Sophomore places at science fair with self-made heart rate monitor

“What initially attracted me to it wasn’t the blood-pressure itself. I was just researching, and I stumbled across this idea of a machine called a PPG, or a photoplethysmogram. I saw that it was able to detect heart rate, and scientists are trying to develop a model that measures blood-pressure with this machine. I saw an opportunity to go for something that hasn’t been created yet. I wanted to create something new and innovative. It came out better than I expected; it’s a model that I still use to this day. I feel a bit disappointed about what happened [at Tidewater]. I ended up getting second place, and I was really hoping to get first because if you get first, you can go to the State Fair. I feel like I had a good chance, but in the end, it came to a few decisions that were not in my control. Now, I’m more motivated to go further and possibly explore a new field, so that I can continue researching at the highest level.”