In a kitchen in Shorewood, Minnesota, a seventh-grader has been quietly working on a problem most people never think twice about: the pesticide residue left behind on the fruits and vegetables we eat every day.
Who Is Arika Kundu?
Her name is Arika Kundu, and she’s a seventh grader at Minnetonka Middle School East. This fall, she landed a spot among the 10 finalists in the 2026 3M Young Scientist Challenge, which is the competition many consider the top proving ground for middle school-aged scientists nationwide. Her project, LIGNEX, draws on a biosorption method built from agricultural leftovers, peanut shells included, to pull pesticide residue off fruits and vegetables. Getting to the finals meant standing out among entrants aged 11 to 14 from every corner of the country.
The Idea Behind LIGNEX
At its core, Kundu’s invention takes something most farms simply throw away, which is agricultural byproducts like peanut shells, and turns it into a filtering agent that pulls pesticide residue off produce. It’s a low-cost fix with a double payoff: safer food on one end, less waste on the other.
A Bigger Vision
Kundu’s ambitions stretch well beyond the kitchen counter. Ask her about the biggest scientific breakthrough of the last hundred years, and Kundu points to the Human Genome Project. It fits with where she sees herself heading, toward astrobiology and computational biology. Further down the road, she wants to tackle radiation exposure during space travel, a problem she thinks could pay off well beyond the launch pad, touching everything from agriculture to cancer treatment.
About The Competition
Now in its 17th year, the 3M Young Scientist Challenge is run jointly by 3M and Discovery Education, open to American students between 11 and 14 who come up with solutions to real-world problems like everything from robotics and safety to climate technology.
The ten finalists head to 3M’s Innovation Centre in St. Paul, Minnesota, where they’ll go through a round of hands-on challenges, walk judges through their finished projects and answer questions on the spot. Whoever comes out on top takes home $25,000 and the title of America’s Top Young Scientist.
For a seventh grader who set out to make fruits and vegetables safer to eat, that stage now awaits.
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