This past fall the Harker InvenTeam group earned a $9,110 grant which has now led to further research and development on an aquatic thermoelectric generator. The already twice-showcased device could go on to become a common sight, floating around backyard swimming pools.
The InvenTeam is run by the Lemelson-MIT Program and awards grants to teams of inventive high school students with the goal of turning their visions into reality. The Harker team developed a solar generator that uses swimming pools, or other bodies of water, as a potential new alternative and cheaper source of green electricity. Designed to power schools, homes and businesses, the device utilizes the power of thermoelectric panels capable of harnessing the temperature difference between a hot surface and cold water. Potentially, huge floating generators might someday create enough electricity to move beyond neighborhood swimming pools and help power entire coastal regions.
The groundbreaking generator was designed by Prag Batra, grade 12, and his team: Sachin Jain and Jay Reddy, both grade 12; Ramakrishnan Menon, Wilbur Yang and Shantanu Joshi, all grade 11; and grade 10 students Nikhil Dilip and Pranav Batra.
Anthony Silk, upper school math teacher and the team’s advisor, explained that as this device floats on water, reflector panels focus sunlight onto a black surface converting the solar energy to heat. The heat is then passed through thermoelectric panels and passively dissipated into the surrounding water.
A few weeks ago, Harker and the Lemelson-MIT Program jointly sponsored a special evening presentation of the InvenTeam’s project. Held at the Nichols Hall auditorium, the event was attended by Harker families, administrators and board members. Following the InvenTeam’s presentation, special guest Joshua Schuler, executive director of the Lemelson-MIT Program, spoke on the importance of creating an ecosystem for young inventors in Northern California.
Most recently, the students represented one of 14 student teams participating in the Open Minds exhibition run by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance at the Exploratorium museum in San Francisco. They had received an invitation to do so from the NCIIA and Lemelson-MIT Program.
“I found the Open Minds event to be amazing. Our Harker students got to showcase their invention alongside some of the top college teams in the country,” said Silk. “They spent the evening answering tough questions from scientists, inventors and investors who all seemed extremely enthusiastic by the work done so far. It was also great preparation for EurekaFest, which will happen this summer at MIT, where the students will be presenting their project along with the other 15 high school teams from around the country,” he added, noting that a finished product should be ready by the time of the EurekaFest in June. The team is being sponsored by Lenyard Food Service for the trip to EurekaFest.
Upon receiving the initial grant award, Batra said possible applications for the generator were numerous. “For instance, the device could be used on almost any body of water and could be incorporated into future boats to provide renewable, portable power at sea,” he had said, noting that in the process, the device would help reduce reliance on nonrenewable energy sources such as fossil fuels and provide clean energy without negative environmental impacts such as air or water pollution.
Now, with the developing project generating so much early interest and excitement, it appears that Batra and his team have created a potentially marketable product!
The Business and Entrepreneurship Club held its first career panel of the year, leading off with Harker alumnus and serial entrepreneur Akhsar Kharebov ’02, who was joined by Stanford graduates Steven Wu and Marty Wu.
Kharebov is currently a partner at Phinominal, which is launching the Thalamoid, a cheap mobile device based on a scientific data logging platform to make scientific participation more accessible. Kharebov is a partner at AdZond, a smart and quick consulting and development shop whose services include consulting on strategy, execution, product management, finding resources and launching. He is also a founder of InfoMeters, which allows users to manage their health on a mobile device.
Marty Wu is a co-founder and CTO of Predictive Edge and leads back-end development. Recently named one of Stanford’s top five graduates in computer science, he has been featured on CNN. He started at 16 programming for Lockheed Martin’s Solar Astrophysics Laboratory and founded his first company during his freshman year, which settled him on a career of entrepreneurship.
Steven Wu is co-founder of Predictive Edge, has a B.S. in computer science from Stanford, and specializes in computational mathematics, economics and machine learning. He worked in price optimization for three years, including at Amazon, and did freelance Web development. He covers mathematical/economic modeling needs at Predictive Edge, a pricing solution for online retailers.
The audience these three young men drew was small, but speakers were engaging and students enjoyed hearing the ins and outs of starting a business.
Middle school Japanese students had an enlightening time on their annual field trip in late February. This year’s outing, led by teacher Kumi Matsui, was to San Francisco to attend the 2012 Way of Tea Program, a day-long event.
Lower school parents rose to the occasion in late March to serve first and second grade families, students and teachers at the second annual Spaghetti Dinner. Head chefs Mustafa Gurleroglu (Emma, grade 2) and Justin Bronder (Sophia, grade 1) led a diligent and dedicated crew of parents who spent much of the day preparing bread, sauce, salad and, of course, mounds of spaghetti noodles. They later served it to the many hungry attendees lining up at the lower school cafeteria, whose smiling faces (and empty plates) indicated that the meals were well-received.
