Innovative Minds: Aniket Sarkar

Pine View School | 7th grade | 13 years old

Moisture Capture: Atmospheric Solution to Agriculture

About the Idea

Meet Aniket. Aniket designed a low-cost atmospheric moisture capturing system that pulls water from dry air to help farmers grow crops in increasingly arid regions of the American Midwest and West.

Why did you enter the 3M Young Scientist Challenge?

I entered the 3M Young Scientist Challenge because the challenge allows middle school students to showcase their innovative projects to the entire country, and I desired to take part in sharing my knowledge and prototype with the scientific community. I had a problem in need of a solution and a prototype to solve it. The challenge presented a platform for me to keep thinking and advancing my project to the next level and to bring the real world vision of this model to life. The opportunity also allows for me to look at other students'' inventive solutions to real world problems.

Moreover, the possible further guidance of a professional mentor could open the gateway for me to continue developing the research and innovation to improve the quality of lives of many through the invention, originally built of everyday materials to a possible future novelty. Nevertheless, the 3M Young Scientist Challenge provides a foundation for me to progress my scientific journey and grants me the opportunity to share my invention made from simple concepts and simple materials that could potentially change the ways farmers live around the globe.

What is your favorite invention of the last 100 years, and why?

My favorite invention of the last 100 years is the development of 3D printing, and how it has evolved from creating simple plastic tools to entire homes and shelters. Starting in 1981, 3D printing truly grew steam in the 2010s, when people could purchase a 3D printer and produce any 3D design on their own desks. The machines help in creating items for an extremely cheap cost, crafting objects without human intervention. What truly excites me about 3D printing is how it does not apply just to plastic, they could be printing anything from glass, resin, to even food! Furthermore, some specific applications 3D printing could aid in would be creating temporary shelters after a natural disaster to building machines that could produce renewable energy, like wind turbines. In the future, 3D printing could help improve the quality of life on our own planet and progress space colonization even more, when humans begin to colonize the next frontier.

In 15 years I hope to be...

I hope to be an environmental engineer helping to contribute to the solutions of the most crucial problems of society. Throughout my elementary and middle school years, I have experienced many engineering and stem opportunities, like rocketry, robotics, and the STEM fair. These all sparked the interest for me to always keep thinking, developing, and inventing. In the future as an engineer, I could work with a team of other qualified colleagues with unique mindsets to bring our ideas to life. I aim to focus on how people can adapt to the recent changes in our climate, and how to create inventions that could solve the issues causing the problem.