Sophomores Sameer Bibikar, Zahin Nambiar, and Batu and Kaan Ozsaracoglu recently won the 2014 Region 5 Grades 10-12 Toshiba/National Science Teachers Association ExploraVision competition. ExploraVision is a competition designed for teams of all ages, interest, skill, and ability levels. 

“I do believe that we had to spend a lot of our time on the project as a group,” team member Batu Ozsaracoglu said. “We collaborated all the time and we each specialized in certain things, and together, we were able to revise each other’s work, and this was the best group that I have ever worked with.”

Their project, titled “3-D Solar Carbon Nanotube Array,” added nanostructures to photovoltaic cells (cells converting sunlight into electricity), significantly increasing the efficiency of solar panels. The team will compete against five other teams for a spot at the national competition. They are extremely excited to have been given this chance.

“I did not expect to do this well so I am very glad that we got to nationals,” Batu Ozsaracoglu said.