Five years ago, Jerath was visiting Malaysia when the British Petroleum oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico made headlines. A science buff, Jerath, now 18, followed the coverage of the explosion, the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and how it malfunctioned.

There has got to be a better way to shut down the oil rig, thought Jerath. He spent 800 hours designing the perfect device, encouraged by his high school science teacher at Friendswood, Texas, where he lives. he finally succeeded.

Jerath is also one of five students selected for the Intel and Ind-US Science and Technology Forum Visit to India Award. Among the other four, Raymond Wong won for his invention of sophisticated software to analyse the flow of air inside aircraft cabins. Nicole Tecia, on the other hand, developed a technique to diagnose infections by HIV, the virus responsible for AIDS.

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