Innovative Minds: Reanna Patel

Princeton Day School | 8th grade | 13 years old

Reimagining Natural Heat Sources As Versatile Electricity Generation: Revolutionizing The Energy All Around Us

About the Idea

Meet Reanna. Reanna built a device that captures electricity from surrounding heat using thermoelectric principles, offering a clean, low-cost energy source for communities with limited access to reliable power.

Why did you enter the 3M Young Scientist Challenge?

Ever since I was young, ideas and innovation have been my passion - overflowing my brain every time I saw something that could have a better solution. Pursuing a project through the 3M Young Scientist Challenge is the perfect platform for me to design these ideas and turn them into real-world solutions through a 3M mentorship. I've always felt there are very few places that encourage kids to think freely, wildly, and be innovators. Yet, at the end of the day, that's the thinking we all need to pioneer the next century of technological innovation - the 3M Young Scientist Challenge encourages kids like me to do just that.

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

My favorite invention of the last 100 years is 3D Printing technology. While it may seem simple, I think all revolutionary innovations start from here, literally or through the figurative idea of ideation and prototyping an idea. The technology itself allows us to build anything, and to imagine everything. 3D printers have evolved, and will keep evolving, from simple modeling to constructing homes with 3D printed cement, prototyping ideas, and allowing the imaginations of people across the world.

In 15 years I hope to be...

Innovating. Primarily, wherever I am in 15 years, I want to be creating something new, innovative, and of course, something that makes me happy. Beyond this, I've always aspired to be an entrepreneur and an engineer. I want to be designing products that make a societally beneficial impact and be constantly challenged to imagine what doesn't already exists, but needs to.