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Community Corner

Vienna 8th Graders Win National Science Competition

Millions of people suffer from food allergies — and two local students decided they wanted to do something about it.

The young teens created a handheld device that could detect the 50 most common food allergens with the touch of a button.  

After entering the Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Science Competition with their idea, Joyce Tian and Pallavi Bhave, eighth graders at Kilmer Middle School, won first place in in the 7-9 grade category.  

Tian and Bhave were chosen from 5,206 teams from across the U.S. and Canada.  Exploravision's competition is designed to promote education in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines.

According to Tian and Bhave, the Food Allergen Detector utilizes a UV laser beam is to help detect and identify the presence or absence of common allergens on food. This life-saving, handy tool will help users avoid possible medical complications from food allergies and provide a sense of security when eating away from home.

As the winning team, Tian and Bhave will each receive a $10,000 savings bond at maturity.  

They were recently honored at a event in Washington, D.C. and met with Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA).  

"We may want to physically create the device sometime soon," Bhave said.  "We are collaborating with professors to try to create a prototype," she added.

Bot Tian and Bhave will be attending the Thomas Jefferson High School in the fall.

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