‘National Science Fair’: Students today, scientists tomorrow

Over 80 students from across the country showcase their talents to solve Pakistan’s problems.

ISLAMABAD: “Enterprising” is not the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Pakistani youth. But that is exactly what more than 80 students participating in “National Science Fair” in Islamabad on Tuesday were.

All projects were geared towards solving the many challenges being faced by Pakistan. Each team had qualified for the event after rigorous district and provincial competitions. Students were from across the country.

How about affordable clean electricity? That is exactly what Fatima Sohail’s project promises. She has modified the traditional structure of a windmill to make it cheaper to install and easy to maintain.

“Our country is facing an acute power shortage and such alternative means could be helpful to overcome it,” the young excited scientist from Defence Authority Model High School in Karachi told The Express Tribune.

Her project has been chosen to be one of the three projects that will be showcased at the International Science and Engineering Fair 2011 in Los Angeles, California.

The second winner, Habibullah Hal Muhammad, from Pak-Turk International School and College in Lahore promises the possibility of biodegradable batteries with his project “Organic Battery”.

Islamabad was right up there with Karachi and Lahore, with Ambreen Bibi and Mehwish Ghafoor of Federal Government College for Women in G-10/4 promising to fight pollution with nanocomposites.

All three winners will be sent to the United States, where they will compete with 1500 other teams from around
the globe.

But that is not to say that other projects were any less interesting, or useful.

Khuda Bardi, a student of Aga Khan Higher Secondary School in Gilgit, presented a train than runs on energy generated through solar panels and wind fans. “This train will not need to burn coal,” he explained.

Mujeeb Aslam, Syed Tariq and Zishan Rasool from KAPCO school in Muzaffargarh promise their project “Electricity Generation via Geo Thermal Energy” will bring electricity’s production cost per unit cost from Rs15 (for energy generated through thermal sources) to Rs1. Their project uses heat from earth to generate energy.

“Without any input, we are generating 100kw electricity,” Rasool explained. “The project is environment friendly, reliable and [a source of
endless energy].”

“Can a car exhaust be used to Generate Electricy”? Why sure. Daniyal Ahmed and Raza Soleman from The City School Shalimar Campus Lahore plan to just that by installing a small turbine near the silencer of the vehicle. The generated electricity can then be rerouted and used in the car and also charge its battery.

The fair was organised by Intel Pakistan in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th,  2011.