Shaker High School freshman Sharvesh Srinivasan is being honored for some of the work he did as an eighth grader last school year! Sharvesh was named one of the Top 300 Junior Innovators in the 2025 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC), a program of Society for Science.
This honor places Sharvesh among a select group of 300 Junior Innovators named from 1,890 entrants throughout the United States. Shaker Middle School Science Teacher, Mrs. Nicole Burke, helped inspire and assist Sharvesh with his science fair project titled, “Reaction Time of Nickel-Titanium Artificial 'Muscles' from 0.5 Amperes to 5.0 Amperes.” The project involves using Nickel-Titanium, a “shape-memory alloy.” In simple terms, this means it can remember the shapes and states “set” into it during manufacturing. It can remember a state in its colder form and another in its hotter form. The Nickel-Titanium is heated by running an electric current through it, which operates by the principle of Joule Heating. The electricity-induced heat then results in the alloy switching into its hotter form, and “remembering” its set shape. In the current configuration, it contracts when the heat is high enough, but expands when it cools down. Since muscles also contract and expand like Nickel-Titanium, it could be used as artificial “muscles” in prosthesis. The project won first place in the Junior Division at the Greater Capital Region Science and Engineering Fair in March and ultimately earned Sharvesh an invitation to the Thermo-Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge as well as an invitation to the STANYS State Science Congress.
Congratulations Sharvesh! Keep up the great work!