Brentwood Students Named Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Challenge State Finalists

The Samsung Solve for Tomorrow challenge is a national research competition, looking for students to put their revolutionary ideas into action.  We did that this past year as sophomores in the high school research lab.  We aimed to develop a method for restoring salt marshes. Salt marshes offer coastal protection from storms and take carbon( a greenhouse gas) from the atmosphere, it is crucial that we protect salt marsh ecosystems. Our idea was to use guar gum to prevent salt marsh degradation. Guar gum is effective in thickening and stabilizing salt marsh sediment, to prevent it from eroding.   

In February, we filmed a video presenting our research idea to advance into the next stage of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition. We suited up in our lab coats and set up a whole production in the research lab, led by our research teacher Dr. Grella. After getting our hands dirty literally with soil and plants, we were able to produce a video that represented our project idea well and we were awarded $15,000 in Samsung technology.  Through our work, we show that students have a passion to take on issues in our community through STEM. We are honored to represent our Brentwood research team in this competition and we can’t wait to further our research for the future. 

Brentwood High School’s Samsung Team. (Dr. Grella)

To learn more about the projects conducted in Dr. Grella’s and Mrs. Medwig’s Research courses, visit http://letssciencethat.org