Jun. 30, 2020
This is her presenting her fourth year of work in 2019 in which refined her model (the blue tubes) to reduce the noise level of Xlerator hand dryers. She was in Grade 8 and was 13-years-old, She won a gold medal in the secondary category (Grades 7-12) and the Ted Rogers Innovation Award. Credit: Susan Bannister. The Ontario Science Centre announced the five winners of the 2020 Weston Youth Innovation Award for their work developing innovative projects—including a machine to monitor kidney disease data, prototypes to lower noise levels of hand dryers in public washrooms, a wearable device to measure anxiety and depression, and a portable shelter for homeless people.
The winners, from across Canada, used science, technology and innovation—everything from data collection and computer coding to engineering—to develop projects that can bring positive change to their communities. An online award ceremony for the winners is being planned for July.
Nora Keegan, 14, Grade 9 student at
Branton School, won the second-place prize of $8,500 for her work on measuring the sound volume of hand dryers in public washrooms, research she started when she was only 9 years old, which has led to a prototype to reduce noise levels.
"I noticed my ears were hurting when hand dryers were on, and I saw other kids would cover their ears. I wondered if it was too loud," Nora said. "It was a big moment to see a quieter hand dryer installed at my school this year. I was very happy to see it."
Congratulations Nora!
Read the whole press release
here.
