Richland Two Institute of Innovation tackles COVID-19

Selected from a nationwide pool of applicants, Richland Two Institute of Innovation in Columbia, South Carolina was named a National Finalist in the 11^th annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest, for their project to address COVID-19 Contract Tracing, winning $65,000 in technology and classroom supplies.

Since the beginning of the school year, more than 13,000 recorded COVID-19 cases have been associated with staff and students in South Carolina. District staff are responsible for contact tracing within the school, which is a challenge as students and staff must accurately recall their whereabouts and every interaction for the previous 48 hours. While several technical solutions exist for contact tracing, cost and privacy issues make them less likely to be implemented in schools. The students at R2I2 developed a low-cost microcontroller Bluetooth contact tracing system that senses and records when staff and students are within 6 feet of each other for 15 minutes or more. When a positive COVID-19 case is identified, the district staff can immediately identify who must be quarantined, based on the data collected from staff and students who chose to wear the device. This device is also designed to operate on school WiFi to make it more secure.

Each National Finalist was chosen based on their creative and strategic proposals to solve complicated issues that affect their communities by using STEM learning and received $65,000 to redeem on DonorsChoose.org as well as a Samsung Galaxy Note20.