Thursday, October 1, 2026
The International Sustainable World Project Olympiad (Energy, Engineering & Environmental), or I-SWEEEP, encourages high school students to submit a research paper based on their innovative ideas to take on today’s challenges in energy, engineering and the environment, to work toward a sustainable world for tomorrow. The competition receives thousands of entries from around the world and selects international finalists to participate in the annual I-SWEEEP competition in Houston, Texas. This year, of the 2,143 projects entered, only 455 students from 68 countries were selected to compete.
Nicholas Suss, a South Side High School senior, was selected as an International Finalist and won a Bronze medal and $200 in the Engineering category. Suss’s project was entitled “The Effects of UV Treated Poly (methyl methacrylate) and Biodegradable Polycaprolactone Electrospun Fibers on Osteogenic Differentiation of Dental Pulp Stem Cells.” If successful, his research could make the process of healing bone fractures much more efficient and less invasive.
The I-SWEEEP finalists had a little bit of extra time to fill their schedule and took a behind-the-scenes guided tour of the NASA Space Center in Houston where they learned about astrophysics, the technology to make space exploration possible, and some of how astronauts are trained for shuttle missions in a facility like the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.
Nicholas and his partner Manita Singh (a senior at Canyon Crest Academy in San Diego), also had an opportunity to speak about their project with young children from Houston-area schools. Nicholas said he took a lot of pleasure from interacting with those young scientists while encouraging them to excel in science and math to eventually do something beneficial for society.
