Senator Elaine Phillips Hosts Celebration For Stockholm Junior Water Prize Honorees

Senator Elaine Phillips recently hosted a celebration ceremony for Manhasset High School seniors Rachel Chang and Ryan Thorpe, who won the Stockholm Junior Water Prize, the most prestigious youth award for a water-related research project.

“Congratulations to Rachel Chang and Ryan Thorpe on winning the Stockholm Junior Water Prize for your winning entry.” Senator Elaine Phillips said. “Protecting our drinking water for Long Island residents and future generations is paramount.  I am thrilled to know that local high school students are working to develop solutions to keep our drinking water safe. I applaud you both on your hard work and dedication to this project.”

Rachel and Ryan’s paper, “A Novel Approach to Rapidly and Sensitively Detect and Purify Water Contaminated with Shigella, E. coli, Salmonella, and Cholera,” outlined a system that detects and purifies contaminated water.

Earlier this year, the duo won the national competition and then represented the United States in Stockholm in August s and won the prominent competition hosted by the World Economic Forum.