Friends since elementary school Victoria Ou and Justin Huang are now 17 year olds in Woodlands, Texas. Together they entered a contest in LA for young inventors Regeneron ISEF 2024. They won!
The device they created for the competition may have an impact on all of the earth. It's about the size of a pen and uses ultrasonic sound waves to remove a significant percentage of microplastics from water. Microscopic plastic particles show up in everywhere from our water to the food we eat and doctors are unsure how this is affecting us.
The ISEF judges agree with the kids that while this can immediately impact drinking water for those who can afford it, this has the potential to be scaled to massive size and used in various water treatment processes, and potentially even in large swaths of our oceans.
The kids are up for the challenge. Justin says "If we could refine this — maybe use some professional equipment, maybe go to a lab instead of testing from our home — we could really improve our device and get it ready for large-scale manufacturing."
The idea that these 2 teens invented something in their parents kitchen that professionals have been working to solve for a decade or more is shocking. Victoria and Justin won first place in the Earth and Environmental Sciences category which comes with a $50-thousand prize. Victoria says "We were just happy being able to go to ISEF. Originally, we weren't expecting too much, but getting first place and the top award is much more than we ever expected". The 2 agree that the majority of their prize money will go back into development, which is a lot different then what most 17 year olds would do with 50 grand.