Scholars Go Green with IBM

The top three winners of the IBM Innovation to be Greener Awards for NSHSS members were brought to the IBM Watson Research Center headquarters in New York on August 8th to present their research to IBM scientists. The competition challenged NSHSS members to present a solution to a local environmental problem in a clear and innovative way. The three most outstanding presentations were submitted by:

Tauseef Ahmed, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, Shrewsbury High School 2009
Reduction of Soot Particulate in Automobile Cabins through Electrostatic Polarization

Ryan Neff, Lincoln Park, New Jersey, Kinnelon High School 2009
Applying Magneto-Hydrodynamic Physics to Water Purification in Potable and Industrial Applications

Xin-Yu Ruan, Marietta, Georgia, George Walton High School 2009
Fighting the Drought

The day-long program began with greeting from Robin Willner, Vice President of Global Community Initiatives, followed by the student presentations. They discussed their projects and answered questions from leading IBM researchers, including: Dr. Joseph Jasinski, IBM Distinguished Engineer and Program Director Healthcare and Life Science; Dr. Ajay Royyuru, Senior Manager, Computational Biology Center Research Scientist; Dr Jim Wynne, Program Manager Local Education Outreach; Susan Malaika, IMB Academy of Technology; Caroline Benveniste, Hardware Architect; and Dr. Fred Mintzer, Program Director, Blue Gene Watson. Marylou Molina, Senior Program Manager, explained the IBM-Nature Conservancy Great Rivers Project. And after lunch with IBM researchers, the students toured the IBM Blue Gene Lab. The Blue Gene/L machine was designed and built in collaboration with the Department of Energy's NNSA/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and the LLNL system has a peak speed of 596 Teraflops. Blue Gene systems occupy the #one spot (LLNL Blue Gene/L) and a total of four of the top ten positions in the “TOP500” supercomputer list announced in November 2007.

The award winners are also matched up with IBM mentors, who will help them with their ideas and projects throughout the year. The top ten finalists have been assigned IBM research mentors. Marylou Molina advised the students that "We want to empower our IBMer's to be global citizens to make a difference in the world" and encouraged the students to "take advantage of your mentors, take advantage of their advice, it will help you in the long run."

Xin-Yu Ruan agreed that "Having a mentor is very important…I was thrilled to receive the award that NSHSS and IBM made happen."

Ryan Neff summed up the experience this way: "With the help of IBM and NSHSS, we have a place for our ideas to hatch…NSHSS gave us the hands-on experience to develop our projects." Tauseef Ahmed said of the experience, "I am happy I am able to turn my theory into a reality with IBM's help. I just needed guidance and IBM/NSHSS provided me with that…It is an honor to be recognized as a scholar and global student. It is an ambitious effort from NSHSS to gather worldwide scholars and motivate them to succeed."

View the announcement of the top ten awardees of the IBM Innovation to be Greener Awards.