Grade 8 Student Wins First Place in State Science Competition

Grade 8 student Saarang Mulukutla’s research project, “Wiser with Water: Does Real-Time Feedback Modify Behavior?” recently won first place at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences (PJAS) state competition.

His project was selected as the first place winner
in the Environmental Science category and rose to the top of approximately 3,000 projects belonging to the best and brightest science students from Pennsylvania’s 13 separate PJAS regions.
 
For his project, Saarang programmed an iPhone app (H20 Saver) that acts like a wearable to show people how much water they are using when they shower, the cost of the water and the energy used to heat the water, and the carbon footprint of their shower. He then measured, with regression analysis, the changes the app made in people’s decision-making and water conservation.
 
Congratulations, Saarang!
 
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