On February 7, 2026, the University of Pittsburgh’s Brandon Grainger spent his Saturday at Baldwin High School, seeing amazing STEM projects and presenting awards to standout middle and high school students at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) annual award event.

Pitt’s Center for Energy sponsors two awards that recognize a high school and a middle school student. Grainger himself sponsors a third, the Thomas Lake Pittsburgh Excellence in High School Physics Award, in honor of the high school science teacher who inspired his own love of STEM.

“I’ve been attending and delivering these awards almost yearly for a decade,” said Grainger, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and Eaton Faculty Fellow at the Swanson School of Engineering. “It makes a difference to celebrate these students.”

Grainger presented awards to two high school students: one for a project that explored biomedical sensors for monitoring the heartbeats of newborn babies, the other that investigated the optimal resistive loads in solar panel arrays. He also recognized a middle school student whose project examined the temperature performance of batteries.

“There are always so many amazing projects,” said Grainger, who also directs the Electric Power Technologies Lab and co-directs the Energy GRID Institute and Pitt AMPED. “This year, there was a student using finite element analysis to analyze structures. That’s very, very advanced for a high school student.”

Beyond getting to see some of the region’s strongest STEM projects up close, Grainger says that his motivation for supporting these students is practical and personal.

“There were over 400 students there, and I’d say only about five percent might continue pursuing an engineering degree because of the available competition with various career options,” he said. “We need to get middle and high school students thinking about engineering education and career pathways much earlier.”

While companies and organizations like Bechtel Plant Machinery, the Society of Women Engineers, and Carnegie Mellon University also provide awards, Grainger sees the potential for more industry and university support. “The awards validate the work these students do and inspire them to continue exploring STEM-related pathways.”

Grainger added, “I’m a product of the Pittsburgh Public Schools, and it’s important that former students like me find someone who sees their potential.”

‘;