Achi news desk-
Two teenagers from Waterloo Region will represent Canada at a prestigious youth Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) competition in the United States.
The Grade 9 and 11 students, from different high schools, will join their six teammates in Los Angeles in May. Their innovative projects will then go up against almost 2,000 other students from countries around the world.
For Cindy Cheng, her passion for science started early.
“I was lucky to be born into a family that is very involved in the sciences,” said the Grade 11 student from Laurel Heights High School. “I started looking into material sciences. I like how you can use chemistry to create these tangible, functional objects.”
Recently, Cheng became interested in a new field.
“I was first inspired to start this work in July 2023, [after] I attended a symposium on medical bionics,” he explained. “When I saw the kind of work that was being done and how close it was to being used to make robotics in the medical industry, I was inspired and I saw some overlap with some material science work that I had already done ‘to do. “
When she was selected to represent Canada at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2024, it was a dream come true.
“Especially representing Canada as a young woman in STEM, it makes me feel a little bit like I’m doing more than just talking about research and competing in a science fair.”
Cindy Cheng, a Grade 11 student at Laurel Heights High School in Waterloo, works on her project in a University of Waterloo lab. (Hannah Schmidt/CTV Kitchener)
This will be Cheng’s third time participating in the competition. This year he will showcase an idea to develop stem cell research and present.
“I present a system of soft micro robots,” he said. “They are made from biocompatible materials that mimic the natural areas where stem cells are found inside the body. So I developed this system, which I call the SMOR system, to try and create a more efficient method of distributing stem cells.”
Cheng’s mentor was impressed with the project.
“She came up with the idea that she had already read the papers, collected the literature, and had a sort of laser-focused vision of what she wanted to do,” said Hamed Shahsavan, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Waterloo.
Also joining Team Canada is Grade 9 student Gurnoor Kaur.
“I’ve always been a curious kid, you know, the kind of kid who likes, go run around and ask questions. So I think, yeah, I’ve been interested in science for most of my life,” the Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute student told CTV News.
Kaur will present her low-cost sensor for label-free detection of Malaria.
“One big issue in the world is Malaria,” he explained. “Malaria is the third biggest killer of children under the age of five. And it’s not something we talk about [about] in Canada. However, just because it doesn’t affect us, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to find a solution to it. One issue is with diagnosis because it is labor intensive and requires a lot. I wanted to see if I could eliminate that need.”
Kaur started working on the project about a year ago.
“I designed this device, it’s called the Malascope,” he explained. “It uses the light scattering and light diffraction to diagnose Malaria. I also integrated this device with air to differentiate healthy Malaria cells, Malaria infected red blood cells. This allowed me to achieve an accuracy of around 98 per cent.”
Gurnoor Kaur, a Grade 9 student at Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute in Kitchener, holds her MalaScope device. (Hannah Schmidt/CTV Kitchener)
Shahsavan said that opportunities, such as this international competition, are fundamental to developing a young person’s mind. They introduce the student to more complex ways of thinking at a younger age.
“Traditionally, I think STEM has basically been taught to a higher level than high school students. But the psychology says … the brain is ready, from childhood, to really absorb anything you put in front of them and I don’t think you have to wait until you go to university to start working in STEM because many of the experiments we do do not require sophisticated or complex concepts. Because we teach maybe at university level, you can be active in the lab and learn as you go.”
Together, these bright young minds aim not only to share their work, but also their commitment to promoting STEM education among young women.
“In the 10th grade, I was chosen as an executive member of my school’s science club and there were 10 executives,” Cheng explained. “Nine of them were boys, and I was the only girl. So it took a lot of advocating for other women in STEM, the recognition that, you know, gender doesn’t really play a role in performance in STEM. Another great thing about going to ISF is that you get to meet people of all ethnicities, creeds, genders and see, you know, that everyone can produce this great research.”
“Never stop those questions about: ‘How does this work? Why does this work? What can we do to solve this problem?’” Kaur added. “Because that’s the only way we can create change.”
