So, registration is flying along so well, that we have decided to extend it until March 29th, 2019 so everyone who wishes can get in! We have had teams from 35 countries so far, and every continent is represented in the competition this year. WOW!!! That is such an amazing number of people from wildly different cultures and backgrounds, meaning we are sure to have so many incredibly diverse projects submitted to be judges this year. And because we have two categories this year, we will have an even wider array of teams and backgrounds to showcase as compared to previous years. I cannot wait to see what everyone has working in their heads to help us move Toward A Greener Tomorrow.

One thing we have not provided much information on so far however, is the location. We have said it will be in New York City, but an exact spot has not been announced. I promise we have been working extremely hard on this and are in the final stages of locking up what might just be our most exciting location yet…more to come on that hopefully this week! 

That’s all for now, but since the “slow” portion of the competition is almost over, there will be more updates which means more blog posts so stay tuned!

Ok, so, back when I announced the competition, I alluded that I would make a blog post that goes more in depth on why we  chose the theme of “Toward A Greener Tomorrow”, and so I am writing that here today! The idea for the theme came from the feeling that it is too easy to focus on the negative aspects of our current environmental issues. You here how this animal is going extinct, this resource is tougher to find, we are using too much of this or that. But that is not the whole picture, not even close! If there was no positive news related to the environment, we would be much closer to the apocalyptic wasteland many seem to feel we are reaching. But we are not! There is good news every day if you know where to look, and that is why we have a future. Do we have issues? Yes. Will we find more along the way? Undoubtedly. Are they insurmountable? Not at all! Yet if you do not believe there are better days to come, then your efforts are likely to be less than they would be if surrounded in a field of positivity.

“Toward A Greener Tomorrow” represents that feeling, that hope, that drive to look past the negatives. The Clean Tech Competition is oriented to find a greener solution in our evolving world, and the theme of 2019 is to remind us that things will get better, but only if we believe it to be so. I have no doubt that some of the thousands of young scientist that have entered over the last several years will be influential in our planets greener future. Now, it is your turn to help. I cannot wait to see what you have in store!

The 2019 Spellman HV Clean Tech Competition is officially underway, and I for one could not be more excited about this moment! Our topic for this year is: Toward a Greener Tomorrow, and there are so many reasons behind that, and I will devote a whole other blog post to that in the very near future.  Registration starts Wednesday November 21st at 9am, but we are letting you all here know first. We know it has been a long wait to hear this good news, and we thank you for your patience. We have been working on some exciting new things for this year, including TWO categories! Those categories are: Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change and Resource Preservation, two extremely important focuses of our future. This means twice the finalists, twice the prizes, and twice the fun! Bigger and better than ever you ask? You are correct!

 

 

Ok so to explain these changes, the simple answer is that yes, we have grown in size over the years. What started out as a local competition for Singapore, has grown immensely in the last several years.This last Clean Tech Competition saw over 550 teams from 39 different countries enter. While reading all these submissions, it feels like two things. First, that a lot of great ideas were unable to be recognized because competition was so fierce, and we wanted to give those a voice and a chance. Secondly, the inventions and research submitted was over such a wide range of topics, it felt difficult to accurately judge them all under one group. So this year, we decided we wanted to switch that up, and are happy to announce that means that 20 teams will be recipients of monetary prizes this year, as well as have the ability to travel to meet their peers at our finalist event location (more on that in the coming weeks…) 

So, that is the announcement. I could go on about how excited I am to be fully part of this competition this year, but I am sure you have better things to do that listen to that! If you are not finding this for a couple weeks, no worries, registration goes until March 2019 so you have plenty of time to get your team together. The last few months have been quiet, but now that we are in full swing, you will be hearing plenty more from me!

Your CTC Administrator,

Kevin

 

 

Well, it has certainly been a while since you have heard from me! It has been a busy time in the world here at the Center for Science teaching & Learning. We have had more camp sessions, birthday parties, field trips and lessons than we can truly count, so my mind has been quite distracted lately. But rest assured, Clean Tech 2019 is coming together and we are extremely excited about some of the things we have in store! Now I won’t give anything away just yet, but we have been listening to what 2018 competitors and finalists had to say about the process, and we took them to heart. So look out for some changes they came up with…as well as some we have been working on ourselves with some help from Spellman High Voltage Electronics!

I am sure you are all impatiently waiting to hear next years topic, but that time to announce has not yet come to pass. However I promise that it is coming soon! Details will be posted as we update our website, but i can tell you this…mark your calendars for Wednesday November 21st, 2018 at 12pm EST. You will be able to do something then you have probably been dreaming about for quite some time. I know that is not a lot to go on, but for now it will have to do! But again, all the information you are looking for will be coming soon, I swear!

