Originally published California Student Awarded $15K Navy Scholarship for AI Based Early Wildfire Detection Innovation on by https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/emergency-preparedness/california-student-awarded-15k-navy-scholarship-for-ai-based-early-wildfire-detection-innovation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=california-student-awarded-15k-navy-scholarship-for-ai-based-early-wildfire-detection-innovation at Homeland Security
A high school student from Newport Coast, California, is being recognized by the Office of Naval Research for developing a cutting-edge solution to detect wildfires before they spread out of control.
Ryan Honary received a $15,000 Chief of Naval Research (CNR) Scholarship Award at the 2025 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) for his project, “An AI-Driven Thermodynamics Based IoT Sensor Network for the Ultra-Early Detection of Wildfires Without Line of Sight View of Fire.” His design uses a network of AI-powered sensors to identify heat anomalies and other environmental changes in remote, high-risk ignition areas—even when flames aren’t visible.
The system is already being tested in California. In a recent post, Honary thanked the City of Irvine and the Orange County Fire Authority for supporting additional deployments of the sensors in wildfire-prone zones between Irvine, Newport Beach, and Laguna Beach. These areas, according to Honary, have limited cellular coverage and are outside the field of view of many wildfire camera systems. His sensors fill that gap, providing “initial warnings for wildfires in an incipient stage.”
“Thank you to the Office of Naval Research for awarding me $15,000 for my wildfire research,” Honary wrote in a separate post. “It is truly an honor to be recognized by an organization known for its dedication to innovation and research.”
The award was presented as part of the Navy and Marine Corps’ Naval Science Awards Program (NSAP), which encourages students to pursue careers in science and engineering. Honary’s project was selected alongside four others by a panel of judges, including Navy Reserve officers and ONR scientists, for excellence in areas like artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous systems.
In total, five students were selected for the $15,000 CNR scholarships. The other recipients were:
- Frank Lucci (San Antonio, Texas) – “SubArc: An Inexpensive, High Resolution, Open Source, Absolute Magnetic Rotary Encoder”
- Armaan Gomes (Sunnyvale, California) – “Direct Pulse-Density-Modulated Bitstream Operators for Efficient Beamforming With Large Sensor Arrays”
- Cooper Taylor (Greenwich, Connecticut) – “Next-Generation VTOL Drones: A Breakthrough in Tilt Mechanism and Modular Design for Optimization and Accessibility”
- Anish Anand (Ranch Palos Verdes, Texas) – “A Novel Wireless Charging System for IMDs Using 2.4GHz EM Waves”
The scholarship awards were announced in Columbus, Ohio, during ISEF, one of the world’s largest pre-college science and engineering competitions.
Rear Adm. Kurt Rothenhaus, Chief of Naval Research, called the awardees “young scholars” whose achievements align with the Navy’s goal of fostering future talent in technical fields. Anthony C. Smith Sr., who directs the Navy’s HBCU/MI Program at ONR, led the award presentations and noted the significance of encouraging students to contribute to science and technology fields that support national readiness.
For Honary, the recognition is a milestone in an already promising journey. As wildfires grow more frequent and destructive, his technology, and others like it, could prove critical in detecting and responding to fire threats early, especially in areas where conventional systems fall short.
(AI was used in part to facilitate this article.)
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Originally published California Student Awarded $15K Navy Scholarship for AI Based Early Wildfire Detection Innovation on by https://www.hstoday.us/subject-matter-areas/emergency-preparedness/california-student-awarded-15k-navy-scholarship-for-ai-based-early-wildfire-detection-innovation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=california-student-awarded-15k-navy-scholarship-for-ai-based-early-wildfire-detection-innovation at Homeland Security
Originally published Homeland Security
