NAACP ACT-SO Champion Patricia Edmonds
Mastering Lasers and Dreaming of Disney World

By Roger Witherspoon

Go find a way to improve recycling.
It was just an offhand idea from a science teacher at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Md., but it started an eager ninth-grade student named Patricia Edmonds on a journey of discovery that has surprised them both, and many others as well.
Edmonds' work has transformed the suggestion for a science project into a process utilizing laser light to differentiate between paper and plastic, and between plastics that are and are not recyclable.
"Most of the time," she explains, "(recyclables are) sorted now by hand, though in some areas they have different pickup dates for the different material. But I thought it would be easier if it could all be separated at one time, with a device that separated between the papers and plastics.

"When you look at the bottom of plastic items in your house, they have a triangular recycling sign and a number from 1 to 8, referring to the type of plastic, either high-density or low-density polyethylene. In Maryland, only numbers 1 and 2 are recyclable. The rest aren't recyclable, because they can be really thick plastics that are almost a mixture of synthetic rubber and plastic."

Edmonds decided to investigate whether the neon gas laser in her school's science department could be used to distinguish between paper and plastic. To her delight, it worked.

"I used (pieces) of equipment that the school already had, but worked to put them together to create a system that hadn't been made before," she says.
Her first, simple device won her school science fair. As she learned more about laser technology and light diffraction, she improved the effectiveness and scope of the initial work. In the 9th and 10th grades, she won top honors in the Physics General portion of the national Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO), an annual competition sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People since 1978. She won silver medals for the project in her Junior year and again as a Senior this year.

Her device now has evolved to where it is 90 percent effective in differentiating between types of plastics. Fitted to a robotic arm, it can be the hub of an automated recycling operation. Edmonds' better mousetrap doesn't have a name yet, just a patent number. The patent is due in September; she hopes to sell it to industry for full development and use.

Edmonds began haunting the school's laser lab, which is part of the physics department, partly because she knew that physics and higher math are used to determine the gravitational forces used in designing roller coasters.
"I want to become an industrial engineer and work for a company like Disney Imagineering," she says. "I bought a book on Imagineering from the Disney Store at the mall when I was nine or so, and I have been interested in designing roller coasters and other rides for Disney ever since. I've been there many times and went on an eighth-grade field trip with the math and science classes.... We got to go behind the scenes and write about the physics behind the rides. That was really exciting. I really had no idea there was so much science and research and engineering behind the rides."

While in high school, Edmonds maintained an A average in her advanced placement physics course and took differential equations, discrete math, and AP English at nearby Towson State University in Towson, Md. Outside the classroom, she served as student government president, National Honor Society president, and Maryland MESA Club president; marched in the school's marching band as a drum majorette; served as vice president of Students Against Destructive Decisions; worked on the computer production side of the school's literary magazine; was a member of the video editing club; sang in the Inspirational Choir at Flat Rock Baptist Church in Baltimore; and, no surprise, was a member of the school's 100 Strong -- girls who are considered role models for their peers. She entered the University of Virginia as a freshman this fall, intending to major in systems engineering. Edmonds has set her sights on Disney World. But for this talented, young mind, Imagineering probably will be just the beginning.

Roger Witherspoon can be reached at RWitherspoon@ccgmag.com.