Winning a remarkable science award is really a big deal, especially if you are 12 years old. But Shanya Gill, a middle schooler from San Jose, California, won the top award in the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge for designing a fire detection system that is superior to existing ones, as stated in the press release. 

"The top winners have exhibited boundless curiosity, " Maya Ajmera president and CEO of Society for Science, said in the press release. "Their remarkable research not only reflects their talent but also paves the way for an exciting new future. "

Shanya's inspiration came after a fire destroyed a restaurant in her neighborhood during the summer of 2022, reported The Washington Post. "I had never really experienced something like that before, " she told The Washington Post about the early morning fire at Holder's Country Inn, which started in the kitchen. "They had smoke detectors. and yet it still burned down, " she added.

After she studied fire statistics, Shaya spent over a year developing a fire detection system that she believes could have prevented the fire. Unlike traditional smoke detectors that sense active fires from the smoke in the air, Shanya's thermal (热的) imaging device is designed to stop fires from occurring.

With a thermal camera and a Raspberry Pi, a tiny computer the device detects when a heat source has been left unattended for ten minutes and sends a text message warning. Creating the prototype(原型) was difficult and the hardest part was the programming, "I had two designs, and my first design completely failed. It was a really big challenge I had to go through. " she said. The final device outperforms smoke detectors in speed and accuracy. Shanya wants to bring the costs down to make it even more common than hardwired smoke detectors.

"Shanya saw a problem, went after it and tried to solve it, and that's what we need to encourage with all young people, " said Ajmera. She also highlighted the significance of supporting individuals, especially girls and kids of color, in STEM fields, as research indicates that many young people drop out of these areas.