Rachel Michelle Davis
New York
Smithtown High School East
Rachel Michelle Davis, 18, of Saint James, engineered a polymer that is both flame retardant and biodegradable for her
materials science project for the Intel Science Talent Search. After watching her family home burn to the ground at age
thirteen, Rachel says she “never felt so helpless” and joined the local volunteer fire department at the earliest possible age
three years later. For this project, Rachel studied the best way to add cellulose, a retardant used on textiles, to a mixture
of two biodegradable plastics. She found that by soaking the cellulose in a flame retardant additive before blending it with
the two plastics, she could make a polymer that was both biodegradable and flame retardant. Her interest in developing flame
retardant plastics was sparked when she was taught — during firefighter training — that gas tanks in burning cars might be
plastic and flammable. At Smithtown High School East, Rachel enjoys Math Fun Night, held to entertain and educate young
children. Her hobbies include tennis, video editing and production, and creating new polymer blends. In her spare time, she
plays guitar at a nearby nursing home. Rachel is the daughter of Michael and Rosalind Davis and hopes to pursue a career in
materials science or chemistry.
|
