3M names America's Top Young Scientist of 2021: 14-year-old Sarah Park, for music therapy treatment to improve mental health

3M and Discovery Education have named 14-year-old Sarah Park from Jacksonville, Fla. the winner of the 2021 3M Young Scientist Challenge (#YoungScientist), the nation's premier middle school science competition. Sarah created Spark Care+, an innovation that personalises music therapy treatment for mental health improvement using artificial intelligence (AI), skin response (GSR), and photoplethysmography (PPG). As the 3M Young Scientist Challenge grand prize winner, Sarah received a $25 000 cash prize, the prestigious title of ‘America's Top Young Scientist’, and a special destination trip.

The 3M Young Scientist Challenge finalists have each shown how grit, determination, resiliency, innovative thinking, and the scientific process come together to create truly incredible innovations with the potential to address major global challenges. 3M is inspired by these young inventors and celebrates their accomplishments.

The global pandemic has had a profound impact on mental health—negatively affecting millions of people and creating new barriers for people already suffering from mental health disorders. For her project, Sarah developed SparkCare+ as an efficient, affordable, portable, and personalised music therapy for mental health improvement. SparkCare+ is made up of two components: a communication with the participant and a mechanism that uses deep neural networks to select therapeutic music.

The communication component of SparkCare+ asks the participant questions and elaborates on the Hamilton Anxiety and Depression rating scales, providing insight for the AI. Sarah used Arduino (an open-source electronic prototyping platform), so a PPG sensor could gauge indicators regarding the participant's mental state, including their heart rate and blood pressure. The GSR sensor is an additional tool Sarah developed to indicate mental state, and to provide the AI the necessary information to pick suitable music for the participant and sense progress. Sarah envisions developing personalised wristbands for all interests and ages, so that anyone seeking improvement in mental health can be treated with Spark Care+.

In third place, Snigtha Mohanraj from West Haven, Conn., an eighth-grader at Engineering and Science University Magnet School in New Haven Public School District. Snigtha invented Ferro-Sponge, a novel way to remove microplastics and oil from contaminated water.

The 3M Young Scientist Challenge also named 14-year-old Samarth Mahapatra from Marietta, Ga. as the recipient of the Improving Lives Award, a special recognition award based on online public voting to choose the final project from the challenge that has the greatest potential to make a positive impact on the world. Inspired by his great aunt who had to give up cooking due to glaucoma-induced blindness, Samarth's project, ‘Accessibility Friendly Guidance System for Optimal Cooking Operations based on Machine Learning’, deployed edge computing and advance vision algorithms to help people with vision impairments cook with ease.

Now in its fourteenth year, the 2021 3M Young Scientist Challenge hosted the 2-day competition as a virtual event on 18 and 19 October 2021. Each finalist was evaluated through a series of interactive, virtual challenges and the final presentation of their innovation. Ten young inventors, aged 12 to 14, won the top spots in this year's challenge through their innovative thinking, scientific acumen, and exceptional communication skills.

Discovery Education is the worldwide EdTech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, and innovative classroom tools, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 140 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and trusted organisations to empower teachers with leading EdTech solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.