Greenwood student impresses as only high schooler at international industry competition

Nikita Wood ‘25 hadn’t planned on entering the Awards for Composites Excellence (ACE) competition at the Composites and Advanced Materials Expo (CAMX). A family member reached out to tell her about CAMX and encouraged her to enter the ACE competition with her sustainable housing project. CAMX is an expo where industry leaders exhibit their latest innovations and projects. Some exhibitors include ExxonMobil, NASA and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Since fall 2023, Nikita has been working on a sustainable, modular shelter design for the unhoused. She won the gold prize and Kirkor Architects Award for this project at the Toronto Science Fair earlier this year. Though the application process for the ACE competition was a bit daunting, Nikita reached out to the organizers who helpfully walked her through how to apply step-by-step. 

“They were overwhelmed to have young people actually apply for ACE,” Nikita says. The judging occurred before the expo and only finalists were invited to attend CAMX in person. Nikita had submitted her project for two categories and won the award for Most Creative Application. 

Nikita was the only high schooler who was a finalist and won an award for the ACE competition. Being one of the youngest person in the room was intimidating at first. “I did have a little bit of Imposter Syndrome when I was there,” says Nikita. “But I overcame it by the end of it from speaking to a lot of people.” Nikita also realized that she brought a new, more human-centric perspective to viewing composites, which had been lacking in the industry. She had the opportunity to speak with many experts in niche composites. “Someone who specialized in bio composites had a lot of cool ideas for my project,” Nikita recalls. 

She was interviewed by the Composites Weekly podcast while at CAMX. “Being from the city and seeing first-hand the struggles of unhoused communities, it really propelled me and I had [...] sort of a personal motivation to work on that,” Nikita explains her impetus for creating this project during the podcast.

Over the summer, she has continued work on the project in collaboration with the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). Access to TMU’s labs and resources have proven very valuable for her project as she successfully received a grant for the project with TMU’s assistance. She’s currently investigating the best design for fasteners to help secure the sustainable panels together and looking to make contact with government officials and urban/city planners on how to best implement her project. “When I’m not working on this project, I’m usually talking about it,” says Nikita. 

While she plans to study material sciences for her postsecondary program, Nikita is also interested in urban studies to expand on her understanding of urban planning, the housing crisis and societal impacts. Good luck, Nikita and we’re looking forward to hearing more about this project!