“Green” Teen Receives Environmental Honors at White House ceremony

Joe Caspermeyer, Media Relations Manager & Science Editor
(480) 727-0369 | joseph.caspermeyer@asu.edu

An environmental project has elevated a Tempe high school student onto the nation’s highest stage.

Smitha Ramakrishna, a sophomore at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe who volunteers at ASU’s Biodesign Institute, was one of ten in the nation chosen for the President’s Environmental Youth Award (PEYA). The award is given by the Environmental Protection Agency. On April 20, she received the honors in a special White House awards ceremony hosted by President Bush for a project that helped deliver clean water to the world.

The “greening” of her interests began with a trip about five years ago to her parent’s native India, where she witnessed the disparity in living conditions among the underprivileged.

“Water is the most basic necessity, but to many who live in the slums, it’s a privilege,” said Ramakrishna, “and I don’t think this is right.” The World Health Organization estimates that almost 2 billion people have little or no access to clean water.

So she decided to make a difference. The organization Ramakrishna spearheads, called AWAKE (Arizona Water Activists Karing for the Environment), includes about 20 volunteers who have raised funds through walkathons and bake sales to deliver access to clean, potable water for underprivileged children in India.

Their activities have also helped raise water conversation awareness and sanitation issues in Arizona.

While juggling her coursework and environmental activism, Ramakrishna has also won honors through her volunteer research efforts at the Biodesign Institute. After exploring Biodesign’s Web site (www.biodesign.asu.edu), she was drawn to the lab of Bruce Rittmann, director of the Center for Environmental Biotechnology.

“I love taking chemistry and physics, but I’ve always wanted to work in the lab, because I consider this the ultimate experience for a high school student,” said Ramakrishna.

Since last summer, Ramakrishna has been involved in a project that led to her winning fourth place at the State Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. Her project was one of six projects chosen and will be going on to the national JSHS competition in Alabama in early May. The project is among the first to measure artificial sweetener byproducts in wastewater-treatment systems.

“I knew within five minutes of meeting Smitha that she would fit perfectly in the Center for Environmental Biotechnology,” said Rittmann. “An emerging question in the water-quality field is what happens to consumer products that get flushed down the sewer, such as artificial sweeteners. Having Smitha on the team gave us an opportunity to explore this new topic.”

Ramakrishna performed the research in the center’s lab under the supervision of mentors Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, PhD, Andrew Marcus and C?sar Torres.

“The objective of Smitha’s project was to explore the effects of biodegradation and photocatalysis on an artificial sweetener,” said Krajmalnik-Brown. “As soon as I explained to Smitha what this project was about, she was excited and very motivated. She was the driving force to have this project done in a short period of time. It was a real pleasure to have her working with us.”

During her recent trip to Washington, D.C., she also presented her projects to the EPA and met with member of Congress and senators. Ramakrishna was chosen as the winning representative of U.S. region 9, a broad geographic area that includes Arizona, California, Nevada, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Marina Islands.

She will also be traveling to Sweden at the end of May to receive the Volvo Adventure Award, funded by Volvo, Inc. and the United Nations Environmental Program.

“The Biodesign Institute has been an absolutely wonderful experience for me, and I look forward to continuing my research during my high school career,” said Ramakrishna. “A big thanks also go to ASU’s Southwest Center for Education and the Natural Environment (SCENE) program and my dedicated parents for always being so supportive.”