Tristan's mechanical and electrical engineering project, which he named "Ecological Extrusion," was designed to convert shredded plastic recycling materials into plastic filament for use in 3D printers.
The design made use of inexpensive electronic parts Tristan found online (such as a gear motor, AC/DC adaptor, temperature controller, and motor controller), along with ordinary hardware and automotive supplies (such as an auger bit, exhaust pipe insulation, sheet metal for building a hopper, and a stainless steel pipe).
Tristan's project was a follow-up to his 2023 8th grade STEM project, which took first place for the Middle School STEM Fair last year. For this project, Tristan built a machine to turn medium-sized pieces of plastic recycling into the shredded pieces his 2024 project required to make the filament.
GHCDS is the only Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) school in the Caribbean outside of Puerto Rico and Haiti.