A team of high schoolers from Edison High School is among eight high school teams in the United States to receive a grant from Lemelson-MIT to fund their environmental innovation. The Lemelson-MIT (LMIT) program was founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to expand opportunities for innovation among high schoolers.
“It was honestly a shock when we got the grant award notification,” said Mithil Mishra ‘25. “It is so surreal that we get to be part of this cohort of high school scientists and changemakers hand-selected by such a prestigious institution.”
Participants are inspired to transform their ideas into technological inventions that solve a real-world problem of their choice and develop a thorough proposal to submit to LMIT, which is then evaluated on creativity, feasibility, passion, etc.
LMIT announced the 2024-2025 InvenTeams-eight groups of high school students from across the nation. These teams were chosen by an esteemed panel of judges consisting of university professors, inventors, and entrepreneurs. Edison High School was among those chosen and received a $7,500 grant to develop their innovations. The EHS team, advised by Ms Jaslin Kaur, is comprised of the following members:
- Gauri Kshettry ‘25
- Divya Krishna ‘25
- Mithil Mishra ‘25
- Twisha Patel ‘25
- Vedant Talati ‘25
- Zashaan Shaik ‘25
- Ishani Bakshi ‘26
- Aditya Rao ‘26
- Anthony Baio ‘26
They aim to tackle this problem by developing sustainable technology that reduces pollutants in the Raritan River, without relying on costly or energy-intensive methods. Their technology is rooted in biochar environmental remediation and water purification through aquatic plants.
“When we were doing our research, we saw data on just how polluted the Raritan River was, and you know, it serves millions of people,” said Baio. “So, we hit the whiteboard.”
The Edison High School InvenTeam’s prototype invention will be presented at a technical review in February 2025. After the team’s technological solutions have been tested and modified even further, the InvenTeam will showcase its final prototype at EurekaFest, an invention celebration held from June 9-11 at MIT.
“Through InvenTeams, I’ve discovered that creativity and problem-solving go hand in hand, and together we can create solutions that make a difference,” says Zashaan Shaik ‘25.
The InvenTeams Grant initiative equips students with skills to succeed in college and beyond. Invention projects foster creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, and hands-on learning in science, math, technology, and engineering (STEM).
If interested in learning more about the EHS Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam please RSVP to their virtual town hall on November 20th from 7 pm-8 pm EST: https://forms.gle/a1HR2i7hLhvCcX3g7
