A ninth grade Pittsburgh-area student is the 2014 winner of the national 3M Discovery Young Scientist Challenge. He won this week for a prototype new generation battery called the PolluCell.
“My innovation is a battery that uses carbon dioxide and recycled materials such as aluminum and silver to generate electricity,” said Sahil Doshi.
The 16th annual competition has a goal of reaching a new generation of scientist at an age when interest in the subject largely begins to wane – middle school. Doshi entered the competition as an 8th grader.
“The way I came up with my idea was that I was thinking about global problems that affect people every day and the problems that immediately came into my head were pollution and a lack of electricity worldwide,” he said, “so I decided to tackle these two problems together in one innovation.”
Doshi said his passion for science prompted him to enter the competition.
“Science is everywhere around us,” he said. “I’m really curious about things that happen around us so science, I find naturally curious, that’s why I like science so much – there are so many puzzles that are yet to be solved.”
Doshi receives a $25,000 for winning, a research trip to Costa Rica and the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist.” Plus, he said, he’ll get a spot at the White House Science Fair.