Wow. It is hard to believe that it is really done. The 2018 competition has come to a close, and was it ever amazing! For those of you who may not have been able to find out yet, here are our top three teams from this year:

1st Place: Team Hydrogen Fuel Cells; Danielle Kelly and Audrey Shine, USA

2nd Place: Team Sustainable Future; Benjamin Liao, USA

3rd Place: Team Eilíse Ireland; Eilíse Ireland, Ireland

 

While these three may have received our top prizes, every single team and member that entered is a winner in my book, CSTL’s, Spellman’s, your team leader’s, and hopefully in the most important one of them all…your own! You all went out of your way and put time and effort into doing something that you love and are passionate about. You did this because you want to help save our world. Because you are enthralled with science. Because you wanted to challenge yourself. Because you found something cool to do with a friend. Because of a thousand different reasons, but in the end they all come back to a passion for STEM, and that is exactly what we want! That is the point of this competition! Not because of some prize money (although that is a nice incentive!). You did it because you wanted to. And that is the most important prize of all, a feeling of motivation and passion.

This year was our biggest year yet, and there are so many people to thank for their amazing help. Our sponsors at Spellman High Voltage Electronics, our host at Stony Brook University, our media and relations team, our various donors, the contestants themselves, their team leaders, their parents, the mentors…the list could go on forever. But I am thankful for each and every one of them because they all played a major role in making this possible.

 

Ok, I think I have rambled enough. I am still riding that euphoric wave from last week it seems! Again, thank you to everyone who participated, from the almost 600 submissions from 39 countries. 2018 was one for the books, and were hoping to make 2019 even bigger and better!!!

Wow. The last week. It has only been a month of waiting for me but for those of you in the finals competition I cannot even imagine the anticipation! It has been a long road for you, some of you submitting your papers in the first day we opened it up. Some of you are on your way, others will be making their way here next week. Some of you are coming from here on Long Island, others from the other side of the globe, but they are all amazing journeys of experimentation and innovation. I cannot wait to see these final projects in person and hear you speak of them in your own words.

For the final, I am happy to announce that unless something gets in the way, we are planning on live streaming part of the finals event on the CSTL facebook page! The stream will begin around 1:30pm EST (13:30 for some of you) and end around 4:30pm EST (16:30). So tell your friends and family to watch and find out all the exciting projects that have made it to our finals competition this year.

That is all I have for now, safe travels to those traveling, I will see you soon!

First off, I would like to follow up with Frank’s introduction by letting you all know my name is Kevin Sanders and I am your new Administrator! This week has been a whirlwind of fresh information and excited learning as I plunge head first into this new role and adventure for myself. I have been amazed at every turn at the response this competition receives and the vast range on ingenious submissions that have been sent in. There is still so much to be done before the Finalists competition on July 12th, but I am beyond excited to undertake this journey with you all, and am exceptionally excited to meet those of you attending our event at Stony Brook University next month. Everyone has been so helpful in helping me settle in and I am sure the event will be just as amazing as we are all expecting. 

Well, that is all for now, time to get back to work! But do not worry, you will be hearing from me again soon!

Kevin

So as you know, I, Frank DiGiovanni am leaving Clean Tech for a new adventure…No I’m not telling you where I’m going but the Competition is now in good hands, those of Kevin Sanders. I’ve been working with him to catch him up on all things Clean Tech!

Kevin has a background in Environmental Geoscience from University of Buffalo (western New York) and has worked with invasive species management and environmental education. I mean, talk about a total science person well suited to take over for Clean Tech! (I can tell he’s stoked to meet all of you at the Final too!)

He starts June 4th but not to worry, he’ll hit the ground running for the Final and I know he’ll be great.

 

Sadly, this is my last day, the 18th and I want you all to know it’s been a labor of love for all things STEM. The ideas that the students come up with continue to amaze me and give me hope for the future. Whether your team made the Final or not, let nothing stand in your way of advancing your idea; yours could be the next idea that does real good in the world, the one that Solves Climate Change.

Best of luck to you all,

-Frank DiGiovanni

It was not easy to whittle down the incredible semi-finalist teams to the top 10! It might not be easy to believe but the top 10 teams were separated by a total of 2.5 points! 2.5 POINTS!!  All of the Finalists have been invited. But I speak to you unselected semi-finalists, try to not be dejected. (Which I know is easy for me to say but not always easy to put into practice.) But take heart! If an invited-Finalist team cannot come to Stony Brook University for the Final, then you may be that next team selected as a Finalist.

