PaliHi Science Team Wins National Contest

Concerned about global warming, three Palisades Charter High School freshmen invented a technology that would create more energy-efficient cars. Now, their idea is receiving national acclaim. PaliHi students Brandon Chow, Josh Korn and Kelly Ohriner have won the national ExploraVision contest for creating a four-way catalytic converter that would turn carbon-dioxide emissions from vehicles into electrical energy to power automobiles. ‘Global warming is the biggest harm to nature,’ Chow said in an interview. ‘Most people don’t think about it because it’s so far in the future. But if we don’t do something now, we will be screwed.’ Students in kindergarten through 12th grade entered the contest, and the PaliHi team placed first in the seventh-through- ninth-grade category, competing against 1,654 teams. The students worked on the project as part of teacher Sarah Crompton’s science research class. She submitted four groups’ projects to ExploraVision, which is sponsored by Toshiba and hosted by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). The winning freshmen will now receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., from June 4-8. They will attend an awards ceremony, meet actor Bill Nye (‘The Science Guy’) and present their invention to reporters, Toshiba executives and NSTA representatives during a science showcase at the National Press Building. The PaliHi team will be highlighted in USA Today on May 30, and each student will receive a $10,000 savings bond. ‘The team’s eco-friendly invention addresses a prominent global problem, so their forward-thinking invention stood out,’ said Paloma Olbes, spokeswoman for ExploraVision. To compete, the students had to select an existing technology and learn how it works and why it was invented. They researched the three-way catalytic converter, invented by Carl Keith and John Moony in 1981 to reduce nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons. The converter does not reduce carbon dioxide. The teens then had to imagine how that technology could be improved. They studied chemical reactions and figured out a way to combine carbon dioxide with magnesium to produce electrical energy for the car without polluting the air, Chow said. They had to explain their process in a 10-page report ‘ the longest research paper each of them had ever written. They learned how to cite all of their sources in a bibliography and how to paraphrase to avoid plagiarism, Crompton said. ‘This group’s paper is extremely well written; it’s creative, informative, engaging and, in some places, even humorous,’ she said. Ohriner said it took a while for their group to think of their invention. ‘We were the underdog group. We kept changing our idea and everybody else kept with theirs from the start. Everyone in the class was surprised we won.’ They are now thinking of patenting their invention, since Ohriner’s father is a patent lawyer. ‘My dad is really proud of me,’ Ohriner said. When the students won the regional contest in March, they were asked to create a Web site about their invention. Chow designed a 3-D computer automated drawing of their converter, while Ohriner and Korn created a model out of cardboard. All of the models are featured on their Web site: http://dev.nsta.org/evwebs/3368/Home/home.htm. After Crompton visited the site, she was fairly positive that they would win nationals. ‘The Web site is so professional,’ she said. ‘You’d never guess that 14-year-olds created it.’ ‘I am thrilled that my students did so well, especially since this is the first year that Pali students have entered the ExploraVision contest.’