Top Honors for Young Indian Innovators at the Intel ISEF 2015 in Pittsburg, USA

Seventeen young innovators from India put up a brilliant show at the highly-acclaimed Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), bagging 5 Grand awards and 6 Special awards. These young innovators represented Team India at the Intel ISEF, which was held this year in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, USA from 10-15 May, 2015.

From India, Arsh Shah Dilbagi from DAV Public School, Panipat won First Awards of $1000 and $500 from the American Intellectual Property Law Association and Patent and Trademark Office Society respectively. Arsh was also awarded an Intel ISEF Third Grand Award of $1000 in the Embedded Systems category, and a Third Award of $500 from the American Psychological Association for the project, ‘Breath into Speech for the Disabled’.

Onkar Singh Gujral from La Martiniere for Boys School in Kolkata won a First Award of $1,000 from the Association for Computing Machinery, and an Intel ISEF Second Grand Award of $1,500 in the Systems Software category for his project ‘Image Processing Algorithms towards Optical Detection of 2D Nanomaterials’.

An Intel ISEF Third Grand Award of $1,000 went to Ravi Pradip from the Dayapuram Residential School in Kerala for his project ‘Plumeria Blooms for Organic Electronics!’ in the Materials Science category.

In the Plant Sciences category, Maharaja Agarsain Public School Delhi’s Mansi Aggarwal and Harshit Jindal received the Intel ISEF Fourth Grand Award of $500 for their project ‘Begonia nepalensis: An Effective Herbal Ointment against Enterobiasis.’ Also winning the Intel ISEF Fourth Grand Award of $500 were Aditya Bhargava and Komal S from Sharada Vidyanikethana Public School, Mangalore, for their Materials Science project ‘Highly Sensitive Nano-Ferrite for Detection of Carbon Monoxide in Air’.

Certificate of Honorable Mentions went to Aditya Ashish Bhople from Narayana Vidyalayam, Nagpur for his project ‘Autoreader: A Wearable Assistant for the Visually Impaired’ in the Embedded Systems category, as well as Dhirubhai Ambani International School Mumbai’s Abhimanyu Pallavi Sudhir for his project ‘A Generalisation of the Determinant to Rectangular Matrices: Implications in Gauge Theory’ in the Math category.

2015 marked 15 years of India’s participation at Intel ISEF, and the largest ever Indian team comprising of 30 young innovators. 17 of these young innovators showcased 12 innovative projects and ideas at the event, spanning a range of topics from wearable technology to big data analytics to renewable energy. Over 1,700 finalists from over 70 countries, regions and territories, at the world’s largest pre-college science competition, vied for the top slots at Intel ISEF, which featured over USD 4 million worth in awards, scholarships and honors such as a chance to be present at the Nobel Laureate ceremony or to have a minor planet named after them (courtesy MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory).

 “Intel believes young people are key to future innovation and that in order to confront the global challenges of tomorrow, we need students from all backgrounds to get involved in science, technology, engineering and math,” said Kumud Srinivasan, Intel India President. “We hope these winners will inspire other young people to pursue their interest in these fields and apply their curiosity, creativity and ingenuity to the common good.”

“We are extremely proud of this remarkable achievement by these young scientists from India. Their success at Intel ISEF is a celebration of the spirit of innovation and scientific inquiry that will bring relevant, practical and innovative solutions to social situations by intelligently leveraging technology.” said Rajiv Sharma, Executive Director, Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF).

“These young people are the future of India; and it is when they go beyond the boundaries of the country to explore their potential on the world stage that they truly gain exposure and experience and prove their mettle” said B P Singh, Head, NCSTC Department of Science and Technology (DST) Government of India.

This year’s Team India at Intel ISEF featured 20 bright students from the country- the winners of the Initiative for Research and Innovation in Science (IRIS) national fair 2014. This year Department of Science and Technology (DST)  in association with Indo US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) sponsored 10 student observers from IRIS and affiliated national fairs  to Pittsburgh USA, to attend the Intel ISEF and experience a week-long scientific exposure visit in Washington DC after the fair.

Over the years, IRIS has contributed significantly towards nurturing and fueling the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship amongst students in India and in providing them the opportunity to represent India at the world’s largest pre-collegiate Science and Engineering Fair – Intel ISEF.