Chesco student, 14, a national winner for invention to eliminate blind spots
WEST GROVE >> An Avon Grove Charter School student has won the top prize in a national contest for her invention to make driving safer by eliminating blind spots.
Alaina Gassler, 14, of West Grove, won the coveted $25,000 Samueli Foundation Prize, the top award in the Broadcom MASTERS, the nation’s premier science and engineering competition for middle school students.
She beat out hundreds of students nationwide.
“My mom complains about driving my dad’s car which has a big blind spot in the ‘A’ pillar,” Gassler said as she explained what motivated her to use a web cam and projector to create a real time view that removes the roof support obstruction when driving. “The projector demonstrates the possibility but in further testing I would use an LCD panel.”
Through her project, Gassler designed a system that uses a webcam to display anything that might block the driver’s line of sight. Alaina was inspired to create her device after seeing her mother struggle with blind spots in their family automobile.
The Broadcom inspires middle school students to follow their personal passions to exciting college and career pathways in STEM. Thirty finalists, including Alaina, took home more than $100,000 in awards.
The finalists were honored during an awards ceremony for their achievements in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) together with their demonstration of 21st Century skills, including critical thinking, communication, creativity, collaborative skills and team work.
“Congratulations to Alaina, whose project has the potential to decrease the number of automobile accidents by reducing blind spots,” said Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of the Society for Science & the Public and Publisher of Science News. “With so many challenges in our world, Alaina and her fellow Broadcom MASTERS finalists make me optimistic. I am proud to lead an organization that is inspiring so many young people, especially girls, to continue to innovate.”
The finalists are judged on projects that they presented at their state or regional science fair; their knowledge of STEM subjects and their demonstration of 21st Century skills in a series of hands-on challenges. These challenges included collaborating to design, code and build a functional program using Raspberry Pi; designing a medical pack that must hold a three-month supply of medicine and seining in the Chesapeake Bay.
“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
“With so many challenges in our world, Alaina and her fellow Broadcom MASTERS finalists make me optimistic. I am proud to lead an organization that is inspiring so many young people, especially girls, to continue to innovate.”
— Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of the Society for Science & the Public and Publisher of Science News
work on her science fair project as a talented young engineer seeking to improve automobile safety that earned her this prestigious award,” said Paula Golden, President of the Broadcom Foundation. “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.”
Other winners include Rachel Bergey, 14, Harleysville, Pennsylvania, won $10,000 for creating promising solutions to real-world problems. She developed a trap made of tinfoil and netting for the Spotted Lanternfly, an invasive species causing damage to trees in Pennsylvania.
And Sidor Clare, 14, of Sandy, Utah, $10,000 for developing bricks that could one day be made on Mars, so that humans would not be required to bring building materials with us in order to build there.
Alexis MacAvoy, 14, of Hillsborough, California,
$10,000 designed a water filter using carbon to remove heavy metals from water. And Lauren Ejiaga,
14, of New Orleans, Louisiana, won $10,000 for showing how current levels of ultraviolet light from the sun due to ozone depletion impacts plant growth and performance.
Broadcom MASTERS winners were chosen from the 30 finalists (18 girls and
12 boys) selected from 2,348 applicants in 47 states. Winners were selected by a panel of distinguished scientists, engineers and educators. Each finalist’s school will receive $1,000 from the Broadcom MASTERS to benefit their science program.