[June 14, 2011]

ExploraVision Student Winners Present Future Technologies in Special Congressional Science Fair

ExploraVision:

WHAT: A special Congressional Science Fair, hosted in collaboration with the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, highlighting the eight winning student teams of the 19^th annual Toshiba (News - Alert)/NSTA ExploraVision Awards. The students, ranging from grades K-12, will use prototypes and websites to present to members of Congress and staff their innovative ideas for future technologies. The Science Fair will immediately follow a Congressional hearing on STEM education, where winning teams will testify before Congress. The hearing is also open to the public and the media. Technologies on display will include:

• Edinburg, TX (1^st Place in Grade K-3) - Smarter Intersections: The team envisioned a transportation technology called Intelligent Streets (i.streets), an advanced traffic control system that would utilize "smart translucent film" on a car's windshield, receiving signals from either traffic lights or satellites.
• Herndon, VA (1^st Place in Grade 4-6) - Protecting Our Soldiers: The team's Heads Up! Helmet could someday help protect soldiers from traumatic brain injury due to an improvised explosive device.
• Bronx, NY (1^st Place in Grade 7-9) -Tunnel Vision: The team's project, Subway Smart System, would capture wasted wind energy in the NYC Subway using Smart Rails and Smart Grass, extracting energy when trains move down the track.
• Pennington, NJ (1^st Place in Grade 10-12) - Can You Hear Me Now?: The team's project, Bionic Auditory Prosthetic (BAP), is a prosthetic inner ear designed to cure deafness by allowing the brain to process sound while bypassing the entire inner ear and auditory nerve.
• Land O Lakes, FL (2^nd Place in Grade K-3) - Energy That Grows on Trees!: The team's project The Solar T.R.E.E. will reduce our dependency on fossil fuels by using artificial leaves that capture and store solar and wind energy.
• Plainview, NY (2^nd Place in Grade 4-6) - See the Light!: The team envisioned BlindSight as a new type of specially designed contact lens with a "nano-camera" built in that would send a video stream to a computer chip implanted in the brain - allowing blind people to perceive sight.
• West Bloomfield, MI (2^nd Place in Grade 7-9) - Breath Free: The team's project, I-TBS: Intra-trachea Breathing System, would filter, compress, and concentrate ambient air to provide patients, suffering from respiratory diseases, supplemental oxygen and help eliminate the need for cumbersome oxygen tanks.
• Manhattan, NY (2^nd Place in Grade 10-12) -Kidneys Today: The team's 3Drenal: Kidney Bio Printer offers an alternative and a solution to the challenge of costly kidney transplants. Using a 3D bio-printer, 3Drenal replicates the functionality of the kidney through mechanisms of cell fusion and organogenesis.

Students and teachers are available for media interviews.

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