Dublin Students Present AI Fire-Safety Project At NASA Innovation Summit

DUBLIN, CA — Two Dublin students were selected as finalists at the NASA Conrad Challenge for developing an AI-driven materials screening platform designed to improve how engineers evaluate fire-resistant materials.

Nikhilesh Suravarjjala and Jaanya Gupta, both students at Dublin High School, were invited to the Innovation Summit at the NASA Space Center in Houston to present their research. The two students collaborated on Dravix, which introduces a data-driven screening layer earlier in the development process of fire-resistant materials, helping engineers better prioritize which materials to test first.

“Fire resistance testing is a critical requirement across a multitude of industries, including construction, aerospace, automotive, and more, but current workflows often require teams to commit significant time and resources before knowing whether a material is viable to move forward,” Suravarjjala said. “Dravix addresses this gap by using machine learning to generate a composite fire-risk score (CFRS) from input material properties, which enables faster, more confident, and more informed decision-making.”

The project builds upon his broader work in materials science, including founding MateriaMSE, a team of over 30 high school interns exploring materials innovation. The initial concept was also inspired by his honors research paper at Las Positas College “Evaluating Mechanical and Fire-Resistance Tradeoffs in Thermoplastics Using Statistical Methods.”

Jaanya Gupta helped translate Dravix’s technical concept into a scalable product by defining the target market, pricing model, and go-to-market approach. Gupta has learned about business and marketing through DECA, where she placed 9th out of 75 teams at the State Career Development Conference.

See the Dravix website for more information.

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