A1 Solar Scholarship Season 2 report: Projects

William Mar

Lake Travis High School student

Aquify ATX began after I fell victim to dehydration and heatstroke, which led me to discover that 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated and 75,000 plastic water bottles are discarded each minute. With the assistance of two friends, we built an app that crowdsources public water fountains throughout Austin and tracks users' hydration levels, serving both health and environment. In three months, we've kept 1,000 plastic bottles from the landfill, and 82% of our users say they're now using refillable bottles as a regular option.

Nicholas Anastasoff

Southern Maine Community College student

Our success with NEPTUNE was a team effort, powered by the Lobster Bots, a group of like-minded individuals passionate about STEM and sustainability. One of the highlights for me was mentoring middle school students during outreach sessions. I introduced them to programming and electronics through simple, hands-on projects, showing how sensors and circuits work. Watching their excitement and curiosity grow was incredibly rewarding and reinforced the importance of engaging young people in STEM.

Manoj Nath Yogi

Howard University, Washington, DC

Organic waste in landfills significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, mainly methane, which has a global warming potential 25 times greater than carbon dioxide. Anaerobic digestion offers a promising solution by breaking down organic waste to produce biogas and nutrient-rich fertilizer. Yet, current practices often overlook the potential of volatile fatty acids (VFAs), intermediate products that serve as precursors for bioplastics and other industrial applications. Enhancing VFA production requires precise control over experimental conditions such as pH, temperature, and feedstock composition — a complex task when using traditional manual methods. 

Abigail Polyanskiy

Miami University student

Sustainability starts at home. While some families may focus on recycling or purchasing an electric vehicle, others may choose to fully commit to living in harmony with nature through off-the-grid living. This concept, which may seem daunting to some, can become a reality for many with thoughtful design and planning. A home that generates its own food, water, and power while remaining adaptable to any climate can serve as a model for sustainable living. My proposed project involves designing such a home using recycled shipping containers, offering an affordable and eco-friendly solution to promote clean energy and sustainability.

Marco Vanoni

Michigan State University student

I am very passionate about micro-transportation—specifically, how bikes, velomobiles, and small personal vehicles can help reduce our carbon footprint while providing an efficient and sustainable way to travel. Through my own project, I have tried to blend practicality with innovation by creating a velomobile-bike camper hybrid that could alter the way we commute and travel.

Alexey Kruglov

A1 SolarStore CEO

A1 SolarStore is all about making green energy more accessible to people. We believe the world needs more engineers to teach it how to use renewable energy efficiently. That’s why the topic for this year’s contest was clean energy projects: we want students to show everyone what you can do with green energy even when you don’t have million-dollar budgets behind you.