{"id":58750,"date":"2020-02-20T11:09:05","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T18:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=58750"},"modified":"2020-02-20T12:11:32","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T19:11:32","slug":"jacks-big-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/jacks-big-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge accepted! NAU teams find innovative solutions to global problems in inaugural Jacks Big IDEA"},"content":{"rendered":"

A team focused on removing microplastics from the world\u2019s oceans walked away with the top prize at Northern Arizona University\u2019s inaugural Jacks Big IDEA<\/a> event on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The event, which boundaryless@NAU<\/a> sponsored, is part of the international Invent for the Planet<\/a> out of Texas A&M. It was a 48-hour problem-solve-a-thon that took place Feb. 14-16 and allowed interdisciplinary student teams to take on a global problem and present a well-researched, well-argued potential solution. The top three NAU teams won money to continue their research and development.<\/p>\n

The first-place team, Skroow Trash, also will participate in the global competition, which allows them to present their solutions with teams from throughout the world.<\/p>\n

Curtis Smith<\/strong>, the boundaryless@NAU director, said the event was a success, with students from every college and every grade level participating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe teams accomplished in one weekend what some student groups spend an entire semester doing, and they did it to a very high level at that,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat stood out to me most was how hard they worked and how dedicated they were to the challenge they were solving. They were working and sleeping in shifts\u2014they really put everything into it. It was inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skroow Trash, comprised of Kaylee Vigil<\/strong>, Owen Murphy<\/strong>, Reilley Luedde<\/strong>, Olivia Lynn<\/strong>, Walker Richard<\/strong> and Stephen Pagano<\/strong>, looked at the hundreds of tons of microplastics that contaminate the ocean every year. It\u2019s a problem because of the harmful effects on marine life, they said, but it affects humans too. People consume on average a credit card\u2019s worth of plastic every week.<\/p>\n

Their solution was a cargo ship ballast system with filters made out of organic material. When docked, the cargo ships would take on polluted water and during the ship\u2019s transit the system would filter microplastics from the ballast water and, upon docking at its destination, the cargo ship would release the filtered ballast water. The process would be repeated as the cargo ship took on new ballast water for its return trip, and the filtered microplastic particles would be stored in a shipping container and disposed of elsewhere. The student team estimated this system could filter out 135 million tons of microplastics from the ocean based on current cargo shipping capacity.<\/p>\n

Their plan included marketing the product on a couple of points: First, it would be less expensive than the current systems available, and it would allow shipping companies to ship filtered plastics to more countries.<\/p>\n

Pagano, a junior creative media and film major from Hawai\u2019i, was curious about the event, so he signed up. He said the experience was well worth it, though it felt like finals week crammed into a weekend. But he\u2019d seen this problem firsthand and wanted a chance to explore possible solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up by the ocean, I have always been aware of the dangers that plastic has had on the ocean environment,\u201d Pagano said. \u201cThis seemed like a problem that hit close to home, and I wanted to see what me and my team could come up with to solve it.\u201d<\/p>\n