Oral Defense

Aarav Patel
Ideation- Engineering Goal

• My goal was to create a safe and reliable

source of food for areas such as third world
countries or food deserts, where it is harder to
get access to food such as vegetation.
• I planned to use cheap or household object to
create an aquaponics system, so that these
areas could create vegetation without the use
of infertile soil.
• With the aquaponics system, I hoped to allow
food to be grown quickly and at a very similar
rate compared to food grown in soil.
Ideation- How I identified my problem
• At first, I began to look for small problems in the world, while doing this I came
across food deserts.
• After this, I researched more about food deserts and what created them, upon
doing this I learned that in these areas it is hard to access food as there is food
shortages and unfertile soil or polluted water.
• Once I learned that it is hard for food to be supplied in these areas, I began
researching ways to provide food safely, this is where I came across Aquaponics.
• I realized that there is also poverty in these areas, to combat this I decided to
try and create a cheap working Aquaponics system.
Ideation
• "Food deserts in Winnipeg, Canada: a novel method for measuring a complex
and contested construct" and "“Oh honey, don’t you know?” The Social
Construction of Food Access in a Food Desert." Both explain what creates a
food desert and the problems that arise within them.
• "Towards urban food sovereignty: the trials and tribulations of community-
based aquaponics enterprises in Milwaukee and Melbourne", "Economic
analysis of aquaponics and hydroponics production in the U.S. Midwest", and
"Stripping Away the Soil: Plant Growth Promoting Microbiology Opportunities
in Aquaponics" all explain the uses of hydroponics and aquaponics. They explain
how these systems can create profits and how they can help many areas.
• The sources that I chose were meant to help me by giving me a better
understanding on both the problem and the system that I was creating.
Ideation- To speed up the process next year
• I will begin to research much earlier, also researching better ways to help
the problem.
• I will also research ways that are already used to help the problem I am
trying to solve to see how I can adjust my own solution to make it better.
• Finally, I will start brainstorming different solutions much earlier so that I
have more time to test different ideas, so I create the best possible
verison.
Research
• "“Oh honey, don’t you know?” The Social Construction of Food Access in a Food
Desert" is about how what defines food deserts.
• The article talks about how food deserts are created by areas where literacy
rates are low, there is limited access to grocery stores, uneven development,
even race can be part of the reason of why people don’t have access to food.
• The article also how food deserts are created from problems both economcially
and culturally.
Research- Lit Review
• The lit review helped me by helping me research different articles to
better understand this problem.
• Because of this, I was able to understand food deserts more and was also
able to understand Aquaponics systems much better.
• The research that I did in my lit review helped a lot through my project
and allowed me to have a better understanding over all the aspects
within it.
Research- Plans for the Future
• In the future, I would use my researc to better understand how the
system works and problems that could occur within it.
• If I better understood Aquaponics, I may have been able to change parts
of my system to prevent problems that others have had.
• I may have been able to prevent the pump from getting blocked and may
have been able to get a better way for the water to reach the seeds other
than dripping from a hole.
• Doing extra research could help in creating a much better solution
leading to a better functioning project.
Procedure
• I started off with gathering my materials: an old shelf, a small pump, a tube, miracle-
gro, grow lights, mesh layers, a timer, a fishtank, and seeds.
• Then, I put 2 layers of mesh on top of 2 layers of shelves inside a sink, after this, I put
the pump in a fishtank filled halfway with water, inside the water I put miracle-gro and
a healthy bacteria to act as nutrients.
• I connected the tube to the pump, used a smoldering iron to puncture holes in it and
ran it over the entire shelf, going back into the water.
• I then put grow lights on both sides and set for a 12-hour timer, then I planted my seeds
on the mesh and plugged in the pump, allowing the system to flow.
• I planted seeds in normal soil and set it under the sun to compare the growth in the
same amount of time.
Procedure- Problems

• My first problem was with the tubing. When I

first set it over the system, I was unable to get
water to flow. Because of this, I tried many
ways to get holes into the tube, I used a
scalpel, scissors, and finally a smoldering iron.
The smoldering iron allowed water and air to
flow in and out, so the system recycled water.
• Another problem was keeping the pump clean,
at one point, the pump got blocked, which
caused the nutrients to stop flowing, and killed
all my plants.
• Finally, the water eventually ran out of the
tank, and nothing was being pumped to the
seeds, but this was on the last day of the
experiment, so it did not affect anything.
Procedure
• To make the project easier to manage, I would start much earlier than I
did this year. I started very late which did not help, because when the
plants all died, I was unable to gather much data, also I would have been
able to properly measure the growth of the plants if I had started much
earlier.
• Another thing I would have done different is space out the amount of
time it took to set up the system. The entire system was set up in 2-3
days, if I had spaced this out much more, it may have made the system to
run much better, and the plants may have survived.
Paperwork- Lit Review
• When creating the lit review, the main issue I had was with finding
sources.
• At first, I was not able to find much research done on food deserts that
was valid, but eventually I was able to use research done from
Aquaponics and Hydroponic systems and the research I was able to find
about food deserts.
• Once I found the resources, I was able to analyze them and create my lit
review.
Paperwork- GSEF
• The GSEF paperwork gave me no challenges because I did not have to get
anything else signed.
• The only problem that may have occurred was that I waited until the last
moment to finish all my GSEF paperwork.
Paperwork- Research Journal
• My only problem with the research journal was having to keep up with
what I did.
• I had to keep remembering to update what I did in my journal, but after
doing it a few times it eventually became easier to remember.
Paperwork- Tri-Fold Poster

• I had a problem with knowing

what information was
important to put on my trifold.
• Other than this, when
printing my trifold, I still had
some parts on it that I was
supposed to delete.
• Also, my poster board was
small, so the poster
itself was bent at the bottom.
Paperwork- Suggestions for Freshman
• I suggest that freshman should keep up with their research journal after
everything that they do for the project.
• Next, I would suggest doing research before you fully decide on a topic,
this will help with the lit review and will help for when you start the
project.
Science Fair- Conclusion

• In conclusion I was successful in

creating an Aquaponics system for a
cheap price with many household
items. Even though seeds grow at a
faster rate when in soil, the system
still works and with some
adjustments, it can produce large
quantities of vegetation.
• My hypothesis that the rate would
be very similar was wrong as soil
grew much faster within one week.
• Overall, the project went well but I
still need to decide if I want to
continue it next year.

Full growth of seeds in the system vs. In soil

Science Fair- What I Enjoyed
• Overall, creating my own Aquaponics system was very fun and
interesting.
• I enjoyed having to set up all the different components of the system and
having to change stuff so that my seeds would grow.
• Creating the system itself was my favorite part of the entire project this
year and when the seeds finally started to grow, I was very happy
because that told me that the system I had built worked.
Science Fair- What I Need to Work On
• For next year, the main thing that I need to work on is time
management.
• Time affected my entire project; I started the project very late and was
not able to get actual data as a result.
• I need to gather data in numbers instead of basing my project off
observations, if I do this my data will be much more reliable and the
project will end up being much better.