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Herriman High Student Scientist Making Electricity Out of Mud to Power iPhone
Description
She is an impressive young student scientist who has discovered an unlikely and very unusual source of electricity, using mud to power her iPhone and more.
On this episode of the Supercast, meet Herriman High School’s Fianna Smith whose discovery earned her a ticket to compete in a very prestigious and tough International STEM Fair. Fianna will pitch her science project to judges, going up against students from all over the world.
Audio Transcription
[Music]Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. She is an impressive young student scientist who has discovered an unlikely and very unusual source of electricity using mud to power her iPhone and more.
On this episode of the Supercast, meet Herriman High School's Fianna Smith, whose discovery earned her a ticket to compete in a very prestigious and tough International STEM fair. Fianna will pitch her science project to judges, going up against students from all over the world.
[Music]We're talking with Fianna Smith at Herriman High School this morning about her science fair project. Thanks very much for taking the time to talk with me.
Fianna Smith:
Yeah, of course.
Anthony Godfrey:
You have competed at various levels and are now headed to the International Science and Engineering Fair. Is that correct?
Fianna Smith:
Yes.
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about the competition this year to this point.
Fianna Smith:
I have competed in– so there's two levels that I have to go through before I get to the International Science and Engineering Fair. And so that's Regionals and CUSF. CUSF is the Central Utah STEM Fair.
Anthony Godfrey;
And BYU is a sponsor of this and is connected to this, is that right?
Fianna Smith:
Yes.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, so tell me about the competition there. What were your awards there? I know that there were multiple.
Fianna Smith:
Yeah. I got like six special awards. One of them was the Stockholm Junior Water Prize, Regional Water Prize Award. And that is an entry, like that allows me to enter another competition that could potentially end up giving me a free trip to the Stockholm Water Plant in Sweden, along with a cash prize.
Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic. What were some of the other prizes that you won as well?
Fianna Smith:
I also got first place.
Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.
Fianna Smith:
And Grand Champion. Grand Champion is the award that allows me to go to ISEF. It's my ticket.
Anthony Godfrey:
It's your ticket to the International Fair. Now Grand Champion is a pretty big title for a teenager. I've never been a Grand Champion. I don't expect to be. But first place Grand Champion and the Water Prize and several others. How does that feel?
Fianna Smith:
It feels great. I feel very proud of myself for putting in all this work to get here.
Anthony Godfrey:
And you've been working on this for a long time. Tell me how long you've been working on this project. From the very start, from the very inception.
Fianna Smith:
I am a junior now and I have been working on this project since seventh grade.
Anthony Godfrey:
Wow.
Fianna Smith:
And I've won Grand Champion with this project every year. Except for as soon as I started ninth grade, that Grand Champion award was able to take me to the International Science and Engineering Fair.
Anthony Godfrey:
So not only are you a Grand Champion, you're just a Grand Champion on an annual basis basically at this point.
Fianna Smith:
Yeah.
Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic. I know it takes a lot of work to get there. Now you're going to the International Science and Engineering Fair. You've been there bef