14-Year-Old Transforms Origami and Physics into Life-Saving Foldable Shelters, Wins $25,000 Top STEM Award
Date: October 29, 2025
Location: Washington, D.C.
A remarkable 14-year-old innovator, Miles Wu from New York City, has captured global attention by merging origami and physics to engineer foldable, disaster-relief shelters—a concept that could transform emergency response worldwide. His groundbreaking work earned him the $25,000 Thermo Fisher Scientific ASCEND Award, the top honor at the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC)—the United States’ premier middle school STEM competition.
🔬 Origami-Inspired Engineering with a Purpose
Miles explored Miura-ori folding patterns, a geometric technique that allows materials to compress flat and expand instantly. After testing 54 variations, he discovered that smaller panels and steeper angles enhanced both strength and resilience.
In an impressive demonstration, Miles’ foldable structures supported over 9,000 times their own weight—showing incredible potential for lightweight, rapidly deployable shelters to aid communities struck by natural disasters.
“Miles’ blend of creativity, scientific inquiry, and compassion highlights the type of young innovator our world needs,” said Maya Ajmera, President & CEO of Society for Science.
🧠 About the Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge
The Thermo Fisher JIC, organized by Society for Science, inspires more than 60,000 middle school students nation
wide to explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). From nearly 2,000 applicants across 48 U.S. states and territories, 30 finalists were chosen to compete in Washington, D.C., for over $100,000 in awards.
Participants engaged in hands-on STEM challenges, including coding with Micro:Bit to address climate change, applying biomimicry for design innovation, and building chain reactions to explore physics principles.
🏆 Highlights from the 2025 Top Winners
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Akhil Nagori (15), Santa Clara, CA — Won the $10,000 Broadcom Coding with Commitment® Award for developing AI-powered reading glasses that translate text to speech, empowering visually impaired students.
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Peter Fernández Dulay (15), Jacksonville, FL — Received the $10,000 DoD STEM Talent Award for analyzing AI-generated bias in science imagery, uncovering gender-based stereotypes in datasets.
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Evann Sun (14), Santa Clara, CA — Earned The Lemelson Foundation Award for Invention ($10,000) for co-developing assistive reading glasses for visually impaired learners.
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Camila Isabel Gonzalez-Thompson (14), Ponce, Puerto Rico — Won the $10,000 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Advancement for her public health research on dengue virus prevalence in Puerto Rico.
🧩 Fostering the Next Generation of Innovators
Thermo Fisher Scientific’s partnership with the Society for Science demonstrates a shared commitment to broadening access to STEM education. For decades, the company has invested in programs that ignite curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity among students worldwide.
“This year’s winners embody the ingenuity and perseverance that drive progress in STEM and improve lives,” said Dr. Karen Nelson, Chief Scientific Officer, Thermo Fisher Scientific.
⚙️ Additional Awards
STEM Category Winners
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Science: Pranshi Mehta (1st), Christine Wang (2nd)
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Technology: Caden Terence Pohlkamp (1st), Alice Feng (2nd)
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Engineering: Brady Ryan Sage (1st), Luca McGill (2nd)
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Mathematics: Tobias Lam (1st), Siddharth Vazhkudai (2nd)
Team Collaboration Award
Lia Camil González, Tobias Lam, Yookta Pandit, Sam Daniel Solhpour, and Bhavya Uppalapati
Thermo Fisher Leadership Award (Class Speaker): Akhil Nagori
🌍 Building a Future Through STEM
From foldable shelters to AI-powered innovation, the Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge proves that young minds can shape a smarter, safer, and more sustainable future.
These young scientists and engineers remind us that age is no barrier to innovation — with imagination, curiosity, and purpose, anything is possible.
Source: Society for Science | Thermo Fisher Scientific
Edited & Published by: TeachSmart Newsroom
