Northborough Student Chosen for White House Science Fair

NORTHBOROUGH, MA — On Wednesday, more than 100 students from around the country that were chosen for their remarkable innovation will meet at the White House for the annual White House Science Fair, hosted by President Obama.

It is the sixth and final Fair, which showcases student talent innovation from robots, prototypes or tools to help fight climate change or cure cancer. Of of these were created and designed by students in science, technology, engineering and math.

Yashaswini Makaram, 17, from Northborough and a student at the Massachusetts Academy of Science and Math in Worcester, created a new cell phone security tool that records the distinctive arm and hand motions people use to lift a cell phone from a table to uniquely identify the cell phone’s owner, according to the announcement.

"To date, the technology correctly identifies a cell phone’s owner 85 percent of the time and differentiates among people with 93 percent accuracy," says the announcement. " Yashaswini’s biometric research, which got her recognized as part of the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search, may lead to greater personalization of mobile devices."

Photo and information: The White House