Paige E. Brown invented a phosphorous-eating filter to attack oxygen-choking algae blooms in lakes and streams. Kaisa Crawford-Taylor created a computer program to shift through a constellation of 2.7 million objects to discover four probable binary black holes in deep space.

The two 17-year-olds were among 240 of the nation’s hard-working high school students presenting this week at the National Junior Sciences and Humanities Symposium at the Dayton Convention Center. The Defense Department-sponsored symposium awards a total of $168,000 in college scholarships to competitors with hopes to attract some of the best science students to military research or science careers. Students compete for $4,000 to $12,000 individual scholarships. Read more