Engineers affect everything about the way people live, so it is not surprising that they also have a big impact on the animal world. Environmental engineers, for example, are often tasked with evaluating projects in order to minimize negative effects on valuable animal species. In some cases, engineers have developed ingenious solutions to help animals and people share the planet. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) maintains a list, known as the IUCN Red List, which ranks the conservation status of thousands of species. Contest entrants chose an animal that is ranked by IUCN as either: vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered and wrote an essay on how engineering might improve life for that species.
Meera Murthy
Grade 5 - Kingsley Montessori School (Boston, MA, United States)
First Place
Camilla Hajallie
Grade 5 - A.C.E. Academy for Scholars PS290Q (Ridgewood, NY, United States)
Third Place
Lila Boutin
Grade 3 - Davis School for Independent Study (Davis, CA, United States)
Crop Bioengineering for Orangutan Protection
Honorable Mention
Lauren Mayerle
Grade 3 - Clifford Math & Technology Magnet School
Honorable Mention
Reducing Bald Eagle Collisions with Wind Turbines by A Balaji
Grade 3-5 - Elementary School (Ames, IA, United States)
Saving the Western Lowland Gorilla by Curtis Childress
Grade 5 - Shafer Elementary (Katy, TX, United States)
The Pygmy Sloth (scientific name: Bradypus pygmaeus) by K Wynter
Grade 3-5 - Brush Creek Elementary School (Eagle, CO, United States)
Saving the Puerto Rican Parrot Through Engineering by Stella Kotter
Grade 5 - Kingsley Montessori School (Boston, MA)
The Beira Antelope! by Hannah Lieb
Grade 5 - Endeavor Elementary (West Chester, OH, United States)
How Engineering Can Save Elephants by Kelsee Merritt
Grade 3-5 - Southwest R-V Elementary School (Missouri, United States)
Saving Sun Bears using Nanoparticle Tracker Technology by Asmithaa Vinukonda
Grade 5 - Brunson Elementary School (Winston Salem, NC, United States)
Becca Maddox
Grade 6 - Pizitz Middle School (Vestavia Hills, AL, United States)
First Place
Lishita Chen
Grade 6 - Sathya Sai School of Canada (Toronto, ON, Canada)
“Modiseal” - a new life for Hooded Seals
Second Place
Gitanjali Rao
Grade 6 - Brentwood Middle School (Brentwood, TN, United States)
Saving Mountain Gorillas with Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics
Third Place
Anya Ambarish
Grade 7 - Stone Hill Middle School (Sterling, VA, United States)
Two-Step Process to Save the Greater Long-Nosed Bat
Honorable Mention
Pangolin Preservation: So Ugly, I’m Cute by Bailey Cooper
Grade 8 - Marco Forster Middle School (San Juan Capistrano, CA, United States)
The Sea Turtle Light Pollution Solution by Miranda Delgado
Grade 6 - Metropolitan School of Panama (Punta Pacifica, Panama, Rep. of Panama)
Prey to rescue the Predator by Riya Dutta
Grade 6 - Smith Middle School (Troy, MI, United States)
Adenophron: Saving Vultures to Help Humans by Cora Oldfield
Grade 8 - Homeschooled (Amherst, NY, United States)
Project GRACE - Giraffe Recovery And Conservation Effort by Anisha Parsan
Grade 6 - Fort Settlement Middle School (Sugar Land, TX, United States)
Hope Emerges for Whale Sharks by Carter Smith
Grade 7 - Harpeth Hall School (TN, United States)
Carolyn Frank
Grade 10 - Homeschooled (Farmington, ME, United States)
Business Proposal: Solution to Stop the Consumption of Plastic Film by Sea Turtles
First Place
Kaitlin Feit
Grade 11 - Oak Knoll School (Summit, NJ, United States)
Creating a New Destiny for Whale Sharks across the Globe
Second Place
Shambhavi Ramaswamy
Grade 10 - Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (Arlington, VA, United States)
Using Retroviruses to Ensure Survival of the Black-Footed Ferret
Third Place
Julia Caponi
Grade 10 - W.C. Mepham High School (North Bellmore, NY, United States)
Preventing African Elephants from Becoming Irr-Elephant
Honorable Mention
Sean Flanagan
Grade 11 - Mass Academy Of Math & Science (Douglas, MA, United States)
Honorable Mention
eDNA: Decoding the Key to Protecting Biodiversity by Hye Ri Chang
Grade 11 - Choate Rosemary Hall (New Haven, CT, United States)
GPS - Global Positioning System or Greedy Poacher Solution? by Madison Cicchitto
Grade 10 - California High School (San Ramon, CA, United States)
The BioConsumer: Saving Newell's Shearwater by Cleaning the Ocean of Microplastics by Claire Wayner
Grade 11 - Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Baltimore, MD, United States)
Save The Elephant Foundation Proposal by Amina Youssef
Grade 11 - Durango High School (Durango, CO, United States)