Shippensburg students unveil 'Air Aware' portable air-quality sensor
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Summary
Shippensburg Area High School STEM students presented 'Air Aware,' a portable, low-cost air-quality sensor developed with Arduino hardware and tested across classrooms and outdoors; the board praised the team and advisers and the district discussed next competition steps.
Students from Shippensburg Area High School presented a portable air-quality monitor called “Air Aware” during the Shippensburg Area School District board meeting, describing a low-cost device they designed to help people identify unhealthy air around them.
The team — Brady Carr, Mark Youssef and Jake Wiest — said the project is intended as a pocket-sized alert system for users, especially people with respiratory conditions. “We are proud to present Air Aware, our project for this school year,” Brady Carr said. The students said the device uses an Arduino Nano, a particle sensor, a 9-volt battery and a 5-volt converter, and that they added a screen so results can be read without a computer.
School officials and board members applauded the presentation and thanked the students and their advisers, including Mrs. Fowler and Mr. Gigliotti, for mentoring the group. The team reported they tested readings in eight indoor spaces and outdoors, finding clear variation between indoor and outdoor particle levels. “We witnessed noticeable differences in particle levels and clear variation in indoor versus outdoor air quality,” Jake Wiest said.
Students said the prototype can be built for under $200 and that they average several quick readings into a spreadsheet for reporting. They noted features not yet implemented, such as a flashing red alert, and discussed potential next steps including entering other competitions and networking multiple devices to produce community-level data.
The board recognized the students’ work and mentorship, and the superintendent encouraged further exploration of competitions and potential community applications. The presentation concluded with board members asking technical questions about sampling and data-logging, which the team answered on the record.
The district livestreamed the meeting and thanked the STEM advisers. The students said they will pursue additional competition opportunities following their recent appearance in Hershey on Feb. 4, where they competed against roughly 10 other high schools.
