Marian Joan Bechtel
Pensylvania
Hempfield High School
Marian Joan Bechtel, 17, of Lancaster, developed an inexpensive seismo-acoustic method to detect buried landmines
and built a working prototype for her Intel Science Talent Search engineering project. Marian, who is a talented
musician, hypothesized that a buried landmine would resonate in response to a seismic vibrator and that nearby
microphones could detect the acoustic field generated by the vibrating mine. Her prototype successfully located
both plastic and metal mines covered by sand, either wet or dry. Her device works by adjusting the input from two
hand-held microphones to cancel background noises such that a distinct dip in signal occurs when the microphones
are passed over a vibrating buried mine. Her prototype (built on the skeleton of a broken metal detector she
rescued from a dumpster) cost less than $500 — compared to $50,000 alternatives. First in her class of 550 at
Hempfield High School in Landisville, Marian sings and plays trumpet, violin and piano. The daughter of Timothy
and Felicia Bechtel, she enjoys hiking and skiing. Marian hopes her project will help reduce the risks faced by
her Mozambican cousins who deal with the threat of landmines daily.
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