Adam Fry the Science Guy

Sleepy Hollow High School's Adam Fry won a gold medal at the International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering & Environment) World Project Olympiad (I-SWEEEP) this past April.

The senior's project, Green Roofs: A Viable Stormwater Management Technology, was one of 16 first-place winners in the Senior Environment category.

Fry previously showcased his findings at the Westchester Rockland Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, held at Sleepy Hollow High School, where he was awarded third place in the Environmental Science category.

Fry, who has always been interested in engineering, stumbled upon green roof technology while conducting research for his three-year-long science research program at SHHS.

"It seemed like viable technology with great benefits," he said. "And it could be easily evaluated."

As we previously reported, Fry's project involved the testing of three different roof types' efficiencies for minimizing storm water runoff. He found the two experimental "green" roofs, which included a growing medium as well as draining and waterproofing systems, created at least 60 percent less runoff than the control – a standard flat roof.

He then applied his findings to White Plains, and found up to 10 million liters of excess runoff could be eliminated each rainfall by using green roofs.

"I wanted to apply my locally collected data to a widespread scale in our area," Fry said.

Fry spent a full year growing plants to use in the experiment, and collected the quantitative data over the course of an additional 10 months in order to simulate realistic conditions.

The six-day (April 14-19) I-SWEEEP competition took place in Houston, Texas, and played host to 470 students from 70 countries. According to Fry, the "tremendous representation" of international students made the experience a memorable one.

"I had some very interesting conversations with people from places such as Albania, China, Bulgaria, Italy, the Netherlands and Oregon," he said. "I was able to learn about the outlook people from across the world have not only on sustainability issues, but also political and social ones."

Fry was impressed with the talent and innovation of the other students in Houston, particularly a young man who applied his finding about slowing desertification with aerodynamic seeds to his native Kazakhstan.

Another student tested synthetic fertilizers' effects on plant growth—"I thought it was really interesting," he said, adding that a follow-up experiment to his award-winning project might involve the use his peer's findings.

Fry said seeing other students' projects at the competition was intimidating, and thought he would be out of the running for a medal once the bronze winners were announced.

"My explanation was a lot shorter than a lot of the others," he said. "But the most important thing I've learned is that often the best solution is the simplest."

Fry will be heading off to Northeastern University in the fall to study engineering. He hopes to continue pursuing research of an environmental and industrial nature.