BATH TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WLIO) - "I always see science as a chance for innovation."
Bath High School Senior, Kyla Fallis, is certainly innovating the science field. Recently, Kyla competed against 95 Ohio high school students at the 2025 Buckeye Science and Engineering Fair. She was one of 9 Ohio students selected to advance to the 2025 Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair for her research in taking microbial field cells in the soil and converting the anaerobic reactions into electricity.
Recently, Kyla competed against 95 Ohio high school students at the 2025 Buckeye Science and Engineering Fair.
"I decided to optimize this by researching a lot of different components of it, compost age, electrode size materials, the size of the containers among other things and actually invented a lamp that is run entirely off of organic materials or compost," says Kyla Fallis, a Bath High School Senior competing at Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair.
Named as the “Lyka Lamp,” Kyla's invention strives to mitigate excess harmful emissions into the environment while producing energy and creating light.
"It produces about 1 watt at any given moment which is very, very small but it is able to charge with a butt converter a little battery storage system I have set up so it'll charge for about 11 hours, and then, it's able to run for about 3 hours continuously with light," Fallis adds.
Named as the “Lyka Lamp,” Kyla's invention strives to mitigate excess harmful emissions into the environment while producing energy and creating light.
Kyla says an average American family, through their food waste, can support 12 of her “Lyka Lamps” at a time giving 36 hours of light and says if one-third of the country uses her lamp, it can power 5 Disney Worlds. Knowing these stats, Kyla feels that she can make a tremendous difference to both the environment and overall daily life.
"I've always thought that environmental issues were one of the biggest pressing issues that we're currently facing. If a third of families had a “Lyka Lamp,” it would save about $1.8 billion annually to be pushed into local economies which would be an insane boost to the economy. When you actually have numbers that you can quantify and give out specific amounts for how much this would help, I think it's really encouraging," Fallis explains.
Kyla will compete against 1,800 other students from 70 other countries and territories for a chance to win up to $9 million in scholarships and awards. The 2025 Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair will be May 10-16th, 2025, down in Columbus.
