Caddo Magnet senior Diya Desai went up against the world’s smartest high schoolers and came away with a third-place finish with a project designed to change the course of the world’s environmental future.
A Shreveport native who has roots in India, Desai competed in the prestigious International Spellman HV Clean Tech Competition against 20 global finalists with her innovative project, “Be the Change,” in the Abundant Resource Category.
The Science, Technology, Engineering and Technology effort focused on filtering water through graphene oxide-coated sand to provide drinkable water to populations. Diya was the only student from Louisiana who competed among the student competitors from nine states and five foreign countries. She won $5,000 for the finish.
WATCH VIDEO OF DIYA DESAI TALKING ABOUT HER PROJECT
“I always love presenting my research and learning about what other high schoolers are doing,” Desai told The Times. “I’m honored to have won third place among some of the best research from around the world. Everyone who presented was so qualified and articulate, so it just feels really good to have won.”
An estimated 744 students registered for the science competition, comprising 395 teams, and 240 teams submitted projects for judging. The 2020 competition theme, “Reducing Individual Impacts,” focused on ways to change the course of the world’s environmental future. Teams displayed their projects offering solutions to specific issues relating to climate change or protecting resources using clean technology.
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Desai developed her idea last summer after a visit to India where she was amazed at the differences in water treatment facilities.
“I then did a lot of research in water contamination. After that, I contacted researchers at Centenary College and they helped me execute this project,” she said. “It took several months to synthesize the graphene oxide coated sand (the filter) and then about one month to test the filter.”
The Desai family is originally from India, but the trip to India was Diya’s first in several years. The family moved to Shreveport from New York.
Desai isn’t a one-project wonder and the effort accentuates that she’s one of the top students in the south. She carries a weighted GPA of 4.9 and recently scored a 36 on the ACT.
Desai is president of Magnet’s National Honor Society and has competed on Mock Trial for the past three years. She’s captain of the Lady Mustangs’ cross-country team and recently completed her first half-marathon. She’s also president of the CMHS environmental club and started an initiative in the community to cut plastic bag pollution through using reusable bags.
The 20 finalist teams were from the Arkansas, California, Colorado, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii, Oregon, New Jersey, New York, Canada, Singapore, the Philippines and India. They competed for a share of $60,000 in cash prizes.
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Desai said most deaths from water contamination happen in areas like sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
“In Louisiana, heavy metal contamination is not a major issue,” she said. “However, if more research is done on this technique, hopefully it can be implemented in the developing world.”
The competition’s sponsor, Dr. Loren Skeist, president of Spellman High Voltage Electronics, said there are multiple challenges facing the world today.
“It gives us great hope when we see high school students from around the world use their STEM skills to develop solutions that have the potential to make a real impact,” Skeist said.
Meanwhile, Desai hasn’t decided what to do with her bonus check. “I might save it for college or for another project,” she said.
In its ninth year, the competition is the only outcome-based, STEM focused research and design challenge for pre-college students in the world. The goal of the program is to inspire young people to pursue STEM studies and careers.
Twitter: @JimmyWatson6
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August 24, 2020 at 07:02PM
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Caddo Magnet’s Diya Desai makes international impact with environmental project - Shreveport Times
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