Ihan Sung spent under $100 on silicone tubing, polycarbonate parts and a 3-D printer to build a device that creates ammonia without the massive pressure, heat and electricity that industrial plants require. The 17-year-old Eastlake High School senior's low-pressure glow discharge system, built with magnetic confinement and an iron oxide catalyst, earned him fourth place in chemistry at the 2026 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.
Sung was one of three Eastlake High students who competed at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. Their trip marked the first time in nearly three decades that the Sweetwater Union High School District had sent students to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, a milestone the Sweetwater Union High School District Board of Trustees formally recognized during an August 10 board meeting in Chula Vista, as reported by The Star News. More than 1,700 student finalists from about 65 countries competed at this year's fair for over $7 million in total awards, according to the Society for Science.
A Cleaner Way to Make Ammonia
Ammonia is a key component in the production of most fertilizers, but the standard Haber-Bosch process used to manufacture it industrially requires pressures of 150 to 200 bars and temperatures around 800 degrees Fahrenheit, draining enormous amounts of electricity in the process, per the Union-Tribune's reporting. Globally, that process consumes roughly 1.5% to 2% of total energy production and generates around 1.4% to 1.8% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the MIT Climate Portal. According to the U.S. Department of Energy's 2016 Billion-Ton Report, emissions from the process used to produce ammonia fertilizer are included in the total emissions associated with biomass produced with ammonia.
Sung's device instead captures nitrogen from the air and circulates filtered atmospheric nitrogen along with hydrogen from electrolysis, producing ammonia through what the paper describes as a smaller-scale process. Project documentation from the fair describes the prototype as a smaller-scale system. Sung has acknowledged the device may not create the large amounts of ammonia needed for large farms, but its low cost stands out against a backdrop where decentralized low-carbon electric Haber-Bosch systems still run between €740 and €4,100 per tonne to produce, according to techno-economic research published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The project fits a broader federal research effort: the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy's Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Report says its TIP program aimed to demonstrate a modular, flexible process producing one metric ton of low-carbon ammonia per day.
Sung's path to the international stage ran through a first-place win in Engineering: Energy, Materials & Transport at the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair and a first-place chemistry win at the 75th California Science and Engineering Fair, per PR Newswire. Notably, he missed Sweetwater's own districtwide science fair on the way there, according to the Union-Tribune. He is now applying mostly to University of California schools and plans to apply to Stanford University later this year, saying he will attend if the school offers enough financial aid.
Classmates Build an AI Companion for Dementia Patients
Sung's two Eastlake classmates, 18-year-old Ronald Johnathan Wyatt and 18-year-old Giles Albert Del Priore, took a different path to the same international stage. Their project, built for about $80 to cover the computer running their AI, uses artificial intelligence constrained by psychological and computer science principles to help dementia patients orient themselves in the world. The device sends videos to a caregiver, reminds users to take medications, and corrects false factual statements using caregiver-validated information when a patient becomes confused.
The stakes behind that design are steep. Caregivers can spend up to 70% of their time tending to someone with an involved memory-related illness, and hired caretakers can cost up to $10,000 a month, figures cited in the Union-Tribune's report. To guard against the AI reinforcing delusions or worsening a patient's distress, Wyatt and Del Priore evaluated their system across 240 controlled trials simulating memory, identity, agitation, and neutral interaction scenarios, testing its guardrails against emotional escalation and misinformation, according to the same Star News account.
Before ISEF, the pair's project swept the Sweepstakes Award at the Sweetwater District STEM Fair and took first place in its division at the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair. Del Priore has said he is now focused on expanding his love for science to other people. Both he and Wyatt have since moved on from Eastlake — Wyatt began his freshman year at UC Santa Cruz, while Del Priore started his studies at the University of San Francisco.
A District Ends a Nearly 30-Year Wait
All three students have stayed connected to the pipeline that produced them, volunteering at the middle school science fair, with Sung serving as a judge there. That local pathway runs deep in the district: 70 young scientists represented Chula Vista Middle School at the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair over seven years, according to fair records.
Amanda Williams, a biology teacher and science fair adviser, said the students proved that teens do not need a generous budget, special access, or professional connections to do great science. The district's board recognized the trio's achievement — a rare distinction for a public school system where nearly three decades passed without a single student reaching science's biggest international stage.