With their hard work done, the parents who worked the event sat down to enjoy the food themselves, while meeting and socializing with other Harker parents. Rainy weather kept the festivities indoors at the lower school gym, but the students nevertheless had fun playing with their friends and making new ones.
Harker’s English Language Institute (ELI) returns this summer to provide international students with top English language instruction. ELI offers three programs for students of varying ages and proficiencies. The beginner/intermediate program on the lower school campus is for students aged 6 to 10, the intermediate program for students aged 9 to 12 and the advanced program for ages 12 to 16. The intermediate and advanced programs both take place at the upper school campus.
With its small class sizes, bilingual assistants, proven teaching methods and experienced teachers, ELI has earned a reputation as an ideal option for international students. In order to provide students with the best instruction possible, ELI offers customized scheduling that places each student in a learning environment suitable to his or her needs. ELI also offers tutoring and preparation for SSAT, TOEFL and SLEP exams.
This year, because many ELI students plan to attend American schools and colleges, there will be more emphasis on education of American history and culture. “Jared Ramsey will work a revamped culture and history curriculum for all students at the upper school, which includes more depth and scope for our students,” said Anthony Wood, ELI director.
Laura Casellas, an instructor of English as a Second Language at San Jose State University, has also been brought on to help students with their speaking and pronunciation in structured breakout sessions.
In addition to learning, students will also have access to a wide variety of fun activities on campus. The Summer Institute offers classes in art, dance, music, computers, sports and more to ELI students, and there will also be days for themed activities and on-campus performances. As in previous years, field trips to several of the Bay Area’s famous and scenic locales will also be in store.
To find more information about ELI and register for the program, please visit http://summer.harker.org.
The last week of February was a big one for Harker STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students, as various upper school clubs organized special science-themed events on the upper school campus for each day of the week. On Monday, members of the school’s various STEM-related clubs handed out fun crossword puzzles with science-themed clues for their fellow students to solve. The robotics team staged an indoor cart race on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the WiSTEM fair showcased a variety of scientific phenomena, such as a bubble machine and the use of liquid nitrogen to freeze various objects.
On Thursday, the Harker chapter of the Interscholastic Gaming League displayed a range of gaming platforms from the past several decades, from Atari to the Xbox 360. Finally, on Friday, the Chemistry Club showed off some of the neat “magic tricks” that are possible with chemistry, including marble sculpting, an explosive hydrogen balloon and the famous Briggs-Rauscher color oscillation reaction, in which a variety of chemicals are combined to create a visually striking series of color changes.
William Chang, grade 12, has won an $800 award for an essay contest. Chang was a district finalist in the Elks Most Valuable Student Contest following his performance in the recent state judging.
Reached for comment, Chang, who currently studies advanced journalism and English composition, said he found out about the competition during one of his class meetings. ” I was still in the college application mindset, so I decided to apply for the scholarship as well. I basically wrote about my general interests, extra-curriculars, and community service and leadership roles, and my reasons for pursuing them. It was very much the typical introspective college application essay. It was my first scholarship award and I was really happy to have received it,” he recalled.
The contest was sponsored by The Elk’s National Foundation, a charitable organization which awards 500 four-year scholarships to the highest-rated applicants in the competition. Applicants must advance through local, district and state competitions to reach national judging level.
Hollis Thompson, who attended Harker from 1996 to 2001 (K-4) and became a star forward for the Georgetown Hoyas basketball team, will enter the 2012 NBA draft. Thompson, a junior at Georgetown who has chosen to forgo his senior year, will finish his career as the Hoyas’ all-time three-point field goal percentage leader at 44 percent. He is also the 12th-highest three-point scorer in Georgetown history, with 128 three-point shots made.
“He was one of my favorite library students in his younger grades,” said librarian Enid Davis. “He was a very bright child. Then, he was the size of just one of his arms now!”
Harker held its 11th annual Diana Nichols Math Invitational on March 10, which was attended by several schools in the area. A total of about 280 students participated in the contest. Shaya Zarkesh took fifth place in the grade 6 individual event, while Kai-Siang Ang earned third place at the grade 7 level. Jonathan Ma finished third in the grade 8 individual category.
The team of Ma, Jonathan Dai, Grace Guan, Vineet Kosaraju, Anika Mohindra, Emily Pan and Jessica Zhu took third in the grade 8 team competition.
Dr. Murali Daran (Rohan, grade 8; Lea, grade 10; Roshan, grade 11) spent an afternoon in at Harker in late March demonstrating how to repair damaged heart valves. In each class, Daran removed a heart valve from a pig heart and installed a synthetic valve. He also taught students how to suture properly … a real life skill!