Eithan Moss designed a device that can cool a room using nothing but sunlight and the same airflow principles termites use to ventilate their mounds, and this month, the Tucson 8th grader took third place nationally for it.

Moss placed third in the 8th grade category at the 11th annual RTX Invention Convention U.S. Nationals for his invention, "The Cooling Box," which uses principles found in nature to cool a room without electricity or moving parts.

Moss was also the sole winner of the convention's energy industry award, presented by ITC Holdings Corp.

The convention aims to celebrate and recognize the top 70 student inventors in the country and is the culmination of months of local and regional competitions that require students to come up with real-world solutions and document their journey like a professional engineer.

Moss advanced to nationals after winning Arizona's Invention Convention, held at Arizona State University in March, and was one of only a few students flown to Dearborn, Michigan, for the convention, held at The Henry Ford Museum.

Moss was encouraged to participate by his science teacher, Jomaly Cotto, at Sonoran Science Academy. He says the experience was both fun and fulfilling.

"When I found out that I won third place, I was really happy," he told Tucson Spotlight. "I felt even better about winning the Energy Award because I'm the only person out of that whole event who won that award, which was amazing."

The Cooling Box was inspired by termite mounds in Central Africa and solar chimneys used in Zimbabwe. The mounds use what he describes as an "intricate network of tunnels" to cool their colonies, geometric principles he applied to his own invention.

The cooling box needs only sunlight to function. The natural airflow and chimney design of the small device displaces hot air from a room while keeping cool air in. Moss' results found that within 30 minutes, the box produced an "8 degree Celsius difference" in a room.

Moss dedicated much of his time over the last year to the project. In addition to research, it required him to sharpen his engineering skills, which he was more than willing to do.

"I have a really strong passion for engineering and sciences," he said, adding that he believes it stemmed from his childhood love of LEGOs and video games.

He said that engineering is "like a good obsession that you can never get rid of."

Moss designed the box from the ground up, tucked away in his garage workshop and using his 3D printer, something his mom, Kerry Moss, says keeps him quite occupied.

"When we landed back from Dearborn, not even 24 hours later, he was back tinkering with his designs," Kerry Moss said. "Testing different things, taking the feedback that the judges had given him and retesting what he had done, it was wonderful to see."

Eithan Moss said his goal in creating the Cooling Box was to design a "simple, affordable and scalable" product. He hopes it will be used in the future as a way to cool down rooms in low-income residences.

"It could essentially function as a go-between HVAC and essentially nothing," he said. "I made sure during the whole thing it's cheap and easy to use. That's the main foundation of this whole thing. I want it to be usable anywhere."

That accessibility mirrors Eithan Moss' own journey to opportunity.

He immigrated with his parents from South Africa five years ago, saying the United States has given him many opportunities he wouldn't have otherwise had.

But it's Eithan Moss' role model, his grandfather in South Africa, who helped make the project a reality.

"My grandpa was also an engineer, so when I was doing this, I came across a really big roadblock. I didn't know where I was going wrong and he helped me troubleshoot," he said. "That's another reason why I do engineering, because I look up to him."

Eithan Moss said the project would've never been possible without his parents, who have always supported him through his science journey.

"My parents saw my love for engineering and the opportunities that America has and they literally uprooted their whole life for me," he said. "I'm eternally grateful for them."

Kerry Moss said she loves her son's deep passion for science, though the constant moving and changing schools that defined much of Eithan's childhood made things difficult at times. Still, she said settling down in Tucson is a great opportunity for him, given its proximity to two major universities.

She said she's inspired by Eithan's resilience and what he's had to go through to be here in Tucson.

"He's had to move more and change schools more than most people do in their whole lives. But with every move that he's made, he's adapted and he's excelled," she said. "Our hope is that he is able to embrace the opportunities that are presented here. In the US, it gives him the space to grow and thrive and we're very thankful."

Eithan Moss hopes to keep improving the cooling box, and after high school, he plans to study nuclear and mechanical engineering in college.

Elias Bonilla is a journalism and political science major at the University of Arizona and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact him at ebonilla1500@gmail.com.

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