photo courtesy of RHS InvenTeam
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, At the conclusion of the Lemelson-MIT grant cycle, the RHS InvenTeam has accomplished so much, well beyond expectations, especially in a pandemic year. They successfully invented a 3-in-1 Solar Aqua-Tech water bottle that provides safe drinking water without chemicals leaving no chemicals and is entirely sustainable. The RHS InvenTeam also shared their invention journey at Super Science Saturday, a Board of Education meeting, a Ridgewood Town Council meeting, the NJ STEAM Tank Challenge, and most recently, to over 200 eighth-graders at the George Washington Middle School.
The InvenTeam would like to invite the entire Ridgewood community to celebrate with them at the Lemelson-MIT EurekaFest that will be held virtually on June 15.
Please click the following link and scroll down to Day 1, June 15, Group 3 to register for Ridgewood InvenTeam at 12:50 -2:20 pm.
https://lemelson.mit.edu/news-events/events/eurekafest-2021
EurekaFest is an event that empowers student inventors, honors role models, and encourages creativity and problem solving. Programming includes an introduction to the 2021 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams — teams of high school students from across the country who received an InvenTeam grant to build a working prototype to solve a real-world problem in their community or beyond. The top, U.S. collegiate inventors who won the coveted 2021 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize will also give brief presentations of their inventions that are changing the fields of agriculture, healthcare, water supply and PET plastic recycling.
Ridgewood High School was recently awarded a Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam grant in the amount of $8500.00 to create a “Solar Aqua Tech” portable reusable water-sanitizing bottle. Ridgewood High School is one of 13 high schools nationwide to be selected as an InvenTeam this year.
Dr. Hsuan Lillian Labowsky, science teacher and Mr. John Wohner, engineering teacher at Ridgewood High School initiated the InvenTeam application process last spring and worked with the students over the summer to prepare the final proposal. A prestigious panel of judges composed of educators, researchers, staff and alumni from MIT, as well as representatives from industry and former Lemelson-MIT Award winners, assembled virtually this fall and selected Ridgewood High School as one of this year’s InvenTeam grantees.
In the Solar Aqua Tech bottle, water and oxygen will generate hydrogen peroxide on-demand to sanitize water when energized by solar power. The heart of the invention is to design a system around a unique catalyst-coated electrode to produce hydrogen peroxide, known to eliminate waterborne pathogens. This bottle will benefit hiker/campers and anyone in need of clean water. The Solar Aqua technology can potentially be scaled up for use in large water treatment facilities to benefit entire communities.