12-year-old designs ‘fast and affordable’ fire-detection device, wins $25,000 updated 2023

Rate this post

The 12-year-old won $25,000 and the Thermo Fisher Scientific ASCEND (Aspiring Scientists Cultivating Exciting New Discoveries) award after developing a ‘fast and affordable’ fire detection system. A young STEM student decided to work on this very project when the restaurant behind her house suffered due to a delay in fire detection with installed devices.

The image shows 12-year-old Shanya Gill designing an ‘improved’ fire detection device. (YouTube/@SocietyforScience)

“Since then [restaurant fire]my mother became increasingly cautious, always asking me to double-check that the kitchen stove was off before I left our house,” winner Shanya Gill told the Society for Science, one of the competition’s organizers.

She went on to say that one day she realized that thermal cameras could detect heat loss and decided to test whether they could detect house fires faster than standard devices. “With an early warning system, we could save thousands of lives every year,” added Shanya.

Contents

What is the future of her project?

“To apply it on a large scale, I am conducting experiments where the device would be mounted on the ceiling like a smoke detector,” Shanya said. She also explained that the device can “pull current from existing power lines and see a wider area.”

The science society also shared a video on YouTube showing Shanya explaining her project. She was also filmed receiving the award.

Watch the video:

The video was shared five days ago and has since garnered close to 2,000 views. While one individual congratulated her, another wrote: “Congratulations! You are inspiring and will be an asset to this world!” A third added: “Wow, that’s amazing. Just keep going, you’ll go far.”

About Shanya Gill:

Sanya is in sixth grade at Sunnyvale Raynor High School in California. Besides doing experiments, she liked to swim, play water polo, program and teach others. Sanya wants to pursue a career in biomedicine. “Combining my love of biology, desire to make a difference and passion for innovation, biomedical engineering is a perfect fit for me,” she said.

“Exciting news! Hindustan Times is now on WhatsApp channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay up to date with the latest news!” Click here!