“We definitely had to squeeze in a lot of research and preparation into tight deadlines before, especially with regard to getting materials ready for pitches and getting the technology to a place where we are comfortable showing off progress.” Eden recalled. So we started from the basics, started talking to people about it and getting feedback on our direction and business model from various mentors that we reached out to.” With all these daunting tasks, the Oil Magnet team members admitted there were many challenges they had to overcome in order to create an award-winning result. Now that we had this idea, we had to consider how we could actually make this a reality. Marisa explained, “The process of fleshing out our idea required us to spend a lot of time in the lab testing our idea over and over again on a small scale, and also focusing a lot on the commercialization aspect of things.
In the beginning stages of their idea development, they had the challenge of researching the necessary technology to create such a product while also finding an enticing way to market it to oil companies. Their innovative idea proved successful, ultimately winning them second place in the Social Innovation track of Diamond Challenge 2019. The Oil Magnet is an eco-friendly solution to cleaning up oil spills, saving companies the oil that they spill without introducing pollutants to the environment. When she met Marisa Patel-O’Connor and Eden Gorevoy, two students who realized the potential environmental implications of her project, the idea of the Oil Magnet was born. Sol Hwangbo had always been interested in finding innovative ways to solve this prevalent issue: “Sophomore year of high school, I created a science project regarding ferrofluid, and its ability to remove oil out of water with the additional help of a strong magnet”. An environmental disaster with such catastrophic proportions takes years to resolve, and even then the ecosystem will rarely recuperate back to its original state. It seems like just yesterday we heard about the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 that completely devastated ocean ecosystems and continues to pose health concerns today. The Oil Magnet, Diamond Challenge 2019 Finalist
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