A 12 Year Old Invents a Life Saving Invention

Shanya Gill a seventh-grader attending Miller Middle School in San Jose, California recently changed the way we all look at fires. She participated in the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge taking her to D.C. This remarkable 12-year-old had a vision and it shook her community to its core.

Shanya is a brilliant and extraordinary young girl with many interests. She is vibrant, hardworking, and cares about her community, her science project is only one example of the impact she is already making. Besides inventing and innovating she loves water sports like water polo and swimming. She tries to incorporate her passions into her routine and hone her skills in the hobbies she loves.

Like all the best inventions it all started with a personal experience that impacted Shanya. Shanya was devastated and unsettled when one of her favorite neighborhood eateries which also happens to be behind her house was demolished due to a horrible fire. It was so scary for both her and her family to be so close to a fire and have their lives at risk. It inspired her to take action in trying to prevent the next one from happening.

As told by Shanya the diner that burned down was a beloved staple in the neighborhood and they weren’t the only ones at a loss. Allegedly someone working on the shift that day left a fire unattended in the kitchen resulting in flames covering every inch of the once-inviting eatery. Luckily there were no casualties besides the establishment going up in smoke. Hopefully, the building was insured.

Such 522,500 structure fires are the result of 77% of the deaths and 11,720 civilian injuries. This equates to $15 billion in direct property damage, a whopping 83%. “Most fires in your home start from an unattended heat source in the kitchen” per Shanya’s project video. Moreover, about 85% of wildland fires located in the US are manmade. The majority of these fires are caused by campfires and the burning of debris.

Shanya explained through her submission video that she had taken a Raspberry Pi and attached it to a thermal camera. This is revolutionary and may just give smoke detectors a run for their money. She programmed her device to do something that no fire detector has done before. Her device can detect the presence of fire and humans within the vicinity. As she stands in her kitchen she shows us through her computer that her device can detect that there is a human, herself, in her kitchen.

What makes Shanya’s device so important is that it alerts the people in charge of the home of an unattended fire before it becomes a threat to you or your home. This has the potential to prevent casualties and damage to many homes as a result of fire.  Her device if in the home would prevent dire escalations that could harm the whole community if a fire spread.

As Shanya explains her device’s benefits, in a car outside her home, there is still a fire burning in her kitchen. This burning fire could be within seconds of threatening her home and her neighbors. She suddenly gets an alert straight to her phone informing her that there is still an unattended in her home in case she needs to be reminded to go back and turn it off. Not to worry, in this instance, it is all part of a live demonstration of her device working in real-time.

Because fire protection awareness is growing and its benefits are life-saving, the most advanced technology in the field is in high demand. In order to revolutionize such an industry and utilize the untapped potential the investment in the industry is growing. There could not be a more perfect time for Shanya’s invention.

Shanya submitted her invention along with her video to the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge. It is a program that aims to inspire and motivate young and promising innovators, engineers, and scientists to find solutions to the modern day’s most pressing issues. The competition has been around for decades, since 1921 to be exact and according to their website, they wish to protect our global climate and keep people safe. This is very aligned with what Shanya strives to do.

Shanya says, “With an early warning system, we could save thousands of lives every year.” Her bio was shared on the social media channels of the competition and it was a great honor for her to participate. Having the level of sportsmanship that she does she was just happy to be included and excited to make a small possible difference through her invention while learning from all the other brilliant participants.

As a finalist in the competition, her participation took her from California to the U.S. capitol, Washington D.C. She got to explain her fire detection device up close to her peers and the judges of the competition. You can see her passion right off the bat and the judges were impressed as well. She had a very well thought out presentation and demonstration in place to show the mechanics of her invention.

It wasn’t all fun and games during this competition, Shanya alongside many of the other finalists underwent exercises and programs that challenged them and helped them explore their minds. Shanya enjoyed working together with her team and learning from everyone involved. Everyone brings something to the table and it’s important to be mindful in order to take note and learn further.

Shanya loved working with her teammates and being around other fellow innovators like herself. While testing the prototype of her invention she could detect sources of heat during the majority of the time, 97% to be exact. Additionally, she could detect the presence of humans near such heat sources 98% of the time.

With further improvements, Shayna Gill, says her invention has the ability to replace smoke detectors altogether. Not only is is more accurate and affordable than the latter it has a better response time. This means that it is more preventative in instances where fire presents a real threat.

