Meet Rajarshi Mandal, the 16-year-old Lexington student whose malaria model showed the same mosquito-net supply could prevent twice as many infections; he won $50,000

Meet Rajarshi Mandal, the 16-year-old Lexington student whose malaria model showed the same mosquito-net supply could prevent twice as many infections; he won $50,000

For Mandal, the idea began with footage showing fishermen using donated mosquito nets as fishing material because the mesh was available when conventional fishing equipment was not. At 16, Rajarshi Mandal is already tackling a problem that has challenged public-health systems for decades: how to make limited malaria-prevention resources go further. The Lexington High School … Read more

Meet Jiaen Jiang, the 16-year-old Texas student who built an electrostatic “magnet” to capture hazardous Moon dust and won $25,000

Meet Jiaen Jiang, the 16-year-old Texas student who built an electrostatic “magnet” to capture hazardous Moon dust and won $25,000

Jiaen Jiang – Student Researcher in Aerospace, PC: LinkedIn Jiaen Jiang, a 16-year-old student from Rosenberg, Texas, has won a $25,000 Davidson Fellows Scholarship for an engineering project designed to capture fine lunar dust before it enters future Moon habitats. Jiang’s project, called the Moondust Magnet, uses a bipolar interdigitated electrode array to create controlled … Read more

Meet Ameya Kharade, the 17-year-old Nashua student whose $1,800 brain-reading system aims to turn brain activity into speech at implant-like speeds without surgery

Meet Ameya Kharade, the 17-year-old Nashua student whose $1,800 brain-reading system aims to turn brain activity into speech at implant-like speeds without surgery

According to Barron Prize Winners website data, Ameya’s work is rooted in his close family member’s loss of speech following a stroke when Ameya was seven For someone who can speak, putting a thought into words is almost effortless. For millions of people living with conditions such as ALS, severe stroke or paralysis, that simple … Read more

Meet Alexander Du, the 17-year-old Sewickley student who built $170 AI-powered glasses to help visually impaired users navigate after his grandmother lost her sight

Meet Alexander Du, the 17-year-old Sewickley student who built $170 AI-powered glasses to help visually impaired users navigate after his grandmother lost her sight

Alexander Du, a 17-year-old student from Sewickley, Pennsylvania, has been named a 2026 Presidential AI Challenge National Champion for inventing IRIS, an AI-powered wearable designed to help blind and visually impaired people navigate their surroundings. The teen built the $170 system after watching his grandmother struggle to navigate the world differently after losing her sight. … Read more

Who is Caden Qiao? Police seeking public’s help to find missing Georgia Tech student

Who is Caden Qiao? Police seeking public's help to find missing Georgia Tech student (Georgia Tech Police Department)

Georgia Tech Police and Atlanta Police are asking for the public’s help in finding a first-year student who has disappeared. Police said Caden Qiao was last seen around 6:04 pm on Sunday, September 13, heading east on 17th Street from Northside Drive, per Fox 5 Atlanta. Who is Caden Qiao? Police seeking public’s help to … Read more

Meet Praadhyumn Indaana, the 17-year-old Montvale, New Jersey student whose AI model cut nuclear reactor heat-limit prediction error from about 63% to 5.5%; he won $50,000

Meet Praadhyumn Indaana, the 17-year-old Montvale, New Jersey student whose AI model cut nuclear reactor heat-limit prediction error from about 63% to 5.5%; he won $50,000

Pradhyumn Indaana, the 17-year-old Montvale, New Jersey student (Image Credit: Davidson Institute) A better understanding of how much heat a nuclear reactor can safely handle could have implications far beyond a single engineering calculation. For 17-year-old Praadhyumn Indaana of Montvale, New Jersey, that challenge became the focus of an eight-month research project combining physics and … Read more

Meet Tanishka Aglave, the 17-year-old Valrico, Florida student who built a curry leaf treatment, steam system and AI tool to fight citrus greening; she won $50,000

Meet Tanishka Aglave, the 17-year-old Valrico, Florida student who built a curry leaf treatment, steam system and AI tool to fight citrus greening; she won $50,000

The research was started by Aglave as a freshman and took over 300 hours to complete, often working two hours in the laboratory every other day after school. For Tanishka Aglave, citrus greening isn’t simply a problem that exists in textbooks or agricultural research papers. She watched it take a toll on Florida citrus growers, … Read more

Meet Aditya Sengupta, the 18-year-old Bellevue student who built an AI system to better predict dangerous clear-air turbulence; his research won $100,000

Meet Aditya Sengupta, the 18-year-old Bellevue student who built an AI system to better predict dangerous clear-air turbulence; his research won $100,000

Aditya Sengupta, 2026 Davidson Fellow Laureate, $100,000 Scholarship, Age: 18, Hometown: Bellevue, WA An 18-year-old student from Bellevue, Washington, has built an artificial intelligence model designed to predict dangerous clear-air turbulence, earning a $100,000 (£75,000) scholarship from the Davidson Institute. Aditya Sengupta developed the machine-learning system, named ForeCAT, after experiencing severe and unexpected turbulence during … Read more

Meet Angus Liddell, the Melbourne student who raised nearly $10,000, launched a 10km charity swim and won Young Citizen of the Year

Meet Angus Liddell, the Melbourne student who raised nearly $10,000, launched a 10km charity swim and won Young Citizen of the Year

His contribution is not limited to fundraising. Angus volunteers as a lifesaver at Mentone Life Saving Club, where he combines his passion for swimming with helping the community. Finding the time between classes, training and everyday commitments is already tough enough for most students. For Angus Liddell, this has meant finding ways to bring people … Read more

Meet Benjamin Davis, the 16-year-old Massachusetts student who built a machine that turns 3D-printer waste into reusable filament and won $75,000

Meet Benjamin Davis, the 16-year-old Massachusetts student who built a machine that turns 3D-printer waste into reusable filament and won $75,000

Davis, a student at Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, Massachusetts, built the machine as part of his science research project. The system uses waste plastic, including waste generated during 3D printing and converts it into filament that can again be fed into a 3D printer. A failed 3D print typically goes straight to the … Read more