Many young people are still working out how to change the world, but Elizabeth Hanechak has already started with the plastic choking our planet.
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Hanechak → work → planet
At eighteen, the student from Russell, Massachusetts, designed a microbial system that uses an engineered enzyme and microscopic algae to break plastic waste down into drinkable water and fertiliser materials.
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that → design → water
Her work earned one of the nation's most prestigious honours for students eighteen and younger.
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work → earn → students
Curious how one young researcher tackles such a huge problem?
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researcher → tackle → problem
This article walks you through her story, her science, and the hopes she carries for communities facing plastic pollution.
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she → walk → pollution
Who Elizabeth Hanechak is, and how she became a 2025 Davidson Fellow Laureate with a $100,000 award
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she → become → award
Elizabeth Hanechak, known as Eli, comes from Russell, Massachusetts, and was named a 2025 Davidson Fellow Laureate in the science category, an honour that carries a $100,000 scholarship.
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that → know → scholarship
According to the Davidson Institute, she was one of three Massachusetts students recognised in 2025, alongside Ethan Yan of Groton and Philip Meng of Andover; the three share $175,000 as part of a program awarding a record $825,000 to 21 students nationwide in its twenty-fifth anniversary year.
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three → accord → year
Hanechak told the Davidson Institute that she plans to earn a doctorate in environmental biochemistry and start her own environmental research company to carry the work into the real world.
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she → tell → world
Away from the laboratory, she is an Eagle Scout who loves spending time outdoors, especially hiking and camping.
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who → love → time
The recycled ocean plastic bracelet from her grandmother that gave Hanechak a project and a purpose
Every big idea has a starting point, and hers was a gift.
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hers → give → point
Hanechak told the Davidson Institute that her grandmother gave her a 4Ocean bracelet made from recycled ocean plastic.
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grandmother → tell → plastic
Curious, she researched the company and the serious harm plastic pollution causes, and by the end of that day she had found not only a project topic but also a new purpose, easing the suffering that plastic pollution brings.
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pollution → research → that
That sense of mission has shaped everything since.
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sense → shape → everything
She explained that in the countries most affected, simply getting rid of plastic is not enough.
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rid → explain → plastic
For affected people to fully recover, she said, the waste must be turned into something useful and healthy for the environment, and that belief drives her ongoing research.
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belief → recover → research
How an engineered cutinase enzyme breaks plastic down within 24 hours into two toxic building blocks
Hanechak's system works in two stages.
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system → engineer → stages
In the first, she modified an enzyme called cutinase by enlarging its active site, the pocket where materials are broken down, so that long, durable plastic chains can fit inside.
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chains → modify → site
According to her project description for the Davidson Institute, this lets the enzyme break the plastic apart within 24 hours, returning it to the two chemicals it was originally made from, ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid, both highly toxic.
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it → accord → chemicals
Hanechak told the Davidson Institute that the project combines modern genetic tools from microbiology with naturally occurring microorganisms.
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project → tell → microorganisms
She added that the microbes are inexpensive to replicate, which makes the process an affordable yet effective way to treat large amounts of plastic waste.
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process → add → waste
The plastic is degraded into two toxic compounds, which are then treated with a type of algae that consumes the carbon molecules in the compounds as food and converts the rest into a nontoxic material that can be used as fertilizer (Image: Davidson Institute)
Microalgae consume the toxic compounds, leaving fertiliser material and a broth that filters into water
The second stage hands the toxic compounds to a naturally occurring strain of microalgae.
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stage → degrade → microalgae
Hanechak told the Davidson Institute that the algae consume the carbon atoms in those compounds as food and convert the remaining molecules into biomass that is nontoxic and can serve as a fertilising material.
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that → tell → material
Because every reaction happens in a liquid broth, she explained, the broth can be filtered to produce a source of drinkable water.
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broth → happen → water
She hopes the process will help developing communities that lack the infrastructure to manage large amounts of plastic waste, with fertiliser supporting farms, cleared waterways restoring irrigation, and the absence of plastic preventing accidental burning and improving air quality.
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waterways → hop → quality
Her stated aim is to give those communities access to key resources for growth and development while also cleaning up their living spaces.
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aim → give → spaces
What the Davidson Fellows honour means to a young scientist, and her service work beyond the laboratory
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means → mean → laboratory
She told the Davidson Institute that the scholarship stands out because it acknowledges the focus and determination she sees as natural in young people.
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she → tell → people
She said it validates "the hard work and sacrifice required" to bring her project to life, and encourages her to keep committing her energy to it even when she faces failure.
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Her commitments extend beyond science.
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commitments → extend → science
For the past three years, she told the Davidson Institute, she has volunteered at her local American Legion post, leading two veteran cemetery improvement projects, and she works as a virtual science fair coach, guiding students new to research as they develop projects and prepare for competitions.
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they → tell → competitions
Together, those details sketch a young scientist who pairs laboratory ambition with service.
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who → sketch → service
The Aporia
