2025 North Alabama STEM Essay Contest Results

North Alabama SWE is excited to announce that the results of the second annual North Alabama STEM Essay contest are in! We received 91 total entries from across north Alabama, each of which was thoughtful and innovative. Our panel of judges thoroughly enjoyed reading all of the essays and would like to extend congratulations to every entrant.

This year’s competition was sponsored by Mazda Toyota Manufacturing, and the prompt can be found below.

Describe a new feature that you would add to a car. The feature can be aesthetic, safety, or convenience based. 

  • How would the feature work?
  • What would the feature improve?
  • How would this feature affect you personally?
  • What technology exists today that could help you develop the feature?

The top three awards are a $150, $125, and $100 prize in addition to a STEM kit and STEM book. The top winners are listed below in no particular order along with their essays.

Self sanitizing system 

I would like to tell you what I would wish to add to a car to improve its quality, I would add a feature for its convenience and it could keep a lot of people safe. A car’s self sanitizing system, with disinfectants and eco friendly cleaning products when you are sick. I think it could be useful for multiple reasons, and today I will be telling you about them and suggesting an idea that could be used in the future for good use and good results. By self sanitizing car system I mean, if you were sick and hypothetically say, you had to go to the local pharmacy to get some medicine. Your car would have sound and visual sensors to detect any coughs, sneezes, red eyes, or just any signs of sickness in general. Once you leave the car, it would sanitize itself with different sprays and cleaning products that are built into it. Something similar to a self cleaning car, but in my opinion it’s more efficient. 

This could be useful in multiple ways. First off, it would prevent illness from being spread because if a sick person were to be in your car, it would lessen the possibilities of you also getting sick. Wise words of the law firm of Edgar Snyder and Associates website entail, “The sad truth is that drivers with colds may be just as dangerous as those driving drunk. In fact, it’s estimated that motorists’ driving skills drop by about 50 percent when they are under the weather while behind the wheel. In fact, experts say about a million people with colds drive on U.S. roadways every day—and many don’t realize that they may be driving impaired.” 

It would affect me, as I have also been a victim of my best friend being sick on a road trip with my father and I. The next day, what happened? I had a 101 degree fever, so I see how a self sanitizing system could be helpful in the near future. Trust me, I am not the only one who has been struck with one of these types of situations, that’s why I think this product would be extremely useful. 

In the end, I believe a lot of people would agree that this may be the next new thing, and it could keep a lot of people safe and healthy. It will be efficient and possibly save some lives from lethal illnesses. I hope that you agree with my few statements and I would like to thank you for reading this.

Voice Activated Doors

Have you ever had to open your car door when your hands were full? If our car doors were voice activated, we would be able to open them easily, hands free. Voice activated car doors would improve automatic car doors, especially when you are carrying a lot of stuff.

To use this feature, all you would have to do is tell your car doors to open, and they would. Virtual assistants (VA’s) are a type of Artificial Intelligence (AI). They already serve a variety of functions, and could be used in your car doors. All of the doors in your car would be able to use this feature, including the front doors, the trunk, and the sunroof (if you have one.) It would also work from outside your car.

My feature would improve automatic car doors, because to use automatic car doors, you have to push a button or pull a handle. Some cars also have doors that open when you walk near them. Voice activated doors would be better than these because they would only open if you want them to. It would also stop the spread of germs, because you would not be touching door handles or buttons. Automatic Speech Recognition Systems are used by VA’s (“artificial intelligence (AI)” 23). These systems would be used, so not just anyone could open your car doors.

Voice activated car doors would benefit me, because I have a large instrument with a heavy case. It would be really helpful to have voice activated doors in my car when I’m getting in and out of my car with it, especially when I am also carrying other items. It would also benefit people who have to carry a lot of stuff into work every day.

AI is some existing technology that would help with this feature. Virtual Assistants (VA’s) already serve many functions, including helping users make and receive calls, guiding users on the road, and turning on lights (“artificial intelligence (AI)” 22). Examples of common VA’s include Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s Siri (“artificial intelligence (AI)” 22). If you have a hands-free calling system in your car, then you are already using a VA in your car!

Voice activated car doors would be an excellent way to open your car doors easily, hands-free. They would improve automatic car doors, and would help when you are carrying a lot of things. There is already technology that could be used for this feature. This could be the beginning of improving electronic systems in cars.

Work Cited

“artificial intelligence (AI).” Britannica School, Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 November 2024, school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/artificial-intelligence-AI/272968?printWithImages=false. Accessed 10 December 2024.

Everyone has seen a mood ring and knows that it can change colors based on temperature. A mood ring can show you what you are feeling. What if there was a way to make a mood ring inspired car to help with traffic, accidents, and safety on the road.

Imagine there is a car in front of you on a very rainy day. That car is gray, and the rain is pouring down. It would be very hard to see it. The idea I have for the feature that could change the future of the car industry is the ability for the cars to change color based on the weather.

It would be handy for it to change color, so it would be bright orange in snow, and when it is very sunny it would be a darker color. How it works is the wrap made using Chromoflair paint would change color based on the weather. You will have to install the wrap onto your vehicle. You could have a link to the vehicle that ties into local weather stations and set up a box with a water level indicator, a sensor for the water, computer clock, a transmitter, and a camera that AI uses to indicate if it is snowing or any other changes in weather. You would be able to control your paint color from an app on your phone. The app would monitor the weather conditions and help to pick the appropriate color for your vehicle. The app would also keep track of the vehicle colors, so the company would know if you were using the technology
appropriately.

This technology will be helpful worldwide, it would help to prevent accidents around the world. You could select from a select range of colors, like darker colors on sunny days, and bright colors on snowy or rainy days. There would also be an option to choose colors based on what you like when the weather is perfect. The cars would also have the ability to flash their colors if they were broken down or having some sort of mechanical malfunction. This would be helpful for others that are driving near them to notice them.

Where I live there are lots of accidents related to downpours of rain and when the sun is setting in the sky. Having cars that change color with the weather would help the other drivers to pay more attention to them.

REFERENCES

Smart surfaces show their colours
Hogan
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18124363-900-smart-surfaces-
show-their-colours/

This year, we introduced School Awards to the competition. The two schools that had the highest percentage of participants by 6th grade population received a $700 school award and banner to display. The schools receiving awards this year are:

  • Riverhill School, Florence, AL, sponsored by teachers Allison Delbert and Vicky Simpson.
  • Randolph School, Huntsville, AL, sponsored by teachers Nikki Cornelison and Dr. Philip Taylor.

The Honorable Merit recipients are listed below. They will each receive a Snap Circuits “Arcade” Kit.

  • Jack of Madison County for his essay “The Pet Paws Protector.”
  • Opaque of Madison County for her essay “Night Time Visibility Detector.”
  • Tanner of Madison County for her essay “The Ice Breaker.”

The Honorable Mention recipients are listed below. They will each receive a copy of Gutsy Girls Go For Science: Engineers by Diane Taylor.

  • Bradley of Madison County for his essay on heated water de-icing.
  • John of Madison County for his essay on salt water de-icing.
  • Mary of Lauderdale County for her essay on car odor elimination.

Thank you to Mazda Toyota Manufacturing for their support in creating and funding this competition.

And, thank you to the panel of judges who spent their time review essays. Without their commitment, this contest would not be possible.

Check back in November 2025 to find out how you can participate in the 2026 North Alabama STEM Essay Contest.