Teams of high school students from across the nation and around the world recently showcased their award-winning projects and solutions at the 2017 Spellman High Voltage Electronics Clean Tech Competition. The theme of the competition, held for the first time this year on Long Island and at Stony Brook University, was “Creating a Greener Future.” The nine finalist teams that traveled to Long Island presented their STEM-based solutions and projects for mitigating environmental challenges. The winners of the competition were selected after several rounds of judging. Winners of the competition received monetary awards totaling $30,000.
Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School Team “Super Silk” won First Place and $10,000. Team members Mses. Alyssa Iryami’s and Audrey Shine’s project was titled: Utilization of Bombyx mori in the Production of Polymeric Graphene Enhanced Supersilk. The students fed graphene to silkworms and demonstrated that the naturally produced silk was strengthened. They proved that the stronger naturally made silk could be used in many ways including making water filters.