14-year-old Sharvi Mahajan advances to finals with AI EEG driver-fatigue detector

California eighth-grader Sharvi Mahajan became a finalist in the 2026 3M Young Scientist Challenge with her NeuroDrive Alert system that uses EEG data and machine learning to warn drivers of fatigue.

Sharvi Mahajan, a 14-year-old Indian-American from San Diego, earned a spot among the ten finalists of the 2026 3M Young Scientist Challenge by developing NeuroDrive Alert, a system that combines electroencephalography and machine-learning algorithms to identify early signs of driver fatigue and microsleep. The EEG sensors capture subtle brain-wave changes, which the AI model interprets to trigger warnings for drivers or operators of heavy machinery.

Mahajan joins four other Indian-American finalists—Aaisha Asif, Raji Doshi, Arika Kundu, and Naboshree Santra—in a contest that invites students in grades five through eight to devise science-based solutions for everyday problems. Over the summer, each finalist will collaborate with a 3M researcher to enhance their project, culminating in a live competition at the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, where the winner receives a $25,000 award. Mahajan hopes to pursue a career in computational neuroscience or launch a tech startup focused on brain-computer interfaces.