The Junior Innovators Challenge is a competition that reaches a variety of middle schools across the nation, 65,000 to be exact. Out of all the students Shayna was selected among only 30 finalists. This is not a small feat in itself. She surpassed many students with her designs and invention that also helps others.

Although the initial prototype for Shayna’s invention is brilliant, Shayna is all about improving it and making it accessible. She is now working on refining and making it cheaper for people to easily implement it in their homes. A Raspberry Pi alone, which is what powers the invention, retails at a starting point of about 35 dollars and that may not be realistic for everyone.

According to Shayna, “This device outperforms smoke detectors in accuracy, speed, and affordability.” She hopes that her final product cost will be less than $60 and without installation costs. Although smoke detector prices are usually between 15 to 150 dollars what makes them super expensive is often the installation. The average cost to install one is 110 dollars and that’s for a hardwired one.

It was pointed out that thermal imaging is usually for detecting hot spots like that of temperature and could cause great discrepancies when trying to detect fires. Despite Shayna’s invention of having the ability to beat out a fire alarm when detecting the presence of fire, it could overestimate and mix up hot spots with actual fires.

The friends that she made while participating and attending the competition are just as valuable or perhaps even more so than the innovation itself. The competition aims to encourage students to problem-solve challenges that are faced every day and promote the fields and advancements of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) from a young age.

According to research, countless young people drop out of STEM, even more so girls and minorities such as kids of color. It is competitions like this one that feed a need students have to develop and harness their scientific curiosity and interests. It is a waste not to utilize it from the gecko.

Creating a safe space for kids to explore their passions and creating healthy competition to help challenge their minds allows them to grow and find their strengths and interests in a positive and nurturing environment. That’s the best anyone could ask for, for their child.

It is a competition after all, and what is a competition without winners? Winning first place, the Thermo Fisher Scientific Ascend award went to none other than, Shanya Gill!  First Place awards her 25,000 dollars in addition to such a prestigious recognition.

This is only one of many milestones sure to be in Shanya’s future. She hopes to continue to grow her network, with the other students she has met in the competition and beyond. She hopes to be able to with the help of her peers and her connections to be able to bring her device to the market sooner than later.

It feels good when someone so deserving and humble wins an award and that is exactly who Shanya is. She is not only brilliant and created something meaningful but she was also focused on all the right things, creating, making a difference, and networking with other students. She didn’t participate in order to win and it is that attitude that will get her even farther in life not only in her career and innovation.

All the finalists in the competition underwent a four-day event that taught them various STEM skills and disciplines. Additionally, they have the opportunity to showcase their designs and inventions in a virtual exhibition for several weeks. It gives them the chance to spread their ideas to a wider audience and possibly build connections to further advance their inventions for the long-term.

Keshvee Sekhda won the Broadcom Coding with CommitmentTM Award and a $10,000 prize for integrating coding and STEM knowledge. She and her teammate created a smartphone app to detect breast, lung, and skin cancer, referring to the app as ” IdentiCan.” Maya Gandhi won the DoD STEM Talent Award and a $10,000 prize for her impressive STEM skills and her advanced leadership and technical skills. Maya explored various substances that aim to boost energy output in plant microbial fuel cells. With such knowledge, it is possible to generate electricity using living plants.

Shanya knows the importance of thanking the people around her who helped her get to where is is. Her parents play a big factor in her approach to learning and her ability to put her curiosity into action. From worrying about her wellbeing after the fire to helping film her submission video her parents have always been there to support her and challenge her to not take anything at face value, to always aim to improve and create a better future.

To sum up Shanya’s experience, in her own words, “It was like a dream come true. I spent a week in Washington DC for the finals and it was an experience beyond my imagination.” From the activities to the challenges and everything in between, it will without a doubt be a core memory that she will take with her as she grows and refines her skills both in STEM and otherwise. She writes on LinkedIn, “I learned the power of teamwork and how hard problems can be solved when like-minded motivated people come together on a common mission. I made great friends with all the contestants!”

Countless outlets took note and recognized Shanya’s achievements throughout the competition, among them goodnet.org, but it doesn’t come close to the viral buzz that was created from news outlets both locally and nationwide. We all love seeing young people succeed and redefine how we look at the world, it gives us hope for the next generation. When every day is filled with positive challenges and inspiring stories like Shanya’s it also inspires us to do better and be better, to not settle.

Where can you find Shanya and these other brilliant students now? Probably out there already making an impact, refining their inventions and so much more, but first, high school might be the closest challenge yet. I know we all can’t wait to see what they create next.