Deepika Kurup Success Story

Early Life

Deepika was born on April 12, 1998 in Nashua, New Hampshire to Pradeep Kurup and Meena Kurup. Her family moved to USA in 1983. She is presently studying at the Nashua High School. Her father is a professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Career

Deepika has won the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist in 2012; she used titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, a photocatalytic composite that under the sunlight purifies water.  The inspiration for this idea came when she witnessed children drinking dirty water from a stagnant pool during her visit to India. She developed an improvised photocatalytic composite by using sand, TiO2, Portland cement and silver nitrate after three years.

This composite worked efficiently and reduced 98% of coliform bacteria after filtration.  When exposed to sunlight the photocatalytic composite inactivated 100% of coliform bacteria from the sample water. She won 2014 United States Stockholm Junior Water Prize, for this invention of hers.

Personal Life

Deepika lives in Nashua with her parents and younger sister. She was named in the list of Forbes’ 2015 Under 30, in Energy in January, 2015

Achievements 

Kurup's initial idea that won her the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist in 2012 is based on using a photocatalytic compound for water purification. This project involved a photocatalytic composite made up of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, hollow glass microspheres, and Portland cement.

In 2012 Kurup's photocatalytic composite was able to reduce the amount of total coliform from 8000 colony-forming units to 50. In addition, it oxidised Methylene blue at a faster rate than standard solar disinfection methods.

Deepika Kurup on Google Science Fair 2015