Grade 8 Student Wins First Place at PJAS


Srimayi Mulukutla won first place in the state at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences (PJAS) competition on May 19, 2018.

Her project, entitled "Increasing the Efficiency of Non-Electric Refrigeration," was in the ecology category. “Basically I made a non-electric refrigerator out of two clay pots, some sand, and water,” Srimayi explained. “Since the non-electric refrigerator (zeer pot) has already been made before, I tested three materials I could use in the pot to make it more efficient and found that charcoal is really efficient. So, potentially, people in countries with hot climates and no electricity could use it to cool their food.”
 
Srimayi enjoys science and likes solving problems. Winning at the state level was reaffirming for her. “I was very excited when I won first place in the state because it means that my ideas and the project were conveyed to the judges in a good way,” she said. “Since the results were successful, it made me wonder how I could use my findings in real life.”
 
This summer, Srimayi plans to study science through a Zero Robotics program which involves problem solving, learning more about space, and coding. 
 
Congratulations, Srimayi!

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