What started as a mere thought earned Subhash a major career achievement at the tender age of 14. “My parents always insist that I wash my produce before consuming it,” Subhash said in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio. Wondering about the purpose of washing fresh produce and the potential risks involved, he extensively researched the “clean” factor of produce in grocery stores. Subhash was alarmed to find out that 75% of all fresh produce had residues of harmful pesticides, per a study by the Environmental Working Group in 2024. Therefore, Subhash was determined to do something about the issue and chose this domain as his project for the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, an annual contest intended to prepare middle-school students to carve a path in scientific innovations.
“There’s a significant amount of pesticides entering our diet, but they’ve been linked to a variety of health issues, from Alzheimer's to Parkinson's, even certain cancers,” Subhash said in his video submission for the contest. Moreover, he explored the current methods to detect pesticides in produce dubbed as ‘healthy’ to gain a deeper insight. He understood that the at-home tests in use today are not as feasible and ultimately make the produce unfit for consumption. Hence, he invented the PestiSCAND, a portable pesticide detector that can be used in grocery stores. Essentially, the device utilizes AI machine learning to measure the wavelengths of light reflecting off the product and further analysis of the data.
Subhash was declared the winner of the 2024 3M Young Scientists Challenge and awarded a $25,000 cash prize. Nevertheless, the most important achievement for the smart teenager is the guidance and inspiration he received from the scientists he got to work with. He acknowledged their wisdom, and how it would help him “define” his educational career. In a decade and a half from now, Subhash aspires to bring forth new innovations that serve the greater purpose of humankind and address issues of climate change.
