Ten young inventors present to honorary judge Raven Baxter at the 2021 3M Young Scientist Challenge final

Raven Baxter served as an honorary judge at the virtual national final of the 2021 3M Young Scientist Challenge on Oct. 19, 2021. She was also the challenge's ambassador that year, urging students in grades 5 through 8 to enter through her social media channels.

The ten finalists, ages 12 to 14, presented their inventions to the judging panel in two groups of five on the afternoon of Oct. 19. As an honorary judge, Baxter could question the finalists. She also gave a short interview during the livestream. The day before, the finalists had competed in two hands-on challenges.

The winner was Sarah Park, 14, of Jacksonville, Fla. Her Spark Care+ personalizes music therapy for mental health. It uses artificial intelligence, a skin response sensor and a heart-rate sensor to choose music and track progress. Park won $25,000 and the title of America's Top Young Scientist.

The same day, three groups representing the nation's pediatricians, child psychiatrists and children's hospitals declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health. In naming Park the winner, 3M and Discovery Education wrote that the pandemic had a "profound impact on mental health."

Samarth Mahapatra, 14, of Marietta, Ga., placed second. His machine learning system helps people with vision impairments cook, and public voting also gave him the Improving Lives Award. Snigtha Mohanraj of West Haven, Conn., placed third with Ferro-Sponge, which removes microplastics and oil from water. THE Journal reported that AI and machine learning figured into the top two projects. In the months before the final, each finalist worked one-on-one with a 3M scientist to turn an idea into a prototype.

"Against the backdrop of an ongoing global pandemic, the 3M Young Scientist Challenge finalists have each shown how grit, determination, resiliency, innovative thinking, and the scientific process come together to create truly incredible innovations with the potential to address major global challenges," said Dr. Denise Rutherford, 3M's senior vice president and chief corporate affairs officer.

"Every single one of this year's participants demonstrated the power of STEM to change the world and improve lives," said Lori McFarling, president of social impact at Discovery Education.

Discovery Communications launched the Young Scientist Challenge in 1999 "to foster a new generation of American scientists at an age when interest in science generally declines." Discovery Education joined with 3M in 2008, and 2021 was the competition's 14th year in that form. According to 3M, past winners have given TED Talks, filed patents, founded nonprofits and made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. One was named Time's first Kid of the Year.

Baxter, known online as Raven the Science Maven, was then a doctoral candidate at the University at Buffalo, where her research focused on science communication. She trained as a molecular biologist.

The 3M and Discovery Education release lists all ten finalists and their projects. The challenge's site is youngscientistlab.com.

Paid partnership with 3M.