Two teams from the TPHS Biomimicry, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (BIE) Club won 2025 Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge (BYDC) Awards for their designs submitted in May 2025.
“[The BYDC is] an international competition in which teams from high school levels and middle school levels will compete against each other, and they’re basically coming up with solutions to a lot of local problems using biomimicry,” co-president of BIE Club Sarah Tsu (11) said. “So they’re going to take inspiration from nature to try to address these local problems.”
Mentored by Biology and AP Biology teacher Julianna Newell, two teams from BIE Club entered the competition: the Del Martians, with Sarah Tsu (11), Kelton Sonoda (‘25) and former TPHS student Hanshika Kamjula (10), and the Falconeers, with Jiwon Ryu (12), Zhixin Chen (11), Yewon Jeong (10) and Jaehee Nam (10). TPHS Falcon Vision members Ceili McNichols (11) and Portia Perry (11) helped the teams produce two-minute pitch videos, which they submitted along with a project overview and portfolio.
The Del Martians won first place in Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production by designing BioTread, a vehicle tire that reduces microplastic pollution from tire waste. BioTread’s self-cooling system was inspired by prairie dog burrows.
The Falconeers placed second in Sustainable Development Goal 15: Life on Land by designing Sormeto, a portable heavy metal absorber that removes toxic pollutants from the soil after wildfires. Sormeto’s design included mechanisms based on the biological functions of Italian ryegrass and water lilies.
“It has tiny spikes under it so it can be attached to the ground and remove the toxic chemicals by absorbing it,” Jeong said.
Both groups started their projects in January, but the process required “a lot of pivoting,” according to Tsu.
“We had spent maybe three months, all the way until March, on one specific design, and then we ended up scrapping the entire thing and restarting over spring break,” Tsu said.
Similarly, the Falconeers had to restart their project.
“We changed our subject in the middle of it,” Nam said.
The group made drastic changes to their entire plan, going “from a parachute to a mat,” according to Jeong.
The BIE Club submitted one design for the 2024 BYDC before, where they “ran into many difficulties that [were] definitely unexpected,” according to Tsu. Armed with learning experiences from the first year, they were better equipped to navigate through struggles this year.
“Last year we [came] into problems where we thought we should restart but we ended up not restarting,” Tsu said. “That was probably the biggest learning experience for us.”
Newell helped the teams with networking, which allowed them to contact Dr. Jacques Chirazi, UCSD Professor, Director of Student Entrepreneurship and Director of The Basement, and Deborah Bidwell, a professor at the College of Charleston and biomimicry expert. These professionals gave the teams feedback on their designs. Daniel Zhang (11) and TPHS CTE pathway teachers Jonathan Tator and Brinn Belyea helped the teams with 3D modeling the projects.
“[We are] super grateful for all the support we got along the way,” Tsu said.
Newell started the BIE Club because of her personal passion for biomimicry. After earning a master’s degree in biomimicry through the program Learn Biomimicry, which is also where she discovered the BYDC, she “decided that [she] wanted to bring it to more students at Torrey Pines.”
“The first year we did it, we didn’t place at all, so this year, getting first and second is pretty incredible,” Newell said. “I was very proud of them and very excited for them, because they really worked so hard.”
BIE Club members share similar feelings about receiving the awards.
“Honestly, I still cannot believe that we won the award,” Ryu said. “When we received the text from Mrs. Newell, I was shouting ‘WHAT’ into the group chat around 5 times. This is a special experience for me because it prompted me to believe that all the worth comes from not giving up.”
Feeling accomplished with their success, BIE Club members look optimistically towards the future. They plan to compete in the BYDC again next year.
“The biggest accomplishment is that we did it together, my favorite underclassmen and I, and all the bonds we have created through the whole journey,” Ryu said.
