Five Questions with Tina Jin, winner of the top award of $25K at the 2024 Thermo Fisher JIC
Inspiration struck her one night at the dinner table. Tina Jin, then an eighth grader at The Harker School in San Jose, California looked down at the leftover bones on her plate and it occurred to her that the porous structure of the bones resembled polymer membranes used in commercial water filters. That’s when she decided to begin experimenting in her kitchen, testing the potential of animal bone waste to filter contaminants from water.
Tina’s project grew out of a staggering global issue: nearly two billion people worldwide lack access to clean drinking water. As she dug deeper, Tina discovered that much of the problem stems from the high cost, limited accessibility and environmental impact of existing filtration systems. Determined to find a better solution, she set out to design a filtration method that would be affordable, natural and widely available. Now a high school freshman, Tina is pursuing intellectual property rights for her system and hopes to bring her filtration method to market by the end of the year. We caught up with her to learn more about her journey, her research and her hopes for the future.
Tina’s innovative research to potentially help make the world’s water cleaner earned her the Thermo Fisher Scientific ASCEND Award ((Aspiring Scientists Cultivating New Discoveries) and a $25,000 prize at the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (JIC), the nation’s premier middle school STEM competition, run by Society for Science. Her has been featured on the Kelly Clarkson Show, and she’s also been interviewed by CBS News and profiled by Forbes.
Check it out below!
Was there a specific “aha moment” when you realized you were on the verge of solving your research problem?
In the beginning, I spent weeks trying to find a way to use natural materials to create a water filter. One day while eating dinner, I saw that the porous structure of the cow bones in my soup had a porous structure, similar to that of polymer membranes, which are used in water filtration. That sparked the idea to use animal bones for water filtration.
What’s one of the most memorable or surprising experiences from your Thermo Fisher JIC journey?
I remember the day that I found out I was a Thermo Fisher JIC Finalist: I was in the middle of doing a homework problem for my math class, and my mom came into my room and said that she got a call from a number in Washington, D.C., and the person on the phone wanted to talk to me! I found out I was going to Washington D.C. in October! I was so so so happy, and my mom and I went to eat at one of our favorite restaurants that day to celebrate!
Can you share a special moment from the competition week? What was your most favorite memorable experience from the competition?
One of my most memorable experiences during Finals Week was when the finalists were gathered in the game room and another finalist and I were playing cup pong. Suddenly, we had the idea to play pingpong. We didn’t have a table, net or paddles—but we put on our science hats. We used a large round table as the playing field and stacked board game boxes in the middle to serve as the net. Then, we used the pingpong balls from cup pong and our phones—or a giant Jenga block—as paddles. It was so much fun, and definitely one of our favorite memories from the Thermo Fisher JIC.
If you could join forces with any fictional STEM genius, like a character from a science-themed TV show, who would it be, and what groundbreaking project would you collaborate on?
I would probably join forces with Peter Parker (a.k.a. Spider-Man) to create emergency fall-prevention systems using the material from his webs. They’re strong and can be deployed quickly and easily.
What’s something fun you love to do outside of science?
I’m a competitive swimmer, so I go to the pool almost every day. Although practices can be tough, my teammates and I push through the hardest sets together, which strengthens our friendship and makes practice a lot more fun. I’m also a huge Hamilton fan — my favorite songs are “Satisfied,” “Aaron Burr, Sir” and “Helpless.”
The Thermo Fisher JIC application is due on June 11, 2025 at 8p.m. ET. If you are a nominee, you can check out the application here: https://thermofisherjic.smapply.org/
