Dorseyville Middle School seventh-grader Rishabh Krishnamurthy recently was named one of the Top 300 Junior Innovators in the inaugural Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC). It is the nation’s premier science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competition for middle school students. The challenge, a program of Society for Science, seeks to inspire young scientists, engineers and innovators to solve the grand challenges of the 21st century.
The Top 300 Junior Innovators, including 15 from Pennsylvania, were selected from nearly 2,000 students from 49 states, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico. Students who are named in the top 10% of their local science fair are eligible to enter the contest. Rishabh was chosen based on his project “Modeling the Detection of Pathogens in Sewage Sheds,” for which he received a first place in the Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair in March.
Each of the Top 300 Junior Innovators will receive a $125 award from Department of Defense STEM, as well as a special prize package. Thirty finalists were to be announced Sept. 20 and will compete for more than $100,000 in awards and prizes.
Thermo Fisher was named the title sponsor of the society’s middle school competition in August 2022. The competition previously was sponsored by the Broadcom Foundation.