionally, the retina has been viewed in one of two ways: either by fundus photography or indirect biomicroscopy. Both these approaches have some limitations. Fundus photography cameras are very heavy and not portable. The limited light source also allows for only a partial view of the retina, but is perfect for taking pictures of this view. Indirect biomicroscopy, on the other hand, is portable and can view the entire retina, but has no capacity for photo-taking. In my project, I combined the beneficial aspects of each method of viewing.
 
Through my method, I was able to successfully capture pictures of the retina through my smartphone and digitally prove that this patient did not have diabetic retinopathy.