Congratulons to Sahil Doshi! The 14-year-old from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was just named the winner of this year’s Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, the nation’s premier science competition for grades 5-8.

Sahil wowed judges with his ingenious, eco-friendly battery, the PolluCell, which converts carbon dioxide into electricity, helping to reduce our carbon footprint while offering power for household uses and developing nations. The innovation was designed to address the rising level of toxic air pollution and the inaccessibility of power for 1.2 billion people around the world.

Sahil and the other nine finalists came together at 3M’s headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota this past this week for the final days of the challenge. For the past three months, the students have competed alongside each other, meeting virtually with their respective 3M Scientist Mentors to take their concepts and develop them into actual prototypes.

In addition to presenting their final prototypes to a panel of distinguished judges, the finalists competed in two additional challenges where they were asked to: combine multiple 3M technologies to yield new solutions; and build a simple machine using science and engineering principles. Science maven Kari Byron and Peyton Robertson, last year’s Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge winner, served as guest judges for the students’ final challenges. Along with being officially titled “America’s Top Young Scientist,” Sahil will receive $25,000 and a student adventure trip to a destination such as Costa Rica. The nine other finalists who participated in the challenge received a variety of prizes from Discovery Education and 3M.

The Discovery 3M Young Scientist Challenge was created to foster a new generation of American scientists at an age when interest in science generally declines. To learn more, please visit YoungScientistChallenge.com.