The Future is NEAR - Nanotechnology Research at North Penn High School


2022 Symposium Invitation		2022 Symposium Program

Image 2: The Future is NEAR (Nanotechnology Education and Research) students after their presentation.

2022 Engineering Academy Graduation Class

17th Annual Nanotechnology and Engineering Symposium
Lansdale, Pennsylvania - May 20, 2022

The Engineering Design and Development (EDD) senior students of the North Penn High School Engineering Academy presented their research at the 17th Annual Nanotechnology and Engineering Symposium on Friday, May 20, 2022 at 7PM.

EDD, the capstone course of the North Penn High School Engineering Academy has a unique nanotechnology and engineering research program, developed by its instructor, called The Future is N.E.A.R. (Nanotechnology Education And Research). The EDD course and NEAR program introduce the fundamentals of materials science, nanotechnology, engineering research principles, and a rigorous application of their skills and knowledge while cultivating their interest in engineering, problem solving and life-long learning. Students design and test solutions to global issues by capitalizing from the fundamentals of nanotechnology and engineering utilizing the latest published research available. In the course, students gain essential 21st century skills that will prepare them to become successful and marketable leaders in a global technological society.

In the program this year, there were 51 students in 17 research teams whose research spanned the materials science, nanotechnology, environment, energy, and healthcare sectors. Their research endeavors were only possible this year because of the amazing support from the Hitachi High-Tech America Inspire STEM program and the North Penn Educational Foundation!

The Hitachi TM4000plus Scanning Electron Microscope and Oxford EDS, on loan from the Hitachi High-Tech America Inspire STEM

The North Penn Educational Foundation provided the necessary funding needed to design, test, and characterize their research. The Foundation's mission is to motivate and inspire students and staff in the North Penn School District through innovative projects and opportunities that enhance educational experiences and resources impact is made possible through generous contributions from businesses, community organizations and individuals!

The NEAR program wouldn't be possible without the support from theHitachi and the North Penn Educational Foundation! Thank you very much!

Congratulations seniors! I wish you the best in all of your future endeavors!!
~Mr. Boyer

The Future is NEAR: R: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants READ MORE

The Future is N.E.A.R. (Nanotechnology Education And Research) program is a STEM education endeavor designed to offer North Penn High School students a glimpse into the exciting world of nanotechnology, experimental design and engineering research.

The Future is N.E.A.R. program parallels the Engineering Design and Development course (EDD) of the Project Lead the Way engineering academy and offers its students an opportunity to gain 21st century STEM skills that prepares them to become successful leaders in a global society.

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International Research Endeavors
	Students from NPHS Lansdale, PA, USA and QEGS Faversham, UK have been researching the development of cellulose nanofibers from ionic liquid systems. Cellulose nanofibers have never been researched at North Penn before. This research endeavor is particularly interesting, not only because of the international collaboration, but because cellulose has many inherent properties that could improve the function of nanofibers developed for many applications. Please check back often for news and updates.

This year, there are 51 students in 17 research teams in 3 Engineering Design and Development classes within the North Penn High School Engineering Academy. The main research endeavors that the students are involved with are listed below. Many of the students within these teams will also be performing various extended and supplementary experiments. A team research section will be added to the website soon to share various images and videos of the students' research. Please check back often!

Water Quality
Custom nanofiber-based water filters
Team Name: AquaFlo Filtration

ENVIRONMENTAL
RESEARCH

Garrett Chonko | Tyler Refford | Caleb Yanagawa | Sajid Zahid

As of 2017, 2.1 billion people do not have access to sanitary water. Increasing pollution and rising sea levels are contaminating once trusted water sources in countries around the globe. The shortage of clean water sources is not solely created by contamination, but by the back of reliable sanitation techniques. The possible consequences due to continued usage of contaminated water sources include dehydration, infections, and malnutrition. The high expense of purification added to various countries' economic conditions often results in an insufficient water supply, posing a threat to the populations' well-being. Further research and development is necessary to improve the quality of global water sources.ces.

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AquaFlo Filtration: Image Title

Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting
Improving thermoelectric generation modules
Team Name: E-Force

MATERIALS SCIENCE
RESEARCH

Shakib Hasan | Rauf Islam | Bryan Blanco

Due to the rapid rise in global population and innovations in technology, the world's demand for energy has been rapidly increasing. These demands have created a profound impact on the health of the global environment that has made the quest for clean alternative energy sources a necessity for the future.

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E-Force: Image Title

High-Strength Cabling
Research, analysis, and development of high tensile strength cables
Team Name: PolyCable Industries

MATERIALS SCIENCE
RESEARCH

Cody Froshour | Jake Sparra | Owen Mockus

Cabling is used everywhere, from the tires on a car to the walls in the tallest skyscrapers. They have become a necessity in modern day infrastructure, however there is room for improvement. Industrial cordage has a short lifespan and corrodes easily in adverse weather conditions and needs to be replaced often. With a high mass and material composition wire rope is quite expensive to produce. There is no one cable that can do it all, there are many different orientations that are used for different jobs. Future advancements in research and development into industrial cordage are necessary to improve the mass distribution and structural integrity.ity.

