Engineers affect everything about the way people live, so it is not surprising that they also have a big impact on the animal world. Environmental engineers, for example, are often tasked with evaluating projects in order to minimize negative effects on valuable animal species. In some cases, engineers have developed ingenious solutions to help animals and people share the planet. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) maintains a list, known as the IUCN Red List, which ranks the conservation status of thousands of species. Contest entrants chose an animal that is ranked by IUCN as either: vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered and wrote an essay on how engineering might improve life for that species.
Elementary School (Grades 3-5)
Meera Murthy
Grade 5 - Kingsley Montessori School (Boston, MA, United States)
Penguin Perch
First Place
Layla Widenhofer
Grade 4 - Elementary School (Panama CityPanama)
Saving Sea Turtles
Second Place
Camilla Hajallie
Grade 5 - A.C.E. Academy for Scholars PS290Q (Ridgewood, NY, United States)
Saving Asian Elephants
Third Place
Other Finalists
Reducing Bald Eagle Collisions with Wind Turbines by A Balaji
Grade 3-5 - Elementary School (Ames, IA, United States)
Saving the Western Lowland Gorilla by Curtis Childress
Grade 5 - Shafer Elementary (Katy, TX, United States)
The Pygmy Sloth (scientific name: Bradypus pygmaeus) by K Wynter
Grade 3-5 - Brush Creek Elementary School (Eagle, CO, United States)
Saving the Puerto Rican Parrot Through Engineering by Stella Kotter
Grade 5 - Kingsley Montessori School (Boston, MA)
The Beira Antelope! by Hannah Lieb
Grade 5 - Endeavor Elementary (West Chester, OH, United States)
How Engineering Can Save Elephants by Kelsee Merritt
Grade 3-5 - Southwest R-V Elementary School (Missouri, United States)
Saving Sun Bears using Nanoparticle Tracker Technology by Asmithaa Vinukonda
Grade 5 - Brunson Elementary School (Winston Salem, NC, United States)
Middle School (Grades 6-8)
Becca Maddox
Grade 6 - Pizitz Middle School (Vestavia Hills, AL, United States)
The Solution is Hevea
First Place
Other Finalists
Pangolin Preservation: So Ugly, I’m Cute by Bailey Cooper
Grade 8 - Marco Forster Middle School (San Juan Capistrano, CA, United States)
The Sea Turtle Light Pollution Solution by Miranda Delgado
Grade 6 - Metropolitan School of Panama (Punta Pacifica, Panama, Rep. of Panama)
Prey to rescue the Predator by Riya Dutta
Grade 6 - Smith Middle School (Troy, MI, United States)
Adenophron: Saving Vultures to Help Humans by Cora Oldfield
Grade 8 - Homeschooled (Amherst, NY, United States)
Project GRACE - Giraffe Recovery And Conservation Effort by Anisha Parsan
Grade 6 - Fort Settlement Middle School (Sugar Land, TX, United States)
Hope Emerges for Whale Sharks by Carter Smith
Grade 7 - Harpeth Hall School (TN, United States)
High School (Grades 9-12)
Carolyn Frank
Grade 10 - Homeschooled (Farmington, ME, United States)
Business Proposal: Solution to Stop the Consumption of Plastic Film by Sea Turtles
First Place
Sean Flanagan
Grade 11 - Mass Academy Of Math & Science (Douglas, MA, United States)
The Goliath Frog
Honorable Mention
Other Finalists
eDNA: Decoding the Key to Protecting Biodiversity by Hye Ri Chang
Grade 11 - Choate Rosemary Hall (New Haven, CT, United States)
GPS - Global Positioning System or Greedy Poacher Solution? by Madison Cicchitto
Grade 10 - California High School (San Ramon, CA, United States)
The BioConsumer: Saving Newell's Shearwater by Cleaning the Ocean of Microplastics by Claire Wayner
Grade 11 - Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Baltimore, MD, United States)
Save The Elephant Foundation Proposal by Amina Youssef
Grade 11 - Durango High School (Durango, CO, United States)