HOLMDEL – Sourish Jasti, left, a senior at Holmdel High School, was selected as one of the winners in the annual Jersey Shore Junior Science Symposium at Ocean County College. He presented research on the use of coffee and tea as low-cost water filtration options for rural populations. Research was conducted in the Honors Advanced Research class taught by Josephine Blaha at Holmdel High School.
Sourish began research on this topic during his sophomore year after becoming aware of the need for clean drinking water in the rural areas of India, a reality he experienced during frequent trips to the country with his family. He is exploring the potential of food by-products as filtration agents, as a way to solve a major problem using materials commonly found in the areas most in need. Sourish credits his sister for first working with the filtration properties of coffee; he expanded that research by exploring the filtration properties of coffee and tea. He has used his findings to start the Jasti Clean Water Initiative (jcwi.org), a nonprofit organization that brings clean water solutions to schools in India.
Sourish advances to the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium sponsored by the Department of Defense and administered by the National Science Teaching Association April 15-17. This national competition will take place virtually in light of travel restrictions due to COVID-19.
This article originally appeared in the April 9th, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
