The Natural Choice
Sara got serious about science in sixth grade, when she went to her
first regional science fair with a project examining the effect of certain
antibiotics on bacteria. “Blown away” by the work of students
just a few years older than she, Sara knew instantly she wanted to
do that level of work, too—and that science was an interest that
would last past high school. “After that first science fair experience,
someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up,”
she remembers. “I said I wanted to be a science researcher. That
hasn’t changed.”
But her focus did. When Sara heard that a neighbor was running
his car on recycled vegetable oil, she started reading up on fuels made
from renewable biological sources. Biofuels were the perfect merging
of her two growing interests, biochemistry and alternative energy.
They were also tantalizing: “I read online that with some old vegetable
oil, a few chemicals, and a bit of patience, I could make biodiesel in
my kitchen.” With her parents’ permission, she did.
Then, in ninth grade, Sara heard about the potential for biofuels
derived from algae. Algae can produce the oil needed for biofuel
without using up farmland needed to grow crops for food, as do other
biological sources such as corn and soybeans. The problem? Harvesting
enough oil from algae is difficult and expensive, making it not
economically feasible. Sara wanted to change that.
She started by reading everything she could about biofuels and
algae in science journals, in the news, and online. She visited Solix
BioSystems, an algal research facility in Colorado, where she talked
to researchers. And she started emailing people—researchers, profes