Vancouver teen engineers bacteria to win top prize at biggest school contest
VANCOUVER — A Vancouver student who won the top prize at the world’s largest high school competition says four years of doing experiments taught him that patience and passion are keys to success.
Austin Wang, 18, won a US$75,000 award for engineering genetically modified E. coli bacteria that speeds up the process of converting organic waste into electricity.
The Grade 12 student at David Thompson Secondary School competed against 1,700 students from 77 countries at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Ariz.
Wang’s love of science had him experimenting with hydrogen fuel cells in Grade 8 before he decided to switch paths and work with microbial fuel cells —devices that convert chemical energy into electrical energy.