🇺🇸 Arika Kundu

Biosorption is the use of a biological material to bind contaminants out of a liquid, and agricultural waste is an unusually good substrate for it. Shells, husks and stalks are rich in lignin and cellulose, structurally porous, chemically varied on their surfaces, and — the decisive point — free. Removing a pesticide residue is a surface-chemistry problem: the molecule must be induced to prefer the sorbent to the produce. LIGNEX pairs that materials-science idea with tools simple enough to survive contact with an actual kitchen, which is the constraint that eliminates most laboratory-validated methods.

Her path into the national final was iterative rather than sudden. "I entered the 3M Young Scientists Challenge to improve my innovation and turn it into a product that everyone can benefit from," she wrote in her finalist profile. "I was encouraged to enter the 3M Young Scientist Challenge this year by many judges at my regional and state science fairs, who urged me to find a mentor to further refine my product. Last year, I won the Minnesota State Merit Award, and this year I hope to be a finalist so I can receive expert advice and help from 3M scientists in this field." She entered, in other words, having already been told by judges what her project was missing, and set out to acquire it.

That acquisition is now underway. Her assigned 3M mentor is Cory Sauer, an Application Engineering Specialist in the company's Corporate Strategy organisation who identifies applications for next-generation technologies, focusing on climate and energy opportunities including carbon capture, sustainable polymers and mineral extraction. Carbon capture and biosorption are close cousins — both are surface-chemistry problems about persuading a target molecule to bind to a cheap material — and his stated specialism is working with customers to solve complex problems, which is the discipline of turning a method into a product.

Her answer on favourite inventions is the longest and most researched of the 2026 cohort, and she chose something that is not an invention at all: the Human Genome Project. "The HGP began in 1990 and ended in 2003. The project successfully mapped the entire human genome. It led the way for many other biological, environmental, and agricultural innovations," she wrote, going on to trace its consequences across disease diagnosis, drug design, forensic analysis and early detection of genetic disease.

She was equally interested in its less-celebrated downstream effects. "Its benefits are not limited to healthcare," she wrote. "The HGP also opened new doors for microbial gene research, leading to advancements in biofuels, environmental monitoring, and carbon sequestration." It "helped create resistant crops, healthier food, and vaccines incorporated into produce." Her conclusion — that the project "set a precedent for much of the cutting-edge work that continues to help elevate the world for everyone's benefit" — reads as an argument for foundational infrastructure over individual breakthroughs.

Her ambition points off the planet. "In 15 years, I hope to be an astrobiologist, specifically in computational biology," she wrote. "I want to work on cutting-edge research to reduce radiation exposure in space, laying the foundation for long-term advancements in space exploration." She noted that the same work "could also improve cancer treatments, aging, and degenerative diseases." Her chosen quotation is Walter Elliot's: "Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other." On 12–13 October 2026 she competes at the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul, Minnesota — a short drive from home — for $25,000 and the title of America's Top Young Scientist.