My Account
Orewa College student Jennifer Palmer has become the first secondary student, and the first female, to win the Premier Award at the prestigious Eureka competition.
Jennifer, a year 12 student, won the $10,000 Premier Award for a 12 minute presentation ‘Synthetic Biology – Engineering the Future’ at the finals in Wellington on September 3. She was one of six secondary school and six university students chosen as finalists for the awards.
Jennifer featured in Hibiscus Matters’ August 19 edition when she made the finals of the competition.
At the time the Year 12 student said winning would be a long shot, but she was excited to be able to take part, sharing her enthusiasm for synthetic biology with a panel of judges.
Jennifer is particularly interested in spreading the word about the potential to manipulate DNA to cause organisms such as algae or bacteria to produce biofuels and drugs.
“Basically you can manipulate the genetic code, like a computer code, so that bacteria and algae produce things like biofuels, insulin and anti-malarial drugs in a more sustainable way,” she said.
The competition has been run since 2012 as part of Sir Paul Callaghan’s vision of an economic growth strategy for NZ driven by innovation in science, technology, engineering and maths.
Part of the focus is on communicating your idea in a persuasive way – something Jennifer says that scientists have to do all the time.
“What scientists do isn’t confined to the lab – the object of research is to improve the world, so you need to communicate with the public and potential funders.”
Jennifer’s own ‘Eureka moment’ came last year – she says when she entered the Brain Bee competition, it crystallised her love of science into a plan to study neuroscience at Otago University.
