Courtesy of Bowie State University
Bowie State students from the Department of Technology and Security represented the university at the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) HBCU Annual Making and Innovation Showcase in the nation’s capital last weekend presenting their prototype device designed to detect and report pollutants in bodies of water.
The students’ research project focused on how to mitigate organic chemical substances and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that are released into the environment contaminating bodies of water, defiling fish and making them harmful for human consumption. POPs are highly toxic synthetic chemicals known to be carcinogenic such as the insecticide mirex that accumulate in the fatty tissue of mammals, birds, and fish.
The purpose of the research project was to examine the impact of POPs on marine life and develop a solution to the problem that could be utilized by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, World Water Council, and other marine conservation organizations.
BSU’s team comprised, of computer technology majors Jaylen Moody and Peerce Gladden; and cybersecurity major Geremy Boyd, developed a prototype device that housed chlorine, water acid, and turbidity sensors capable of being placed in fresh and salt water to collect water quality data that would be sent via a cloud-based network infrastructure to scientists and researchers for analysis.
“Our team did not win but the research the students conducted was outstanding,” said Dr. Velma Latson, faculty mentor with the Department of Computer Technology and Security. “It was a great learning experience for our team. I’m very proud of the research the students conducted and their competitive spirit since the other HBCUs at the event were represented by graduate student teams.”
