Marina Mohawass wins Girls Rock! STEM-gineer award of 2018!
Marina Mohawass recently won the Hardy Girls, Healthy Women Girls Rock STEM-gineer award of 2018. Marina, 16, from Bangor is originally from Egypt. Her father sent her to the United States with the hopes of safety and a chance topursue her education. And she has! Marina has excelled in a highly competitive and elite level academic program at Bangor High School. The STEM program at BHS has a highly successful student research program that has resulted in multiple and successive prize winners in the nation’s most prestigious science competitions. She is the leader of BHS’s State of MaineStormwater Management Research Team (SMART) program, a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded program that seeks to engage underrepresented students in STEM related education and potentially careers. She is currently working on a research project designed to remove heavy metal pollutants, E. coli, and phosphorus from contaminated water supplies. Her novel approach uses mycorrhizal fungi to remediate the water. Last year she designed an “ecological diaper” using cellulose nanofibers to eliminate plastic from the waste stream. She commonly is seen at school as late as 9 pm working on her various research projects. Marina has a passion and drive that is rarely seen at any level.