2 Fil-Ams top major science tilt

MANILA, Philippines - Two young Filipino-American pupils won first place in one of the world’s biggest science and technology competitions for coming up with a machine that creates biofuel from algae.

Richard Ira and Brian Niguidula, both of Scofield Magnet Middle School in Stamford, Connecticut, won first place in the Grade 4 to 6 level category of the Toshiba-National Science Teachers Association’s Exploravision Awards, winning a $10,000 savings bond, an all-expense paid trip to Washington to attend the Exploravision Awards Weekend, a Toshiba-branded product, and special discounts for Toshiba product purchases.

The boys impressed the judges with their Community Algae Bioreactor (mCAB) entry.

The mCAB is a miniature renewable energy processing unit that creates biofuel from algae while cleaning water and reducing carbon dioxide levels.

The closed-system mCAB uses plastic tubes lined with nanosand to remove fast growing, easily harvested “super algae” with a high and constant oil content from wastewater and extract oil from the algae for fuel production.

The boys, on the website they created for their winning creation, said that with the mCAB, algae “could be a major source of oil in the near future.”

The Toshiba/NSTA started their Exploravision Awards program, now on its 18th year, to encourage students with varied interests and skill and ability levels to create and explore a vision of future technology by combining their imagination with the tools of science.

“All inventions and innovations result in creative thinking and problem solving. That’s what Exploravision is all about,” officials said.