 

Congratulations to all our Finalists!

I look forward to hearing from you in the coming days!

Once again, in no particular order, here are your 2018 Spellman High Voltage Electronics Clean Tech Competition Finalists!

 

Team Name	School	City	Country
MMCCleanTeam	Mount Maria College	Mitchelton	Australia
Air Water	Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the American School of Lima	Camacho, La Molina	Peru
5-ALA	George W. Hewlett High School	Hewlett	United States
Seq2Tran	Adrian Wilcox High School	Santa Clara	United States
NPSI	NPS International School	Singapore	Singapore
Hydrogen Fuel Cells	Plainview Old-Bethpage JFK High School	Plainview	United States
Eilise Ireland	Regina Mundi College	Douglas Road	Ireland
The Flash	National Junior College	Singapore	Singapore
Sustainable Future	Henry M. Gunn High School	Palo Alto	United States
PeaCeMakers	National Junior College	Singapore	Singapore

For all who have participated, know that you’re part of the biggest Clean Tech Competition in the Competition’s HISTORY! You’re part of the 39 different nations who registered teams! Teams from as far away as Turkey, Canada Fiji, Jamaica, Peru, Australia, Bulgaria, France, Singapore and South Africa submitted papers and took their shot to become a Semi-finalist! Yeah, that’s all the major continents or worldwide! 🙂 

You should be very proud of what you’ve accomplished simply by submitting your paper! You’re showing the world that you want to be part of the solution!

The judges had GREAT questions of me and the papers they had to score and had great comments regarding the papers such as the following:
1) The project focuses on changing human behavior to bring about change vs focusing on negating the negative impact poor choices are having on the environment.
2) The proposed application would be relatively easy to create and would carry little to no environmental cost.
3) The project plays to the human affinity for playing online games and proposes using the in app game as a secondary route to educate and reward good choices. It is very clever… And that was just one paper’s comments! As you can imagine with all the submitted papers I can’t list all the accolades but if you want to know what the judges had to say about yours, please email me at CleanTech@cstl.org.

Please help me congratulate all of our Semi-Finalists! They worked incredibly hard on their ideas and to simply be selected out of the biggest pool of papers ever, is an incredible achievement! I’ll be in touch more as the week goes on with our semi-finalists but for those who didn’t make it, take nothing but pride in your achievement! You entered, you found your problem, created a solution, wrote a paper, you stepped up to help! Your idea can help Solve Climate Change in hitherto unknown ways!

Semi-Finalists, welcome. Come Monday the 14th, you’ll find out if you’re on your way to Stony Brook University to showcase your idea. Try not to be nervous 🙂 I’ll be in touch. Congratulations to all our semi-finalists! 

Here they are in no particular order.

 

Team Name	School Name	Country
5-ALAGeorge	W. Hewlett High School	United States
Air Water	Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the American School of Lima	Peru
Eilise Ireland	Regina Mundi College	Ireland
MMCCleanTeam	Mount Maria College	Australia
NPSI	NPS International School	Singapore
Hydrogen Fuel Cells	Plainview Old-Bethpage JFK High School	United States
Seq2Tran	Adrian Wilcox High School	United States
The Flash	National Junior College	Singapore
Sustainable Future	Henry M. Gunn High School	United States
PeaCeMakers	National Junior College	Singapore
Team Coffee	RVHS	Singapore
xFarmSmart	XFARMSMART.ORG	United States
phytotoxins	G.W. Hewlett High School	United States
Flower Power	Jericho High School	United States
plasticgirls	National Junior College	Singapore
Imbak	Philippine Science High School Main Campus	Philippines
Dave Song	Gould Academy	United States
Algae2Energy	Hwa Chong Institution	Singapore
Rush Hour 4	EIB-The Victor Hugo School	France
Rainy_Ladies	National Junior College	Singapore
Refresh	Charles R. Drew Charter School	United States
Mansfield State High Team 2	Mansfield State High School	Australia
Invictus	NPS International School	Singapore
Litsy Luis Natani	Energy Institute High School	United States
MSSM Penguins	The Maine School of Science and Mathematics	United States
Cactopia	Anderson Junior College	Singapore
Mealworms Make Styrofoam Squirm	Anderson Junior College	Singapore
Team Thermodome	Jericho High School	United States
BPSHS-SRC Team B	Philippine Science High School – SOCCSKSARGEN Region Campus	Philippines
Microfuel	Hamilton High School	United States

Remember, if your team is an invited Finalist, your team must pay to get to Stony Brook University on the 12th of July.

Look for the Finalist announcement on the 14th!