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PolyCable Industries: Image Title

Thermal Interface Materials
Research and develop of high temperature TIMs
Team Name: Process-X

MATERIALS SCIENCE
RESEARCH

Scott Klein | Tim Schwar | Ryan Woolaver

In the modern world, computers are an integral part of our lives. However, higher power computers generate large amounts of heat, inhibiting their processing speeds. While there are already thermal management systems for processors, more effective designs could allow processors to run at faster speeds without sustaining damage. Overclocking can increase processing performance by up to twenty percent but it will also generate more heat. An effective cooling system will allow processors to safely run at faster speeds without damaging themselves.

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Process-X: Image Title

Transparent Solar Panels
Research and development of transparent photovoltaic energy harvesting devices
Team Name: Solar Transparency

ENERGY
RESEARCH

Jessica Baek | Veronica Ott | Charlotte Patterson | Kaylee Spencer

With 10,000 times the world�s total energy use continuously hitting the Earth, solar energy has the potential to eliminate fossil fuels as a clean and renewable alternative if harnessed effectively. However, the current technology used to harvest solar energy is not efficient enough to power the world, nor is it cost-effective or aesthetically pleasing. The average consumer�s solar panel is around 15-18% efficient while fossil fuels have an average efficiency of 33%. To compete with the current affordability and efficiency of fossil fuels, further research must be conducted on solar energy harvesting to improve its overall function as a main source of energy.

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Solar Transparency: Image Title

Water Quality
Developing low-cost high quality water filtration devices for those in need
Team Name: Aqua-Tech

ENVIRONMENTAL
RESEARCH

Clean water is a basic human necessity that over 880 million people worldwide do not have access to. Current mthods of providing water to developing nations and remote locations are expensive. Further research is necessary to develop solutions to help those in need obtain access to fresh water.

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Aqua-Tech: Image Title

Developing a lightweight breathable fireproof textilesiles
Team Name: Fire-Power

MATERIALS SCIENCE
RESEARCH

Daniel Gregory | Zach Kline

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Fire-Power: Daniel Gregory and Zach Kline

Fire-Power: Team Meeting Updatesates

Fire-Power: With Fire Protection

Fire-Power: Without Fire Protection

Fire-Power: Image Title

Biomedical Research and Development
Advanced healthcare through nanotechnology
Team Name: Heal-X

BIOMEDICAL
RESEARCH

Emily Allen | Jada Beach | Nicole Lostaunau

In the last century, scientific research has shown that viruses and their mutations can be controlled properly and will not result in serious outbreaks. However, COVID-19 has been the outlier of all viruses that have ever existed. It continues to mutate and disregard the effects of the latest vaccine innovations. ns.

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Heal-X: Image Title

Solar Energy Harvesting and Storage
Team Name: SolarGenix

ENERGY
RESEARCH

Nicholas DeMaria | Mohammed Hoque | Aidan Hoy | Justin Yothers

Solar energy is the most abundant and clean renewable energy source on the planet; however, global dependency on fossil fuels has caused an increased emission of greenhouse gasses and other harmful effects to the environment. Without a change, the future of the environment could be in danger. Because of its abundance, the sun has the potential to be the earth's leading source of energy. With further research, the environment could rely on harvesting the sun�s wasted energy to power the earth cleanly.

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Solargenix: Image Title

Solargenix: Image Titleitle

Solargenix: Image Title

ThermoElectric Generators (TEGs)
Phase Change Materials to improve TEG performance
Team Name: Tepics

MATERIALS SCIENCE
RESEARCH

Jon Pfister | Dominic Porreca

Global demand for energy is predicted to rise by nearly 50% in the next 30 years. Making energy production processes more efficient is essential keeping up with the ever-growing global demands. Due to inefficiencies in modern processes, about 70 percent of all the energy produced by humanity gets wasted as heat. Developing efficient processes that convert excess heat to useable energy is of the utmost importance to keep up with energy demand and reduce the need for fossil fuels.

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Tepics: Image Title

Thermal Energy Harvesting
Revolutionizing TEGs
Team Name: ThermoCharge

MATERIALS SCIENCE
RESEARCH

Jack Bailer | Liam Barron | Brenden Ingling | Shiven Patel

One goal of engineers is to develop machines that expel the least amount of wasted energy possible; however, due to the laws of thermodynamics, no machine can ever be one hundred percent efficient due (in part) to the release of heat. This results in a measurable quantity of unusable thermal energy. Even with modern technology many machines still lack high efficiency capabilities. Further research and development is needed in regards to energy efficiency in order to improve machines.

