Students Display STEM Skills at Brookhaven Lab's Maglev Competition

Students earned awards for top maglev vehicle speed and appearance in annual contest

April 10, 2025

A group of students hold up small maglev vehicles enlarge

Bay Shore Middle School students share their maglev vehicle creations. (Kevin Coughlin/Brookhaven National Laboratory)

UPTON, N.Y. — Students from Bay Shore Middle School swept three categories at the annual Maglev Competition hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory on March 26, thanks to speedy magnetic levitation, or maglev, vehicle designs.

The competition, which turned 35 this year, is inspired by technology pioneered by two Brookhaven Lab researchers, the late Gordon Danby and James Powell, who invented and patented superconducting maglev — the suspension, guidance, and propulsion of vehicles by magnetic forces.

“The Maglev Contest is more than just a competition; it's an investment in our future,” said Daniel Trieu, competition co-coordinator and educational programs representative with Brookhaven Lab’s Office of Workforce Development & Science Education. “By having students design and build their own vehicles, they're not just learning about maglev technology; they're developing the critical thinking and problem-solving skills that drive scientific advancement.”

A student places a maglev car onto a sloped track enlarge

Brookhaven Lab engineers shared hints on how students could improve their designs. (Kevin Coughlin/Brookhaven National Laboratory)

More than 100 middle school students from eight schools used science, technology, engineering, and math principles to construct their vehicles.

Competitors aimed to win top spots in five categories for speed (self-propelled by a balloon, other self-propelled, electrified track, wind-powered, and gravity) and three appearance categories (futuristic, scale model, and 3D-printed).

Students in the speed-gravity category, for example, let the force of gravity move their vehicle down a sloped track, while those in the wind-powered category fixed sails to their cars to catch wind from a fan to travel along a flat path. The appearance category inspired a scale model of the Chicago Bean, 3D-printed racecars, a rubber duck, and SpongeBob SquarePants’s boatmobile.

Before locking in their cars’ fastest times, competitors had the chance to tinker with their creations in the contest’s “pit stop” room. Some used hot glue to stick on additional magnets for more weight and lift. Others shaved down their cars with files to ensure a better fit on the tracks. Their teachers, plus Brookhaven Lab engineers, both currently on staff and retired, offered helpful hints along the way.

A student places a maglev car with a balloon attached to it on a track enlarge

Some students opted to design cars propelled by air escaping a balloon. (Kevin Coughlin/Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Jordanna Kendrot, a safety engineer at the DOE-Brookhaven Site Office, shared that she once built her own maglev vehicle as a student. Although her car didn’t make it far along the track, it only made her think about ways to improve the design.

“Science doesn’t always end in the answer you want. It’s always an opportunity to try different things,” she said at the awards ceremony, adding, “Sometimes you have to go from a different angle, sometimes you have to ask a friend, sometimes you even go outside of science. A big thing about science is collaborating and asking for help when you need it.”

Kendrot and Aleida Perez, interim Office of Workforce Development & Science Education manager, both emphasized that what students learned about magnets at the competition can extend to other areas of science. At Brookhaven Lab, powerful magnets are key parts of particle accelerators, like the future Electron-Ion Collider, steering particles towards collisions that enable scientists to study the building blocks of matter.

“I’m looking forward to all of you remaining engaged in science and engineering,” Perez said. “We need scientists, we need engineers, we need technicians all together to build and run these big machines.”

Speed categories

Self-propelled (balloon)

  • First place: Cole Vitolano, Bay Shore Middle School
  • Second place: Madelyn Rettaliata, Bay Shore Middle School
  • Third place: Elsa Escobar/Gutierrez, Bay Shore Middle School

See the awards ceremony photo. Caption: Bay Shore students Elsa Escobar/Gutierrez, left, Madelyn Rettaliata, and Cole Vitolano. (Kevin Coughlin/Brookhaven National Laboratory) 

Self-propelled (other)

  • First place: Sophia Gaudioso, Bay Shore Middle School
  • Second place: Ryder Lucas, Bay Shore Middle School
  • Third place: Claire Sullivan, Bay Shore Middle School

See the awards ceremony photo. Caption: Bay Shore students Claire Sullivan, left, Ryder Lucas, and Sohia Gaudiosos  with Jashmin Futch of Teachers Federal Credit Union, a sponsor of the competition. (Kevin Coughlin/Brookhaven National Laboratory) 

Electrified track

  • First place: Natalie Fox, Bay Shore Middle School
  • Second place: Jillayne Kunz, Bay Shore Middle School
  • Third place: Cesar Morales, Bay Shore Middle School

See the awards ceremony photo. Caption: Bay Shore students Cesar Morales, left, Jillayne Kunz, and Natalie Fox with Jashmin Futch. (Kevin Coughlin/Brookhaven National Laboratory) 

Wind power

  • First place: Stanly Chan, Great Neck South Middle School
  • Second place: Fatimah Gondal, Great Hollow Middle School
  • Third place: Alston Lin, Bay Shore Middle School

See the awards ceremony photo. Caption: Alston Lin, left, Stanly Chan, Fatimah Gondal, and Jashmin Futch. (Kevin Coughlin/Brookhaven National Laboratory) 

Gravity

  • First place: Lang Zan, Lawrence Woodmere Academy
  • Second place: Juliana Norena, Bay Shore Middle School
  • Third place: Darwin Zhao, Great Neck South Middle School

See the awards ceremony photo. Caption: Darwin Zhao, left, Juliana Norena, Lang Zan, and Jashmin Futch. (Kevin Coughlin/Brookhaven National Laboratory) 

Appearance categories

Futuristic

  • First place: Quentin Lennox, Great Neck South Middle School
  • Second place: James Majuk, Accompsett Middle School
  • Third place: William Pfister, Accompsett Middle School

See the awards ceremony photo. Caption: William Pfister, left, James Majuk, Quentin Lennox, and Jashmin Futch. (Kevin Coughlin/Brookhaven National Laboratory) 

Scale model

  • First place: Casie Li, Great Neck South Middle School
  • Second place: Zannatul Mawa, Bay Shore Middle School
  • Third place: Jacelyn Rojas, Bridgehampton School

See the awards ceremony photo. Caption: Jacelyn Rojas, left, Zannatul Mawa, Casie Li, and Jashmin Futch. (Kevin Coughlin/Brookhaven National Laboratory) 

3D printed

  • First place: Lexi Callen & Nyla Waite, Lawrence Woodmere Academy
  • Second place: Adele Wang & Dana Young, Great Neck South Middle School
  • Third place: Jacob Fein, Great Neck South Middle School

See the awards ceremony photo. Caption: Jacob Fein, left, Dana Young, Adele Wang, Lexi Callen, Nyla Waite, and Jashmin Futch. (Kevin Coughlin/Brookhaven National Laboratory) 

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.

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