Emerson Canada Announces Winners of 2021 Virtual STEM Competition
July 16, 2021
Emerson Canada recently announced the winners of its second annual virtual STEM competition, designed to foster creativity and ingenuity in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) for children. This year’s participants were encouraged to imagine and create a better post-pandemic world with the goals of advancing clean energy, improving the food supply and strengthening society.
“The presentations were outstanding. We were honoured to have so many mentors encourage the students as well as highly respected judges from science and technology organizations select the winners,” said Ryan Garrah, president of Emerson Canada. “With a focus on building a better post-pandemic world, the competition proved that the future is bright when you see the critical thinking, imagination and enthusiasm of all the students.”
The competition took place over several weeks and featured submissions from nearly 50 applicants, ranging from six to 16 years of age. More than 22 mentors from five Canadian universities and colleges helped the students think about and refine their ideas and presentations. Submissions were reviewed by the judges, with the top five finalists from each category selected to present their project via live video.
The winners and their respective submissions are below:
First Place
Avani and Rheeya Sidhu, Calgary (who also won first place last year for their bicycle sensor invention)
The Kinetic Shoe, which uses piezoelectric disks to create energy while walking to charge a cell phone
Second Place
Victor and Caroline Hourtouat, Oakville
Greening Grass Cutting, how cutting grass becomes more efficient when replacing and sharpening blades with this great design
Third Place
Aariz and Zaydan Chowdhury, Edmonton
Clean O2 from H2O, formulating common household items with water for a life-saving reaction
Finalists
Aarav Shabu and Aakanksh Gouder, Mississauga
Food Waste Detection and Reduction
Prateek Kumar Shreyas, Calgary
Water Purification System
Maya Martalog, Burlington
UV Produce Board
Kaiden and Caleb Manji, Calgary
N.A.N. Lock
Ariana D’Souza, Calgary
Recycling Batteries
Katie Lang, Edmonton
Mowbot
Arpit Shabu and Aanya Gouder, Mississauga
Rewards System to Eliminate Plastic Bags
The judges included Dr. Bonnie Schmidt with Let’s Talk Science and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; Dr. Maryam Mkhani with Clean Resource Innovation Network; Lara Emond with Nordet & Co. and a Top 30 Under 30 in Quebec; Tim ten Have with Confederation College; and Camilo Romero with Student Energy.
Emerson joined its Impact Partners Spartan Controls, Lakeside and Laurentide to host the competition, which supports the company’s “We Love STEM” campaign, a longstanding initiative launched in 2015 to empower the next generation of engineers by connecting science to technological advances and modern conveniences. Impact Partners are an exclusive sales channel for many Emerson brands.
