First Review Article Published in Youth STEM Matters
We’re thrilled that today marks the publication of our first ever Review Article - “Bacterial Concrete: A Sustainable Building Material with Advantageous Properties”, by Katie Molyneux!
Sixteen year old Katie, who is a student at St George’s School, Harpenden (England) researched the potential of bacterial concrete as a more sustainable building material due to its self-healing capacity and advantageous properties. This was Katie’s first time doing a STEM based project, having first learned about the different types of scientific articles as part of the Youth STEM Matters Volunteer Team.
Katie worked on her article throughout the UK’s COVID-19 lockdown and was first inspired to put the skills she’d learned as the Lead Copy-Editor on the Youth STEM Matters team into practice after reading a book that sparked her interest. Katie said: “After joining Youth STEM Matters, I learnt all about different types of papers and decided to write one myself to add some more variety to the long days in lockdown. The inspiration came from a book called Stuff Matters, where Mark Miodownik provided an overview of how bacteria can impact the construction industry. I found this notion very interesting and researched further, eventually deciding that I wanted to share this knowledge with others, culminating in this review paper.”
With her work now published, Katie reflected on the achievement and the journey from submission to publication: “I feel satisfied as the review and publication process has been long. The most prominent emotion is pride as this paper marks a milestone in both my scientific journey and that of Youth STEM Matters.”
Editor-In-Chief Adam Khan-Qureshi added:
“The fact that Katie was inspired by her time at Youth STEM Matters to write her review article reinforces that our volunteers are applying the skills they learn to explore science through a critical and holistic lens: thinking about the bigger picture and why research is important.”
Although the rigorous peer-review process meant that Katie needed to work hard on making revisions to her article, the whole process was worthwhile:
“The process was very rigorous as many revisions needed to be made. The volunteers were extremely helpful throughout the entire process, providing me with useful articles to look at, possible ways to develop my arguments, and websites to help with referencing. Overall, my paper is so much stronger than it was originally, and the whole process was very educational.”
Adam was also quick to praise both Katie and the Youth STEM Matters Volunteer Team members who worked on her article: “Writing a review article is extremely difficult and Katie's paper went through quite an extensive editing process. It was challenging at times, both for the team and Katie, but I am so proud of how everyone persevered through and the proactive approach taken throughout peer-review. The final product is highly reflective of the hard work put in by everyone!”
The UN Sustainable Development Goals are a key part of every article published in Youth STEM Matters, and Katie’s article links strongly to SDGs 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and 13 (Climate Action). On the importance of her research, Katie explained:
“Making the switch to bacterial concrete would decrease global carbon dioxide emissions by decreasing the global production of cement, this is in line with SDG 13. This switch would also reduce maintenance costs, giving businesses more money to invest elsewhere. Bacterial concrete also has improved properties, meaning that concrete infrastructures would be even more durable and stable, which covers the SDGs 11 and 9”
Have you done a STEM based project like Katie? Submit your project to be published in Youth STEM Matters!
