Hayley Todesco is a Canadian student inventor who is best known for winning the Google Science Fair in 2014 for her use of sand filters to clean up oil sands waste.
Hayley Todesco | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alberta, Canada |
| Known for | 2014 Google Science Fair Winner |
Early life
editTodesco was born and brought up in Alberta, Canada.[1] At age 10, Todesco was inspired by the documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, to clean up the environment and began to participate in multiple science fairs.[2][3]
At age 16, she developed a sand filtering system to combat water pollution issues which arise as a result of oil sands waste - specifically the by-product naphthentic acid.[2][4] To develop this, Todesco spent two years in assistant professor Lisa Gieg's lab at the University of Calgary, where she had access to bacteria and oilsand tailings, and developed a sand bioreactor to break down naphthentic acid.[1] The bioreactor was developed using binder clips, an IV bag and a popcorn bucket.[3][5] Todesco worked in the lab after school, spent March breaks there and also skipped her grade 12 classes (at Queen Elizabeth Junior Senior High School) to develop this project while attending high school.[1] Her bacteria-infused sand filtration bioreactor were able to degrade oil sand waste 14 times faster than current methods.[5][6]
Todesco's project (Waste to water: biodegrading naphthenic acids using novel sand bioreactors) was selected as the Google Science Fair regional winner in Calgary in 2014, allowing her to proceed to the global competition as one of the fifteen finalists in September 2014, where Todesco won in her age category (17-18 year olds).[1][2][5][7][8][9] She won a Lego trophy and a $25,000 scholarship from Google.[7][3] Prior to Todesco's win in 2014, Canadian Ann Makosinski (then 15 years old) also won the Google Science Fair in her age category for a body heat-powered flashlight.[7]
Todesco also received the 2014 Stockholm Junior Water Prize for her project, where she was awarded $15,000 and an additional $5,000 was allocated to her high school.[7][10]
Since her win, Todesco has pursued an undergraduate degree in molecular genetics at the University of Alberta, where she was awarded a $50,000 President’s Centenary Entrance Citation undergraduate scholarship.[3] She was recognized as one of Canada's Top 20 Under 20 by Plan Canada, and Canada’s Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25 by The Starfish in 2017.[2][11]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Chung, Emily (July 11, 2014). "Calgary teen's oilsands cleanup tech wins Google award". CBC. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
- ^ a b c d "Hayley Todesco". Canada's Top 25 Environmentalists Under 25. Retrieved 2019-02-11.
- ^ a b c d "Top student aims to add to UAlberta's energy expertise". Top student aims to add to UAlberta’s energy expertise. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
- ^ "Your Project - Google Science Fair 2014". archive.googlesciencefair.com. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
- ^ a b c "The choice of universities in Alberta". Retrieved 2019-02-12.
- ^ "2014 Google Science Fair Projects Set To Change The World". MakeUseOf. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
- ^ a b c d "Calgary teen's oilsands cleanup tech wins Google Science Fair prize". CBC. September 23, 2014. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
- ^ "Teenager invents faster way to clean up toxic tar sands waste using sand and bacteria". TreeHugger. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
- ^ "For those who dream big: Announcing the winners of the 2014 Google Science Fair". Official Google Blog. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
- ^ Shezi, Lungelo (2014-09-04). "Young Limpopo scientists fly SA flag high at Stockholm Junior Water Prize". htxt.africa. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
- ^ "Top 20 Under 20 - The 2015 Top 20 Under 20™ - Hayley Todesco - Plan International Canada". plancanada.ca. Retrieved 2019-02-12.