Bishop Feehan High School sophomore Benjamin Davis of Wrentham came home from the 2025 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Columbus, Ohio this weekend as a national champion, the first-ever Feehan student to earn the national honor.
Benjamin earned first place in the Engineering Technology: Statistics & Dynamics category for his project: “From Crude to Extrude: A Novel Approach to Combining Pultrusion and Extrusion Technologies into a Single Filament Production System to Recycle PET Bottle Waste and 3D Printing Purge Materials into Additive Manufacturing Filament.”
In addition, Benjamin was one of only two students worldwide to earn the Regeneron Young Scientist Award, which comes with a $75,000 scholarship.
“It was an incredible experience, probably one of the best weeks of my life, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to participate in the fair,” said Benjamin.
As part of his Feehan science fair project, Benjamin developed a desktop plastic recycling system that transforms everyday plastic waste and discarded 3D printing materials into high-quality, reusable filament for additive manufacturing.
Using an integrated approach that blends electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering, Benjamin’s system is both faster and more efficient than other home recycling machines, improving process efficiency by approximately 45%. Not only is his design 90% cheaper than commercial options, but it’s also user-friendly, enabling nontechnical users to participate in plastic recycling and sustainable 3D printing.
Bishop Feehan science teacher, Kelly Gomez, was Benjamin’s mentor for the award-winning project.
ISEF, a program of the Society for Science and sponsored by Regeneron, brings together more than 1,800 of the brightest young scientists from over 80 countries each year. The two $75,000 Young Scientist Awards recognize students whose work demonstrates deep scientific rigor, authentic research practices and the potential to solve critical global problems.
“We are incredibly proud of Benjamin,” said Bishop Feehan President Tim Sullivan. “His achievements are a credit to his talent, the support of his family and our passionate science and technology faculty at Feehan, and that just add more momentum to our recent investments in Innovation spaces and curriculum here at our school. We can’t wait to watch how high Benjamin flies from here.”