Liam Mooney, a nine-year-old 4th grader at St. Matthew School whose family resides in Williamson County, submitted a design idea for the National Graphene Composites Design Competition and was selected as a finalist.
He went to Jackson, MS, this month where he formally presented his idea to industry experts and researchers at the NGA Graphene Innovation & Research Conference.
“I used graphene to make safety gloves stronger, have better grip and have the ability to be electrically conductive. With graphene, gloves are safer and let you use electronic devices while working or playing sports,” Liam said.
It was a 3-minute pitch followed by a Q&A and he came in second place, earning $4,000. The winner has a PhD from Georgia Tech in Mechanical Engineering. Liam was the only child there; most were PhDs and post-docs. The next step will be to create a prototype of his design and present it in phase 2 of the competition, in Washington, DC, this spring.
“It was fun being the only kid there. Being in a room full of adults, I was not too confident at the start. But I thought I had a chance. Then when I made my presentation the adults were surprised. I tried my best and then I won second place. After the competition, my competitors told my parents that at the beginning they didn’t think I stood a chance because I was a kid. Then I made my pitch and then they said, wow, he could win this thing,” Liam added.
Please join our FREE Newsletter
