Houston-Area Student Named a TOP 30 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge Finalist
Date : 2026-September-16
A Houston-area student is making waves on the national STEM stage. Myreen Ahsan, an eighth-grade student from Friendswood Junior High, has been selected as a Top 30 Finalist in the 2026 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge, an honor reserved for the nation’s most exceptional middle school scientists and engineers. Inspired by her family’s experience with dementia, Myreen developed an innovative research project that combines computational screening and machine learning to identify promising compounds for treating frontotemporal dementia, showcasing the power of student-driven research to address real-world challenges.
Read the press release here: https://www.societyforscience.org/press-release/thermo-fisher-jic-2026-top-30/
Learn more about the Finalist here: https://www.societyforscience.org/jic/2026-finalists/
High School Student Wins EPA Award for Eco-Friendly Foam Alternative
Date : 2021-June-08
WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Sohi Sanjay Patel, a sophomore at The Woodlands College Park High School in The Woodlands, Texas, has won its Patrick H. Hurd Sustainability Award at the 2021 virtual Regeneron® International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Sohi’s project proposes to provide a plant-derived, flame retardant polyurethane foam that could be used for housing insulation and other applications.
Patel’s work was motivated by the impact of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy in India when over 40 tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from a pesticide plant. MIC gas is a main raw material for manufacturing polyurethane foam. Polyurethane foam is used for insulation and as a cushioning material in a wide variety of products. Patel’s work, titled “Scalable and Sustainable Synthesis of a Novel, Bio-Based Polyurethane Foam System Incorporating Industrial Byproducts and Waste,” focuses on replacing MIC with greener components for making polyurethane. In particular, she developed two novel biochemicals, using nontoxic waste products, to create a polyurethane foam more sustainably.
Read more : https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/high-school-student-wins-epa-award-eco-friendly-foam-alternative