The Global Student Award is an award given last year by the Varkey Foundation and Chegg.org for “outstanding students from around the world who, together, are changing the world for the better.” It is a logical evolution of the $1 million Global Teachers Award and is open to all students 16 years of age or older. It is interesting that full-time and part-time students, and even those who are studying online courses, can participate.

Global Student Award 2022 winner

The $100,000 award is given to an exceptional student who has made a significant contribution to their work, the lives of their peers, and society in general. Ihor was selected from more than 7,000 nominations and submissions from 150 countries around the world and received the award at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting during the week of the UN General Assembly in New York.
– says the report.

• Ihor is a student from Kiev. Due to the Russian occupation, he had to spend the last year of his school in the basement. Hiding from enemy missiles, completed work on a mine detection aircraftcreated for the last two years.
• In parallel with his research, he gave online mathematics and physics lessons for his peers.
• In addition, Ihor Klymenko has recently started volunteering at Ukraine Global Scholars, a non-profit organization that helps Ukrainian students get scholarships to study at the best universities in the world.

Ihor Klymenko with the Global Student Award in New York / Photo Chegg.org

According to Chegg.org, the idea for demining robots arose 8 years ago when Russia invaded Ukrainian territory. In the last two years, students have started to include quadcopters and drones in their ideas.

The current development has received two official patents of Ukraine. HE detects anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines, providing the coordinates of their location with an accuracy of two centimeters.

In the development of the UAV, the inventor collaborated with scientists from all over the world, as well as with an anonymous humanitarian organization engaged in the demining of areas liberated from Russian invaders in Ukraine. Klymenko created two working prototypes of his device, with funding from the Finnish nonprofit Ministry of Good Spirit, which he received after participating in the Ukraine-Finland startup program.

what’s next

Ihor Klymenko is trying to improve the drone, adding new technologies: spraying paint to mark the location of the mine and using artificial intelligence technology to determine the type of mine and the best algorithm of action for safe extraction.

It is currently working with various organizations, including Ukraine’s Future Business Incubator, to develop a product suitable for rapid real-world application that will help reduce the number of IED victims.