fair,” recalls Eve. “The project—its study and
message—became important to me because
plastic ocean pollution is a rapidly growing
pollution problem globally, and it needs to be
solved before it’s too late.”
She dropped off her buoy at the confluence
of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers
in downtown Pittsburgh (The Point), and
tracked it as it traveled down the Ohio River.
The buoy was set to simulate floating plastic
waste in waterways. “My research showed that
stormwater runoff and shore-based pollution
are two major sources of plastic waste in the
ocean,” Eve explains.
With high hopes that the buoy would travel
from the Ohio to the Mississippi and down
to the Gulf of Mexico, she eventually realized
that her buoy could not, in fact, make it to its
intended destination. The buoy lost satellite
connection when it got stuck just north of
a dam in Wheeling, WV. However, while
tracking the buoy’s travel past each of the
other dams it encountered, Eve did notice that
it slowed down a bit at the pool above each
dam, perhaps due to the pooling and swirling
of water above the dam.
“This was all still useful data because it
displays what would have actually happened
to a piece of floating plastic debris in the river,
and prompts an idea of implementing a plastic
collection device in or close to dams,” she
notes.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) took notice of
Eve’s project in December. NOAA works
with CLS America—a satellite company
that allows buoys to be tracked and had
graciously provided free satellite service for
the project—and it had featured Eve on its
website as the “System Use Agreement of the
Month.” Scott Rogerson, the Data Collection
System Program Manager for NOAA,
contacted her via email and asked for a short
write-up about the project that would then
be featured by NOAA. “I was so excited,” Eve
says. “Making this connection was a great
experience, and I hope it has opened the door
for me to contact them in the future.”
Completing this project took her
understanding about plastic production,
pollution, oceanography and the engineering
process to a new level. She learned that about
8 million metric tons of plastic enter the
ocean each year, and 80 percent of that is
generated on land. “ One major reason there is
so much plastic is the modern demand for on-
the-go containers, including drink containers
and food packaging,” Eve explains.
She also learned about her own community
and the way that stormwater is managed and
how it flows in Pine Township.
“However, I think the most important
thing I learned was the power of asking
a question,” adds Eve. “So many times
throughout this project, I emailed experts,
scientists, professionals and even presidents
of companies—and each and every time they
answered! I learned, even as a 13-year-old, if
you reach out to someone involved in what
you are interested in, they will take the time to
help you.”
When Eve graduates from high school,
she hopes to study engineering—specifically
bioengineering or biomedical engineering.
She’s also interested in neurology and hopes
to pursue studies in that field as well.
Although Eve’s project did not place in this
year’s fair, which included over 1,000 entries,
the young scientist hopes her research will
do more than just track the possible path
of plastic pollutants, and plans to focus her
efforts on engineering a solution to reduce the
amount of plastic waste that flows from small
bodies of water into the oceans.
“My project was important not only to our
community, but to the world,” she says. “The
world is definitely in need of a solution for
this rapidly growing plastic pollution problem
that is an extremely dangerous situation
globally. I hope my project and its approach
inspires other solutions and new possibilities
for helping to preserve the environment.” ■
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