Over the past several weeks, I’ve been spotlighting our 2025 Build A Better Future Scholarship recipients. Each of our winners worked hard to design and execute a project that bettered their community. Their determination, hard work, and perseverance was inspiring. You can read more about each of the projects here.
Each year, we choose five projects that have been especially inspiring to receive a $10,000 scholarship. On top of that, one of those five projects is chosen as our top project, with the winner receiving an additional $5,000 grant to continue their project. This year’s top winner was Japteg Singh-Bamrah, whose project, The SolarMech Engine, aimed to help rural farmers obtain energy by harvesting the power of the sun, thus improving their livelihood and capacity to continue farming, even when the area’s power is out.
Japteg is from Punjab, India, and recently moved here to the states. He will be attending Purdue University where he will be studying Robotics Engineering Technology. He loves science, and has been particularly drawn to physics. He finds great joy in building and creating, which he was able to use for his project. He said his favorite snack (and form of self-care) is a hot cup of noodles— which he likes to enjoy while sitting in a cold, dark room with Netflix on.
The SolarMech Engine was born when Japteg was in 10th grade and was required to do a project that reflected his interests. His initial idea was to do something based around food and cooking, but after he spotted an old toy steam engine sitting on his bedroom shelf on night, his mind began to conjure up a new plan. He said, “If I had to describe it, I’d say the inspiration was like a tornado—many factors swirling together and creating something powerful. Just seeing [the steam engine] reminded me of how fascinated I used to be with moving mechanical parts and engines. That changed everything. I ditched the cooking idea and started researching different kinds of engines instead. As I read more, a new idea took shape in my mind: What if I could build an engine that used solar heat as its only fuel? It seemed like a crazy and ambitious idea at the time, but I felt so drawn to it that I decided to give it everything I had.”
Initially, the SolarMech Engine wasn’t designed with a particular need or demographic in mind; it was designed purely out of innovation and curiosity to see if it would actually work. However, it didn’t stay that way for long. He said, “Things changed when I switched schools after 10th grade… My new school was located in a more rural region, near the foothills of Badhani. That’s when everything started falling into place.
During my daily commute to and from school, I saw so many farmers using handpumps to draw water, old diesel-powered flour mills running in completely unhygienic conditions, and even in our school, the power supply was so unreliable that we had to rely on bulky, polluting diesel generators. I was seeing all of this every day, and it started to bother me more and more. That’s when it hit me—my engine could actually be useful here.
The SolarMech Engine, with its ability to generate both electricity and heat from solar energy, could be a game-changer for these communities. It could reduce their dependence on diesel, provide a cleaner way to run small-scale machines like flour mills, and even help with heating during the harsh winters in that area. And later, we even considered that the same engine could be used for cold storage applications, which would be very helpful for preserving harvested crops.
So yes, the connection to this demographic came after the idea was born, but once I saw the match between the two, I knew I had to pursue it.”
When Japteg first began bringing his idea to life, he didn’t have access to a lab, funding, or other materials he’d need. Rather than give up, he worked with what he did have access to: steel cans, balloons, and bicycle spokes. Japteg eventually realized that if he wanted to continue to push his project forward and create a useable machine, he would need funding and access to materials. His project paused for over a year, until he came across the Jigyasa EPIC Hackathon, which is a national-level innovation challenge put on by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Japteg was surprised when his project was chosen to be in the top 50 projects (out of over 1,500!). This gave him a confidence boost as well as access to the support he’d been needing to continue his project.
He was paired with Dr. Nasir UI Rasheed at CSIR-IIIM Jammu, and the project took off from there. Now, with access to a research lab, funding from CSIR, as well as equipment needed to experiment with, Japteg was able to really push forward with his idea. About this, he said, “We tried five different engine configurations and three types of solar collector designs, testing them at various altitudes and temperatures. Eventually, we found that a vertical dual-piston, no-valve engine with a hexagonal center-cut collector plate gave the best performance.” In addition to Dr. Rasheed’s mentorship, Japteg’s mother, father, and brother were incredibly helpful and supportive. The project took first place in the Hackathon! You can read more about that here.
As with any project of this scale, there are bound to be setbacks. In addition to the initial lack of access to needed materials and funding, Japteg also experienced difficulty with time management, rejection from an engineering professor, and resistance from his mother when he first began his work. All of these problems were met with determination, and Japteg was able to work through them.
One of the biggest concerns he faced was the fact that he was moving to the United States— he would need to find new support systems, teammates, and figure out where to gain lab access. Despite this challenge, Japteg is determined to continue his work on the SolarMech Engine while at Purdue. He is hoping to use resources available at the university as well as to gain the support and help of like-minded peers and professors. His goal is to move from a model to a field-deployable machine, and he has every plan to make that happen!
Since the project is still in the works, it has not yet been deployed on a large scale. However, with the few machines that have been created, Japteg was able to demonstrate his SolarMech Engine to some farmers. Those that were able to see how the machine worked were excited and hopeful that they would soon be able to benefit from Japteg’s innovative idea.
What an amazing idea that will no doubt change the lives of many, particularly the farmers who will be able to use the SolarMech Engine. We are excited to see the impact of Japteg’s work as he continues to move forward with his project!