Local Houstonian Grabs International Science Fair Medal

HOUSTON: Manvitha Katta, of Houston, recently won First place in the Taiwanese International Science Fair (TISF). She was awarded a medal and 5000 Taiwanese Dollars. Manvitha was one of the 2 students representing the United States. The hosts of TISF, the National Taiwan Science Education Center (NTSEC) invited over 50 international students from 21 countries including Canada, Russia, Japan, Italy, India, Switzerland, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore and many others to spend the week of January 21-27 in Taipei.  Manvitha’s project “Antimicrobial and Heavy Metal Sequestration Capacities of Graphene Polymer Nanofilms” was essentially the synthesis of nanoparticle coated filters made from a form of carbon, graphene and a polymer, PVK that could remove heavy metal and bacteria from wastewater. To get to represent USA involved several levels of competition.  Manvitha first won the Grand Award at the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston (SEFH) and won a chance to participate in Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) held in Phoenix, Arizona, the largest and most prestigious science fair in the world. At ISEF, the K.T. Li Foundation selected her work as one of the 2 projects among hundreds of projects to represent the United States at TISF.

TISF marks the highlight of Manvitha’s science fair career. She has been to many science fairs during her middle school (T H Rogers) and high school (DeBakey HSHP) including ISEF, SEFH, TISF, and ISWEEEP (International Sustainable World Energy Engineering Environment Project Olympiad) and has won awards.  Always remains very low key and humble, she thoroughly enjoys every moment of these inspiring and amazing fairs.  Officials from the US Consulate in Taipei were very pleased about her accomplishment for the country.  Manvitha is recently enrolled at the Houston Pre-Medical Program, which will culminate in her pursuing a doctoral degree from Baylor College of Medicine. She is considering a post-doctoral career involving global health and clean water.

It is a great moment for all the Houstonians to be proud of her achievements.