Manhattan Student Makes the National Finals in Prestigious STEM Competition

A Manhattan 9th-grader from Hunter College High School has emerged as one of the 30 student finalists in the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge 2025, the nation’s premier middle-school STEM competition. The finalists were selected by a nationwide panel of scientists, engineers, and educators from the Top 300 Junior Innovators.

Though Miles can just about see a PG-13 movie without a parent or guardian, he’s emerging as a future scientific leader, and he could be in a for a big payday to boot if he wins.

For his project, Miles tested different varieties of the Miura-ori origami fold—the Japanese art of folding paper into two or three patterns to make objects—to determine which was the strongest. (Miles’s origami habit got serious during the pandemic, and he submitted his creations to a competition called Origami by Children. His work has even been featured in the American Museum of Natural History on its holiday tree.)

During the LA wildfires and Hurricane Helene, Miles wondered if “Miura-ori origami folds could be utilized in deployable shelters, since they are known for their strength, flat-foldability, and portability.”

From Oct. 24 to 29, Wu and the other finalists representing 10 US states and Puerto Rico will compete in Washington, DC, for more than $100,000 in awards, with the top award of $25,000.

They will be evaluated on scientific research, along with their communication, creativity, and collaboration skills during team challenges.

Thermo Fisher JIC also recognizes finalists’ schools with $1,000 each to use toward STEM activities.

The Thermo Fisher JIC, a program of the Society for Science, aims to inspire young scientists, engineers, and innovators who will solve the grand challenges of the future.

Established in 1921, the Society for Science is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of science and the vital role it plays in human advancement.

Straus Media spoke with Miles Wu to congratulate him, and to understand how his interest in origami led to his innovative work, as well as his personal journey as a young scientist.

What part of STEM is your area?

Engineering and material science, but I’m also really interested in biology.

How did you get the idea for using an art like origami-folding for a science project?

I’ve always liked folding origami. I’ve been doing it for seven years. So, in my science class, when we were learning about physics and had to create a science project, I knew I wanted to do origami because I had read about how certain types of geometric origami were being used in space and in medicine, and other fields of science.

Describe the science project that got you into the finals.

I tried to find which type of Miura-ori origami was the strongest while still being the lightest. What I did was to design many different variations of Miura-ori origami. I printed and folded them and then tested how much weight they could hold by placing weights on them until they broke. And what I found was that the strongest Miura-ori pattern was actually really strong. It could hold over 9,000 times its weight. And having that pattern would be able to be applied to, for example, an emergency shelter or other stuff like that. It would be really cheap to produce, and it could also collapse and open for easy transportation, which would be really useful when you need, like, an immediate response after a natural disaster.

Where did you conduct your experiments, and how long did it take from idea to creation?

I did all my research and my project at home. I took over the living room in our apartment and conducted all my tests and research there, and I used all the heavy books in our house as weights in my project. I actually started thinking about the idea for the project last winter. I started designing the project in early spring. And then after that, it took around two or three months to carry out the experiments. Overall, the project took around 250 hours for the actual experimenting. I had 108 different trials, and each took around two hours.

How does it feel to be one of only 30 finalists out of 300?

It feels great to have my work recognized. I think there were around a thousand or more people who entered, and then it was after competing in my school science, I made it into the top 300 across the nation, and then into the top 30 Thermo Fisher finalists.

I understand you got the news in a very New York way.

Yeah, I was at a bagel shop after school with my mom when they called and told me that I was one of the finalists. And then they emailed me the next day too.

What are you looking forward to during finals week in Washington, DC?

We’re put into teams with other finalists, so just meeting other kids who are into science will be really fun. Also learning different research skills and going to different places in DC. There are fun science challenges at, for example, environmental centers in DC. And each kid brings their own project to DC and presents it for judging.

What are your future plans, as in thinking ahead about a career?

Biology and urban biology. I love insects and birds, and in fact, I have an Instagram where I share cool facts about insects and my origami designs of insects: @origamimilesNYC. Also, this upcoming winter, I plan to continue a fundraiser I started last year, where I sell origami pigeons to raise money for the Wild Bird Fund on the Upper West Side.