Two teams from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology have been chosen as global finalists to compete in the 2014 Spirit of Innovation Challenge competition.
In the Health & Nutrition category are TJ Juniors Ramya Radhakrishnan of Herndon, Heather Lukas of Oakton and Pooja Chandrashekar of Potomac Falls with their Project: Sensitive Solutions – OmniSENSE.
In the Cybertechnology & Security category are TJ Sophomores Matthew Sun of Great Falls, Valerie Chen of Chantilly, Jasper Treakle of Fairfax and Raghav Ramraj of Centreville with their Project: TXT U L8R – AutoSense.
The Conrad Foundation announced the names of 20 high school and middle school teams from the U.S., China, India, Israel and Sri Lanka to compete in the final round of the 2013-2014 Spirit of Innovation Challenge competition. These young entrepreneurs — selected from 133 innovative semifinalist teams from around the world — will attend the 2014 Innovation Summit in Houston and compete for $45,000 in prizes. There were a total of 385 team entries from around the world.
Presented by Lockheed Martin, the competition challenges teams of students (ages 13 to 18) to combine innovation and entrepreneurship, along with STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), to create commercially-viable products to benefit humanity and support global sustainability. Finalist teams will present their product concepts April 7-8 before a panel of industry experts, leading entrepreneurs, government officials and world-renowned scientists at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. Products will be evaluated for technical content and marketplace viability. Presentations will be available for public viewing via live stream. The 2013-2014 Spirit of Innovation Challenge is made possible by Lockheed Martin, PepsiCo, Battelle, Air Liquide, Mondelêz International and other supporting sponsors.