2022 Contest Winners

These winning entries in the 2022 EngineerGirl Writing Contest showcase how engineers can help humanity meet one of the Sustainable Development Goals.

In addition to first place, second place, third place, and honorable mention winners for each grade range, some essays received Special Topic Recognition. Each of these essays was selected from all entries – regardless of grade – as an excellent submission for the UN Sustainable Development Goal about which it was written.

Elementary School (Grades 3-5)

Isha Gupta

Isha Gupta

5th grade at Daves Creek Elementary School

Hydroponics Engineering: A Solution to Global Food Crisis


First Place

Sawoo Youn

Sawoo Youn

4th grade at Sugarloaf Elementary School (Urbana, MD)

Clean Water For Everyone


Second Place

Hailey Silva

Hailey Silva

4th grade at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic School (Apex, NC)

The Amazing Milk Chiller


Third Place

Uma Blankinship

Uma Blankinship

3rd grade at New Explorations into Science, Technology and Math (NEST+M) (Brooklyn, NY)

Singling Out Single-Use Plastic


Honorable Mention

Brooklyn Walsh

Brooklyn Walsh

4th grade (Suffield, CT)

The Plastic Crisis


Honorable Mention

Other Finalists

Microbes at Work by Evelynne
5th grade (San Ramon, CA)

Engineers Light the Way for Kids to Learn by Zora Miller
4th grade at Albany International Center (Albany, NY)

Reclaiming Energy with "My Combustion Machine" by Junseo Kwon
4th grade at Golden Elementary School (Yorba Linda, CA)

Everyone Needs Clean Water by Katherine Aikawa
4th grade at Duke School (Chapel Hill, NC)

Engineering is the Future of Clean and Affordable Energy by Mia Teusan
4th grade at Eastwoods Intermediate School (Hudson, OH)

The Tole of Engineering in Sustaining Life Below Water by Temiloluwa Adeyemo
5th grade homeschool student (Baltimore, MD)

The Road to Sustainable Cities by Jaya Srini
4th grade at Columbus Academy (Columbus, OH)

Fixing Carbonates to Sustain Life on Land by Nova Macknik-Conde
5th grade at P.S. 321 William Penn (Brooklyn, NY)

Early detection of Leukemia: Learning from Covid-19 rapid tests by Zoe Ralhan
5th grade at River Oaks Elementary (Houston, TX)

The Role of Engineering in Achieving Quality Education by Oluwatimilehin Adeyemo
4th grade homeschool student (Baltimore, MD)

Fight World Hunger with Engineering by Enrique Garcia
5th grade at Somerset Academy Boca (FL)

Middle School (Grades 6-8)

Chloe Weng

Chloe Weng

8th grade at Fort Settlement School (Sugar Land, TX)

Engineers Develop Diagnostic Devices for Global Health Using Frugal Innovation


First Place

Jalen Blackwell

Jalen Blackwell

6th grade at Gerstell Academy (Finksburg, MD)

Engineering Sustainable Solutions to End Global Hunger


Second Place

Victoria Mcleod

Victoria McLeod

6th grade homeschool student

Coral Innovators


Third Place

Julia Abu

Julia Abu

8th grade at Victory Christian International School (Dasmariñas, Cavite, Philippines)

Engineering A Clean Earth


Honorable Mention

Claire Weng

Claire Weng

7th grade at Fort Settlement Middle School (Sugar Land, TX)

Cleaning up the Oceans Using Sustainable Engineering


Honorable Mention

Other Finalists

Sustainably Engineering to Solve Worldwide Goals by Ella Murphy
7th grade at Harpeth Hall School (Nashville, TN)

The new technology of 3-D printing by Gabriela Dyogi
8th grade at Ingrid B. Lacy School (Pacifica, CA)

Gender Equality Sustainability by N. Manning
7th grade at Harpeth Hall School (Nashville, TN)

Magical Mycelium: Engineering Our Way to a Sustainable Future by Taia Saurer
7th grade (CA)

The Wonderful Sleeping Bag-like Incubator, Embrace, Helps Babies Who Are Premature and Live in Countries That Are in Poverty by Audrey Kim
6th grade at Santiago Hills Elementary School (Irvine, CA)

High School (Grades 9-12)

Megan Haubrich

Megan Haubrich

11th grade at Fred C. Beyer High School (Modesto, CA)

Engineering Magic: Harvesting Water From Thin Air


First Place

Audrey Lam

Audrey Lam

10th grade at Longmeadow High School (Longmeadow, MA)

Frugal Engineering Design Solutions in the Fight to Eradicate Malaria


Second Place

Katherine Liu

Katherine Liu

9th grade at Clements High School (Sugar Land, TX)

Talking Books: Reducing Gender Inequalities Around the World


Third Place

Ellen Wang

Ellen Wang

11th grade at Lexington High School (Lexington, MA)

Engineering: Bridging Gratitude and Innovation


Honorable Mention

Other Finalists

Engineering the Future of Education by Amelia Joseph
9th grade at Indus International School (Bangalore, Karnataka, India)

Water Accessibility For All: How Engineers Can Help Combat The Water Crisis by Srinidhi Gubba
11th grade at Westview High School (Portland, OR)

Making Sustainable Production a Reality for Small Farmers by Neha Sudarshan
10th grade at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North (West Windsor, NJ)

GoldieBlox: Building Blocks for an Engineering Mind by Abigail Cooley
11th grade at Wissahickon High School (Ambler, PA)

Engineering for Inequalities: The Need for Infrastructure by Amélia Carneiro Zhu
10th grade at Oporto International School (Porto, Portugal)

MechanicalTrees™: Taking Inspiration From Mother Nature by Emily Huynh
10th grade at Leigh High School (San Jose, CA)

Special Topic Recognition

Caleb Adams

Caleb Adams

5th grade homeschool student (Baltimore, MD)

How Engineers Are Helping to Solve the Problem of World Hunger


SDG 2: Zero Hunger

Charles Alexander Jr.

Charles Alexander Jr.

4th grade at Villa Cresta Elementary School (Parkville, MD)

Gender Equality for All


SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Aahana Joshi

Aahana Joshi

3rd grade at J.V.B Wicoff Elementary School (Plainsboro, NJ)

C3Flex v2.0


SDG 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

Amy Weston

Amy Weston

11th grade at John Burroughs School (Chesterfield, MO)

Engineering the Future of Our Cities


SDG 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Tamiyah Ibeh

Tamiyah Ibeh

8th grade at Cooper Middle School (Powder Springs, GA)

The Future is Engineering


SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Yeowon Kim

Yeowon (Stella) Kim

10th grade at Crescenta Valley High School (La Canada Flintridge, CA)

Engineering: Healing Life Under Water


SDG 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources