{"id":45863,"date":"2024-04-26T12:50:19","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T10:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.steinmuehle.de\/blog\/2024\/04\/26\/state-victory-at-jugend-forscht-steinmuehles-plus-mint-trio-qualifies-for-the-national-finals-and-will-compete-against-germanys-best\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T17:38:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T15:38:04","slug":"state-victory-at-jugend-forscht-steinmuehles-plus-mint-trio-qualifies-for-the-national-finals-and-will-compete-against-germanys-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/blog\/2024\/04\/26\/state-victory-at-jugend-forscht-steinmuehles-plus-mint-trio-qualifies-for-the-national-finals-and-will-compete-against-germanys-best\/","title":{"rendered":"State Victory at “Jugend Forscht”: Steinm\u00fchle’s Plus-MINT Trio Qualifies for the National Finals and Will Compete Against Germany’s Best"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the best \u201cJugend Forscht\u201d result in Steinm\u00fchle\u2019s history: After Steinm\u00fchle student Akaash Bhagwat won the state championship in physics at \u201cSch\u00fcler experimentieren\u201d (the competition for younger students), the 12th-grade plus-MINT trio\u2014consisting of Luis Gerloni, Fabian Sotonica, and Clara Steiner, also emerged as state champions at the \u201cJugend forscht\u201d state competition held at Merck in Darmstadt. Originally submitted in the Earth and Space Sciences category, the project ultimately won the award for \u201cBest Interdisciplinary Project\u201d and will now compete in the national competition. \u201cWe\u2019ve been participating in \u2018Jugend forscht\u2019 for seven years and have always done very well. But we\u2019ve never had a success like this before,\u201d explains their advisor, Dr. Jutta T\u00f6hl-Borsdorf. <\/p>\n

Luis (16), Clara, and Fabian (both 17) were quite nervous as they had to hold their own among about 50 other projects and ultimately compete against three others in their category. For about half an hour, the jury members\u2014representing research, academia, and industry\u2014asked their questions\u2014and they were on the same level. Under the title \u201cWater Analysis 2.0: Autonomous Low-Cost Boat for Determining Water Quality,\u201d the trio presented their research project. The discussion delved deeply into the subject matter\u2014not a trace of easy questions whose answers would have been obvious. Relieved and almost in disbelief, the students\u2014who participate in the plus-MINT program at the Steinm\u00fchle boarding school\u2014heard that they had won\u2014the reward for hours of dedicated tinkering, extensive expertise, endless perseverance, and tremendous interest. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another criterion: public benefit<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next round\u2014the national competition in Heilbronn\u2014will feature the best German research projects. The young researchers explain in an interview that they\u2019ll have to step it up a notch there. \u201cThere are only a few projects in our category, Earth and Space Sciences,\u201d the three acknowledge. But that makes their efforts all the more closely scrutinized by the jury members. <\/p>\n

The questions asked there will also focus on other aspects. The jury will assess whether the project is truly the participants\u2019 own\u2014that is, whether they identify with the project\u2019s goals and demonstrate genuine commitment. According to the trio, the project\u2019s benefit to the community is also important. They can wholeheartedly affirm this\u2014because their greatest hope is that their experiment will become a mass-market product for measuring water quality! <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Goal: To Inspire the Industry<\/strong><\/p>\n

A small \u201csurfboard\u201d serves as the basis for the remote-controlled, motorized platform for water analysis developed by Clara Steiner, Fabian Sotonica, and Luis Gerloni. It is not stationary\u2014which sets it apart from many measurement systems. The \u201cboat\u201d can be equipped with various sensors for water analysis, and it can collect up to four water samples. <\/p>\n

Inspiring industry and businesses with their idea is therefore the goal of the three plus-MINT talents, who\u2014along with the Steinm\u00fchle School and Boarding School\u2014have made it to the top ranks of Germany\u2019s best young researchers. Their vision is a fully autonomous boat capable of navigating currents and saltwater that can be used by anyone, even private individuals, in any location. This would allow water measurements to be taken at a wide variety of locations across the country and transmitted online for analysis. \u201cThe result would be a nearly complete picture of the condition of our waterways.\u201d <\/p>\n

At the end of May, Luis, Clara, and Fabian will head to Heilbronn for the national \u201cJugend Forscht\u201d competition. Joining them will be Dr. Jutta T\u00f6hl-Borsdorf, a multiple recipient of the Mentor Award. Alongside her are others who have supported the plus-MINT trio on their journey to the top. These include Antje Seel and Dr. Patrick Szabo from the Steinm\u00fchlen STEM team. The collaboration with Dr. Christoph Reudenbach from the Department of Geography at Philipps University of Marburg also provided valuable insights and support. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the best \u201cJugend Forscht\u201d result in Steinm\u00fchle\u2019s history: After Steinm\u00fchle student Akaash Bhagwat won the state championship in physics at \u201cSch\u00fcler experimentieren\u201d (the competition for younger students), the 12th-grade plus-MINT trio\u2014consisting of Luis Gerloni, Fabian Sotonica, and Clara Steiner, also emerged as state champions at the \u201cJugend forscht\u201d state competition held at Merck […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":45878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,89,85,105,91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contests-awards","category-life-at-boarding-school","category-news","category-stem","category-talent-development"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49507,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45863\/revisions\/49507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}