Though the stars are bright, it seems that the future of a
certain GMSD STEM student might prove even brighter. Nipun Rajan, a
Farmington fifth grader, was awarded as a semifinalist apart of the NASA and
American Society of Mechanical Engineers Foundation’s Future Engineers
Challenge.
Future
Engineers is an online education platform that hosts national
student innovation challenges, and this competition offered two age divisions:
Teen (ages 13-19) and Junior (ages 5-12). Winners from each division were
chosen from 565 submitted designs.
For the competition, students were asked to invent a
multifunctional object that could combine two items into one for 3-D printing
by crew members aboard the International Space Station. Nipun’s entry, which he
dubbed the Super Space Tool, innovatively combined an array of necessary tools,
including two kinds of screwdrivers, a scale, serrated saw, hex wrench, and
more. He described it personally as a “must for the pockets of all
astronauts”. Check out a 3-D model of his intelligent design at the link
below:
http://www.futureengineers.org/Gallery/Details/7561
As one of the twenty semifinalists selected, Nipun will receive
a “3-D printing in space” prize pack and a Makerbot 3-D Printer for his
elementary school. This is the second consecutive year a GMSD student has been
recognized in the contest—receiving the prize packages for their schools.