Pennington teen wins $10,000 award in national STEM competition

This week we are reminded that working at a snail's pace can pay off in the long run. Charlotte Lenore Simon Michaluk from New Jersey, took home a $10,000 award for her STEM project in the Broadcom Masters 2020 middle school competition. The 14 year old’s project was entitled: “Simulating Slipping Snails: Mitigating Climate Change and Oceanborne Invasive Species Transport with Biomimicry”. Her project brought light to the continuous problem of biofouling. This happens when algae, bacteria, or barnacles build up on ship hulls, buoys, or underwater pipes. Scrubbing the slime and critters off is costly and biofouling also cuts down on ships' fuel efficiency. The Broadcom MASTERS — an acronym for “math, applied science, technology and engineering for rising stars” — is a program of the Society for Science & the Public designed to inspire middle school students to follow their personal passions to college and career paths. For the first time, the competition was held virtually and had 30 finalists judged and evaluated on what they came up with.