Sunset High senior may have solution to energy crisis

Inspired by a trip to India with his father, Ashutosh Patra has earned acclaim for creating a project that makes electricity and clean water

By Christina Lent

The Beaverton Valley Times, Apr 30, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Jonathan House / The Beaverton Valley Times

BIOTECHNOLOGY WHIZ — Sunset High senior Ashutosh Patra will showcase his project on a low-cost way to turn wastewater into clean water and electricity.

ADVERTISEMENTS

Ashutosh Patra is doing his part to find efficient ways to tackle our energy crisis.

At 17, the Sunset High School senior has designed a low-cost microbial fuel cell, which produces electricity and forms clean water while treating wastewater in the process.

The fuel for the entire process is bacteria found in wastewater.

His research has earned him a coveted spot as one of 15 finalists representing six U.S. regions, Western Australia and Canada in the International BioGENEius Challenge.

As a Northwest Region representative, Patra will advance to the international competition May 17 to 19 at the 2009 Biotechnology Industry Organization International Convention in Atlanta.

He will be evaluated by a panel of expert judges on the quality of his research and display as well as his responses to questions about his scientific knowledge and the potential commercial applications for his research.

“The caliber of these students’ work is extremely high,” said Janelle Kawamoto, senior director of programs for the Biotechnology Institute, which organized the challenge. “The research these kids are doing is at the college or graduate student level.

“This competition gathers the brightest minds, and their work is very inspiring to industry leaders who recognize that these students are the future of the industry.”

Groundbreaking work

Patra realized there was a need for a project like his while visiting remote villages in India with his father Priyadarsan Patra.

“I noticed a lot of water sanitation problems,” he said.

In researching public health assistance for a debate topic with the Dartmouth Debate Institute, he found literature about microbial fuel cells that sparked an idea about how to resolve water sanitation problems in developing countries.

1 | 2 Next Page >>