Editor's note: We're celebrating this year's impressive 20 Google Science Fair finalist projects over 20 days in our Spotlight on a Young Scientist series. Learn more about each of these inspiring young people and hear what inspires them in their own words.



Name: Olivia Hallisey

Home: Connecticut, USA

Age Category: 16-18

Project title: Temperature-independent, inexpensive and rapid detection of Ebola

Olivia was shocked to learn about the Ebola epidemic spreading through Africa. She wondered how to get treatment delivered faster to the people that needed it and recalled her science lesson about silk storage. With it’s stabilizing properties, could silk allow Ebola antibodies to travel much longer without the need for refrigeration? After a few attempts, Olivia created the Ebola Assay card – her new antibody storage system that can be designed in 30 minutes anywhere in the world and can transport vaccines/antibodies for Ebola, HIV and other diseases for up to one week.


What was the inspiration behind your project? 

My decision to focus my project on the development of a novel temperature-independent, rapid, portable and inexpensive diagnostic test for the detection of the Ebola virus, was prompted by the devastating loss of life in Africa during the most recent 2014 Ebola outbreak. The consequences will be far-reaching with valuable applicability as an ELISA-based diagnostic for other diseases, including HIV, lyme disease, yellow fever, dengue fever and certain cancers. The concentration of fatalities in Ebola stricken areas has left many children orphaned, and the socioeconomic fabric of entire villages destroyed. School closures have impacted over five million children, risking permanent educational dislocation and high risk behaviors such as child labor. Early diagnosis and proper medical care are critical to containing and eliminating the spread of Ebola and any other contagious illnesses.

When and why did you become interested in science? 

I became interested in science as a young child because of my late grandfather, a doctor and medical researcher. He showed me the power of science and research to make new discoveries that could lead to breakthroughs that could give back hope and transform futures. He was passionate about science and medicine and cared deeply that his work would contribute towards a greater understanding and a cure for diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis and Alzheimers. I hope to be a doctor like my grandfather, and one day work for a global health organization, such as Doctors Without Borders.

What words of advice would you share with other young scientists? 

Think globally. Reconsider existing solutions and always ask “Why not?” Don’t think that everything that can be done has been done. There’s always room for innovation and creative reconsideration. Everyone has a role in change.

Source: Google for Education

Editor's note: We're celebrating this year's impressive 20 Google Science Fair finalist projects over 20 days in our Spotlight on a Young Scientist series. Learn more about each of these inspiring young people and hear what inspires them in their own words.



Name: Deepika Kurup

Home: New Hampshire, USA

Age Category: 16-18

Project title: Solar powered silver combating bacteria in drinking water




During her family summer visits to India, Deepika was troubled to see small children drinking polluted water from streams. She wondered how developing countries could best clean their water, and once returning to the U.S. tested different chemicals. She found that a solution mixed with silver and powered by the sun removed bacteria faster than current methods. With this finding, she hopes to provide cleaner drinking water to families in India and around the world. 

What was the inspiration behind your project? 

Every summer my family and I travel across the world to visit India. In America, I always had the privilege of having unlimited access to potable water; however, in India I saw children drink water that I felt was too dirty to touch. I wanted to find out why these people lacked access to safe water, a substance that’s essential for life. I learned that we’re facing a global water crisis. According to the World Health Organization, one-ninth of the global population lacks access to clean water. This unacceptable social injustice compelled me to find a solution to the world’s clean water problem.

When and why did you become interested in science? 

I’ve always been curious about the world around me. When I was younger, I’d constantly ask my parents questions about how the world works, and their explanations were often rooted in scientific concepts. As I grew, I began to notice that science is truly everywhere. After hearing about scientific discoveries on the news and reading stories of famous scientists in the past, I realized that science has the power to lead us to revolutionary new discoveries that can change the world. This passion for science, combined with my interest in solving global challenges, is what sparked my interest in research.

What words of advice would you share with other young scientists? 

I would strongly encourage other young scientists to continue to pursue their passions in science, technology, engineering and math. While scientific advancements are being made every day, our world still faces several grand challenges. We need young scientists to solve these grand challenges, as science has the power to help people find solutions to problems we never thought could be solved.

Source: Google for Education

Editor's note: We're celebrating this year's impressive 20 Google Science Fair finalist projects over 20 days in our Spotlight on a Young Scientist series. Learn more about each of these inspiring young people and hear what inspires them in their own words.


Name: Zhilin Wang

Home: Singapore

Age Category: 16-18

Project title: Zinc air batteries for affordable, renewable energy storage 


Zhilin has used his large capacity for wonder to question everything since he was a young boy. This strong curiosity for not just what goes on around him but what happens in other countries led him to understand how developing countries access renewable energy. To speed up the slow chemical reaction produced by oxidizing zinc with oxygen from the air, Zhilin built an aerogel consisting of carbon nanotubes and graphene. His gel sped up the oxidation process, allowing faster storage of renewable energy. He looks forward to testing his aerogel in villages that don’t have electricity – rather than the multiple sources we rely on today. This system, with a little more development, could have expansive use in areas ranging from wearable computing to location-based applications, where an instant and accurate indoor 3D positioning system is in high demand.

What was the inspiration behind your project? 

Looking at the world around me, I can’t help but marvel at how far our search for novel materials has come to improve our everyday living. Nowadays, such materials are literally everywhere: in our smartphones, our clothes and even, for some of us, our bodies. Once in a while, when I find out about a novel material, I get really excited and dream about how it might shape our future.

Graphene aerogel is one such material. Think about this: you have a solution of graphene and a solvent, say water. If you can remove the solvent to leave behind only the graphene framework (or more illustratively, a graphene skeleton), you have yourself a graphene aerogel with some curious characteristics. It is super conductive, ultralight – reaching below the density of atmospheric air in some samples – and has a contact surface area matched by few. This means that it can potentially make astounding improvements in many of the things we use on a daily basis. I was eager to see if it can be applied to something that it had never been tested on before. So when a need for improving the efficiency of batteries came my way, I thought, “why not use graphene aerogel?”

With a stroke of luck, the graphene aerogel turned out to be suitable for the battery. Yet, I didn’t want to end my project there; I wanted to see if the improved battery could directly impact the lives of people. Having reflected upon some of the things I was grateful for, I realized that one of the most wonderful gifts I have received is a quality education. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to read my favorite books, learn so much about the world or even participate in this competition. Yet, many in underdeveloped regions do not receive basic education. Despite the promotion of global education, a great deal of children are forced out of school to support their families by working on farms or in factories. The only time they could spare for education is in the evenings but even then, the scarcity of reliable lighting means they’re unable to learn in the dark, as much as they want to. Can my battery be used to light up their nights? I didn’t know for sure, so I tried to find out.

When and why did you become interested in science? 

My love for science started around the time I was in primary school, when I found myself so curious about everything around me. You can say that every opportunity for me to discover something new was as irresistible as a candy laid before me. Of the many things I wanted to know, scientific demonstrations particularly piqued my interest. They seemed almost magical – water instantly freezing on a hard knock, violent fountains formed from Coca Cola and mints. But I wasn’t satisfied with merely marveling at them. I wanted to appreciate their inner beauty and understand how they actually worked. For me, science is about having a passion for the beauty of the world around us and understanding how and why things happen in it. Isn’t that much more interesting than simply accepting things as they are?

What words of advice would you share with other young scientists? 

Never be afraid to ask questions concerning things you are curious about, for what lies ahead is either a path of discovery or at least the joy of learning something new.

Source: Google for Education