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ThermoCharge: Image Title

Concussion Prevention
Better protection through advanced materials
Team Name: Concussion Tech

HEALTH
RESEARCH

Alen Jobi | Dev Vyas

Due to technological disadvantages, modern helmets are still failing to prevent concussions because they are primarily designed to only protect the skull from fractures. CDC experts estimate that there are between 1.6 - 3.8 million sports-related concussions each year. Although there is only a 0.3% mortality rate from getting a concussion, people who have sustained multiple concussions are more likely to have long-term cognitive impairment and emotional struggles such as depression, uncontrolled anger, and memory loss. Further research needs to be conducted to reduce head/neck trauma and concussions.

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Concussion Tech: Image Title

Hydrogen Fuel Cells
Improving Hydrogen Fuel Cell performance with nanoscale PEMs
Team Name: Hydroptimize

ENERGY
RESEARCH

Ethan Beck | Christopher LaRosa | Josh Platt

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the world and could be used as a clean fuel source; however, it is typically bonded with other compounds making it difficult to capture and utilize in a safe and clean fashion. Hydrogen has endless potential as a future clean fuel source, but it cannot happen without further research and development.

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Hydroptimize: Image Title

Biomedical Research and Development
Micro/Nanoencapsulations for magnetic nanoparticle drug delivery
Team Name: NanoMed

BIOMEDICAL
RESEARCH

Emme Blanchard | Matthew Pedicone | Sreenidhi Yaratha

The body needs cholesterol to carry out daily tasks and run efficiently; however, large quantities of certain types of cholesterol can have adverse health effects. Due to genetic predisposition and/or diet, the body often can not handle increased levels of cholesterol. Previous solutions, such as statins and bile acid sequestrants have proven to be inefficient and inept. Additionally, when blood thinners, like statins, are introduced to the body, they infiltrate all systems, intentional and unintentional. This increases fatalities as blood clots cannot form where they need to be, especially in post-surgical situations when trying to prevent a stroke. Similarly, during chemotherapy, the drug harms healthy cells throughout the entire body as it is meant to kill fast-growing cells. This is how the side effects that are linked to chemotherapy occur. Our team is looking for a way to target drugs to specific sites in the body, keeping the drug inactive until it gets to the desired area. Current methods designed to aid the body's regulation through various medications have a multitude of negative and potentially harmful side effects. There is an urgent need to develop a solution without major side effects.

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NanoMed: Image Title

Thermoelectric Materials
Improving TEG performance
Team Name: North Penn Thermoelectrics

MATERIALS SCIENCE
RESEARCH

Ryan Banha | Russell Cole

In a perfect world, we wouldn't be concerned about energy efficiency. Any given reaction would be as close to maximum output as possible. However, we do not live in a perfect world. Any given transformation of energy has waste. One way we lose out on potential energy gains is through heat radiation. Whether it be friction, conduction, or otherwise, we can lose anywhere from 5% to 70% of any given reaction's output. However, it is possible to reuse this excess through the use of the thermoelectric effect. The thermoelectric effect is the generation of electricity by means of a temperature difference. There are flaws with this methodology, though. Efficiency is a factor, as the current thermoelectric materials on the market aren't very effective, electricity-wise only functioning at roughly 5-8% efficiency. On top of that, the materials to create a plate aren't necessarily the most abundant, while also containing some radioactive contents such as Technetium (which also necessitates the inclusion of toxic materials like Lead). More research is needed in the pursuit of making the existing technology safer, more effective, and less unstable.

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North Penn Thermoelectrics: Image Title

Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting
Large-Scale piezoelectric energy harvesting
Team Name: PiezoelectriX

ENERGY
RESEARCH

Greg Hartwig | Justin Ngorn | Dylan Schurr | Abigail Thornton

Energy harvesting, a process of converting one form to another, has been a popular concept in the research community for decades and the utilization of the wasted energy on a large scale could potentially reduce the impact that consuming fossil fuels has on the environment. While global energy harvesting is currently being implemented in various sectors, it is not yet fully effective. Further research and experimentation are necessary to be combined with other methods of energy harvesting to minimize the loss of energy. Without more efficient ways to harvest wasted energy, society will continually be reliant on unsustainable fossil fuels that produce harmful emissions and ultimately have a finite supply of energy. Our team has been working on a piezoelectric keyboard using electrospun PVDF nanofibers that will harvest energy from every tap. Imagine if every keyboard in every office building around the globe was harvesting wasted kinetic energy around the clock to put back into the power grid; it might just be the key component in helping to decrease the world's dependence on fossil fuels moving forward.

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PiezoelectriX: Image Title

Wireless Energy Transfer
Advanced power management
Team Name: Wair

ENERGY
RESEARCH

Jennifer Denning | Justin Kwak | Tanav Thota

Portable electronic devices are essential in the daily life of modern society; however, the traditional wires that power these devices are inefficient and messy, causing problems that have not been improved for years. From the most minor inconveniences, like tripping on a wire to more major problems such as city-wide power outages, wires are an inconvenient middle-man and will become unsustainable as technology progresses and greater control over energy is required. Research at leading universities is currently being explored but there are still many challenges to making wireless energy transfer a reality. Further research is essential to improve the electrical energy transfer infrastructure.

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