A Pennsylvania student has received a hefty $25,000 prize for her innovative car design to get rid of blind spots.
Fourteen-year-old Alaina Gassler won the Samueli Foundation Prize for her creative idea in 2019 Society for Science and Public’s Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars).
Gassler, who hails from West Grove, won the prize for her project, named ‘Improving Automobile Safety by Removing Blind Spots,’ that aimed to ‘get rid of it (blind spots) without getting rid of it.’
At the award ceremony, 30 finalists were awarded more than $100,000.
“When I heard my name it was so unexpected,” Gassler said.
“I did that by having a camera behind the a pillar of the car and the camera sent video to a projector that projected the image onto the pillar,” the Avon Grove Charter School student explained.
“Making it invisible and making the driver be able to see behind it.”
Gassler projected a live feed of outside’s view onto the vehicle’s pillar by installing a webcam. The mechanism would allow the drivers to see things present on the other side of the pillar.
“There are so many car accidents and injuries and deaths that could have been prevented from a pillar not being there,” the 14-year-old said.
“And since we can’t take it out of cars I decided to get rid of it without getting rid of it.”
Paula Golden, the president of the Broadcom Foundation, praised the creative girl, saying: “I speak for Henry and Susan Samueli as well as the Broadcom Foundation to express our excitement in awarding the Samueli Foundation Prize to Alaina for her remarkable achievements in all of the STEM challenges as well as her leadership in competition throughout week.
“It is her total contribution to the Broadcom MASTERS in addition to her impressive work on her science fair project as a talented young engineer seeking to improve automobile safety that earned her this prestigious award.
“She, along with the entire Class of 2019, are already leaders in their fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These young innovators give every one of us hope for the future.”
The thoughtful girl got the idea after she saw her mother struggling with blind spots while driving, a release from the Society for Science & the Public revealed.
Maya Ajmera, the president and CEO of the Society for Science & the Public and Publisher of Science News, congratulated Gassler, saying: “Congratulations to Alaina, whose project has the potential to decrease the number of automobile accidents by reducing blind spots.”
“With so many challenges in our world, Alaina and her fellow Broadcom MASTERS finalists make me optimistic,” she added. “I am proud to lead an organization that is inspiring so many young people, especially girls, to continue to innovate.”
Replaced!