Minnetonka student a finalist for international science competition

Vaughn Hughes, who will enter his junior year this fall, is among the finalists selected to compete in the 10th annual Spellman HV Clean Tech Competition. The competition brings together students from around the world who are focused on making a difference in fighting global climate change and finding ways to develop and utilize clean energy.

This marks the first time a student from Minnetonka High School has been selected to participate in the competition.

Hughes’ project, titled “Using Environmental Enhancements to Increase Vitamin C Production in Spinacia oleracea in Varied Agricultural Environments,” was one of 20 finalists chosen out of nearly 400 student teams. The high school finalist teams are from the United States (California, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Oregon) and the nations of Indonesia, Singapore, Spain, Turkey and the Philippines.

Hughes said the topic for his project is a continuation of previous research, during which he ran tests to see if plants produced by vertical farming were as nutritious as conventionally farmed produce.

Vertical farming, which is the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers, has environmental benefits because it uses less water than traditional farming and takes up less space while being able to produce crops much closer to populous areas.

One drawback, Hughes explained, is that the produce from vertical farming has been shown to have less vitamin C than conventionally farmed plants.

“This could impose a major problem if vertical farming becomes a main source of produce as iron deficiency anemia caused by a lack of vitamin C is the most prevalent form of malnutrition worldwide,” he said.

To address this issue, the student got to work trying to find ways to raise the level of vitamin C produced by plants in a vertical-farmed environment.

“I researched and found that the top 20 vitamin C producing crops have one thing in common: harsh growing conditions. And so I hypothesized that ... if you introduce the plants into an environment with a lot of stress, it can increase the amount of vitamin C produced,” Hughes said.

To test this idea, he used a fan to introduce wind stress and a heater for heat stress while restricting the amount of water to act as drought stress.

After testing, he found that vitamin C production is increased when heat and wind stress were applied to spinach grown using aeroponics (the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil) to simulate a vertical-farmed environment.

Lending a helping hand in the student’s research was Elizabeth Hughes, Vaughn’s mom, who acted as an adviser for the project.

“Vaughn was able to do the vast majority of this on his own because he had a lot of experience in this topic ,” she said. “There was a lot of statistical analysis involved, and because I’m a statistician I was able to look at some of his work and give him feedback.”

The student’s work directly connects to the theme of this year’s Spellman HV Clean Tech Competition, which is “Preserving Planet Earth.”

“By 2050, the human population is projected to expand to over 10 billion people, so the need for resources is quickly increasing. However, the amount of availability for these resources is decreasing,” he said. “So, we have to find cleaner ways to produce all these necessities.”

Finalists will compete in one of two categories - high tech or low cost - with the goal of finding ways to address need for a sustainable future powered by clean technology. Teams will virtually present to judges their solutions relating to climate change or protecting resources using clean technology.

“We sponsor this competition to inspire this generation of students who are studying STEM to embrace what they have learned and pursue further studies and careers as scientists, engineers and doctors. They are needed to play a part in solving the world’s current and future energy, environmental and health challenges,” said Spellman HV President Loren Skeist.

Hughes, whose project is in the low cost category, will present his research before a panel of judges Thursday, Aug. 5, live on Facebook at facebook.com/pg/CleanTechComp. 

The awards ceremony will be 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 6. The first-place winners in each category will receive $10,000 in prize money; $7,000 for second, $5,000 for third; while fourth through tenth places will each be awarded $1,000.

“We expect to see amazing innovations at the competition this year as students showcase their innovative ideas for addressing environmental change and solving real life problems,” said Ray Ann Havasy, executive director of the Center for Science, Teaching and Learning, the nonprofit serving as administrator of the Clean Tech Competition.

For more information about the competition and a full schedule of teams and presentation times, visit cstl.org/cleantech.

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