Sayville’s Youngest International R.I.S.E. Program Competitor

This story was written by Linda Mittiga and posted by Judy Mottl.

Sayville Sophomore Shreeya Panigrahi will be traveling to Houston, Texas this month to compete at the International Sustainable World Energy, Engineering & Environment Project Olympiad.

In March Shreeya was notified that she was a finalist in the Energy Division for her research entitled Phantom Load Analysis of a Public High School Building to Establish a Model for a District-Wide Energy Conservation Management Plan.

Last summer, as part of her R.I.S.E project at Sayville High School, Shreeya made an additional economic energy analysis for her Geology 121 requirements.

Her research—determining how much energy and money is potentially wasted by leaving items “plugged in” when not actively in use at the high school building— made use of a specific device called the UFO. The so-called UFO—because it looks like a flying saucer when closed—has been a wonderful tool used by several Sayville Research students in recent years.

It was donated by Mark Gunthner, owner of Home Performance Technologies in Hauppauge, whose business mission is to reduce energy usage in buildings. But this device alone was not the only reason for Shreeya’s extraordinary success.

Some human assistance was necessary.
 
“Shreeya could not have completed the daunting task of testing over 500 pieces of equipment in the building without the cooperation of High School Assistant Principal Brian Decker and our custodial staff,” Research Teacher Maria Brown explained. “Nor could she have determined the energy costs without the assistance of Assistant Superintendent for Business John Belmonte.”

With heartfelt thanks for all who her helped her achieve her goals, Shreeya and her chaperone Mrs. Kaczmarek are headed to an impressive Olympiad that boasts over 500 students from seventy nations to compete in the categories of Energy, Environment, and Engineering.