Thirteen Cold Spring Junior/Senior High School students from grades 9 to 12 attended the 3-day Lemelson-MIT EuerkaFest held from June 10 to June 13 on the campus of MIT in Cambridge, MA. Research teacher Jaak Raudsepp explained that EurekaFest is an event that empowers student inventors and encourages creativity and problem solving. The programming featured the eight 2024 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams, high school students from across the country who received an InvenTeam grant to build a working prototype to solve a real-world problem in their community or beyond. The team had the opportunity to make a formal presentation, delivered by Dhanya Dhariwal, Milan Lustig and Ryan Smith, followed by a Q&A session.

The Cold Spring Harbor Junior/Senior High School Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam is addressing how to reduce the number of ticks in the Northeast where tick-borne diseases are a major threat to public health. Tick-related diseases, including Lyme Disease, can only be mitigated by decreasing the tick populations. In addition to the high rates of tick-related diseases, the length of “tick season” is growing. Climate change is expected to increase the areas where ticks are found due to higher temperatures in historically cooler regions. The InvenTeam is focusing on a green and sustainable solution for individuals as well as local, state, and federal governments to reduce the number of ticks in areas frequented by humans such as beaches, hiking trails, and parks.