Karachi’s worst problems take students to Los Angeles

Intel-sponsored fair attracts thousands of students from across the world.

KARACHI:

One of Pakistan’s worst problems, its energy crisis, has finally come to some good. It inspired grade 9 student Fatima Sohail of Defense Authority Model High School in Karachi to come up with a turbine that rotates to produce power as hot air rises.

This budding scientist is one of the four Pakistani students who are off to Los Angeles for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2011 to be held from May 8 to 13.

Ambreen Bibi and Mehwish Ghafoor of Islamabad’s Federal Government College for Women will be accompanying Fatima along with 17-year-old Habibullah Hal Mohammadi, a student of Pak-Turk International School Lahore to the competition. The girls have put together a project called “Degradation of Environment Pollutants with Nano-composites” and Habibullah has worked with sewage systems.

They will be competing with 1,500 other high school students, representing 57 countries, for approximately $4 million in awards, including the grand prize of $75,000, titled the ‘Gordon Moore’ award.

There are 18 different categories in the competition: Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Biological Sciences, Engineering, Mathematical Sciences, Plant Sciences and Microbiology among others. The Pakistani students shall be competing in Chemistry, Physics and a team project in Biology.

The criterion for selection to represent Pakistan has been extremely competitive, culminating with the National Science Fair. Contestants for this fair were first selected at the provincial level and then competed among each other for an opportunity to travel to Los Angeles.

Habibullah’s project is based on a dual process of electric generation and the purification of sewage water. He explained to The Express Tribune that the inspiration came from the untreated pollution that seeps into our rivers and seas from factories. His model is capable of generating three watts of electricity from 300 millilitres of sewerage water, along with purification of the water at the end of the process. He was confident that the same technique could be used at a commercial level.

“The competition will give students a chance to represent their capabilities at a global level,” said Naveed Siraj, the country manager of Intel Pakistan. “Young people are the key to solving global challenges and are the innovators of tomorrow.” This is the first time that students from the tribal areas, Khyber Agency and Jamrud have also taken part.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15^th,  2011.