#b#Millstone Inventors Create a Powerful Pair of Shoes#/b#
Three students from Millstone River School advanced to the national round in the 2013 Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Program after inventing the Nano Tech Shoe Base. The students created an alternative energy source that harnesses the power of daily walking in shoes with a nano generator. It converts the power of kinetic energy into electricity using piezoelectric nanotechnology. Their coaches are Helen Chang and Ramana Gandikota.
Vibhu Gandikota, Michael Rebelo, and Eric Lin were honored at an awards ceremony on Monday, March 18. They were selected as one of 24 regional winning teams from among 5,206 entries. The competition asks students to imagine ideas for future technologies that could exist in 20 years.
“Technology has truly changed the way we teach and learn,” says Chang. “In order to teach students to learn the 21st century competencies, we need to teach reading and writing across the curriculum with science, technology, engineering, and math.”
The young inventors talked about how the lack of electricity during Hurricane Sandy impacted their lives and how important an alternative energy source was needed.
“Our Nano Tech Shoe Base shoes won’t produce the amount of electricity needed to replace the production from power plants,” says Lin. “However, they will help us take a giant step in the right direction to provide safe alternative energy.”
“Our energy generating shoes will have a layer of piezoelectric material and a layer of printed Nano batteries,” says Gandikota. “The piezoelectric material is made of an array of Nano coils laid over a layer of electrodes. When you step on the shoes, the nano coils get compressed and generate an electric charge.”
“Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic University have created paper thin batteries made of carbon nanotubes,” says Rebelo. “Similarly, researchers have demonstrated the possibility of creating printable Nano-batteries. Today these printable batteries can only hold a small amount of electric power. We need to improve these complicated inventions to produce and store energy. With these breakthroughs, we expect N.T.S.B. shoes to become a reality by 2033.
“I used to teach math and computer programming in the old days and what we did was teach math problem solving,” says Rick Cave, director of technology in the WW-P School District. “But this is practical problem solving. They are using technology and applying it to solve a problem. I think everyone has something to strive for; you always want to raise the bar, take what you know, apply it, and make it work better for everyone else.
“This team is one of six regional winners,” says Charlie Giunta of Toshiba Company. “The team has come up with an idea, now they have to take it to the next step by telling the world how the invention works and show people how their invention will help their lives 20 years from now.” Two regional teams will visit Washington, D.C., to meet industry leaders, technocrats, their congressman, and other young scientists.
#b#In College#/b
Villanova University: Jennifer Rota of West Windsor is on the dean’s list. A sophomore, she graduated from Notre Dame High School in 2011.
#b#CMS Science Team Is State Champion#/b#
Community Middle School Science Olympiad Team won the state championship. Coaches are Kyle Schimpf and Raisa Donnard and helpers are Virginia Baner and Arthur Downs.
The CMS students received nine gold medals, four silver medals, three bronze medals, and earned medals in four other events. Each competitor on the team earned a medal at the championship. The CMS team will represent New Jersey at the national tournament in May.
Awards received include:
Anatomy: first place for Shannon Weng, grade 7; and Jason Yang, grade 7.
Boomilever: fifth place for Matthew Pan, grade 9; and Tyler Shen, grade 8.
Crime Busters: first place for Uday Shankar, grade 8; and Cindy Jin, grade 8.
Disease Detective: eighth place for Shannon Weng, grade 7; and Kriti Devasenapathy, grade 8.
Dynamic Planet: third place for Uday Shankar, grade 8; and Anshu Jonnalagadda, grade 8.
Experimental Design: fifth place for Roger Jin, grade 9; Nick Leung, grade 8; and Catherine Huang, grade 8.
Food Science: first place for Charles Dai, grade 8; and Diana Tang, grade 8.
Forestry: second place for Kriti Devasenapathy, grade 8; and Cindy Jin, grade 8.
Helicopters: first place for Andrew Hong, grade 9; and Tyler Shen, grade 8.
Heredity: third place for Jason Yang, grade 7; and Roger Jin, grade 9.
Keep The Heat: second place for Roger Jin, grade 9; and Uday Shankar, grade 8.
Meteorology: second place for Reuben Van Eck, grade 9; and Anshu Jonnalagadda, grade 8.
Metric Mastery: first place for Kriti Devasenapathy, grade 8; and Catherine Huang, grade 8.
Mission Possible: seventh place for Andrew Hong, grade 9; Matthew Pan, grade 9; and Tyler Shen, grade 8.
Mousetrap Vehicle: fourth place for Varun Subbiah, grade 9; and Matthew Pan, grade 9.
Picture This: first place for Asha Agrawal, grade 8; Anna Hsu, grade 7; and Goutham Yalla, grade 7.
Reach for the Stars: tenth place for Reuben Van Eck, grade 9; and Divya Unnam, grade 8.
Road Scholar: first place for Mahesh Khanwalkar, grade 8; and Varun Subbiah, grade 8.
Rotor Egg Drop: first place for Andrew Hong, grade 9; and Mahesh Khanwalkar, grade 8.
Rocks and Minerals: first place for Reuben Van Eck, grade 9; and Nick Leung, grade 8.
Shock Value: third place for Varun Subbiah, grade 9; and Anshu Jonnalagadda, grade 8.
Sound of Music: first place for Andrew Hong, grade 9; and Matthew Pan, grade 9.
Water Quality: first place for Divya Unnam, grade 8; and Charles Dai, grade 8.
Write It – Do It: fifteenth place for Diana Tang, grade 8; and Catherine Huang, grade 8.
Biology Blitz: fifth place for Revanth Gumpu, grade 8; and Yash Gupta, grade 6.
Grover Middle School Science Olympiad Team, coached by Rae McKenna, earned fourth place in the state finals. GMS students include Nishant Iyengar, Allison Lin, Aditya Iyer, Sriv Srinivasan, Ananya Pappu, Chinmay Sevak, Sharon Zhang, Julia Wu, Tanishq Aggarwal, Joey Hsia, Isaac Park, Stephanie Ji, Anna Akkara, Richa Gavaskar, Chiru Koiloth, Kabir Sarita, Varnita Prakash, Elizabeth Petrov and Sruthi Kataman.
