At 17, Nathan Tan of Plano, Texas, turned his asthma struggles into a tech solution, launching an AI‑driven air‑quality map now used by roughly 1,000 Texans.
But the real problem began when he tutored kids in West Dallas and watched a student gasp as the sky turned hazy. The area’s asthma cases are several times the Texas average, yet only one monitoring station covers more than 900 square miles. "I realized data could save lives," Tan said.
Instead of costly sensors on every block, Tan’s machine‑learning model stitches data from existing stations to predict pollution everywhere else. The model won him the 2026 Gloria Barron Prize, a $10,000 award for young leaders.
Alongside the map, the Shared Skies Initiative hands out 50 homemade filters that cut indoor dust by up to 95% and 10,000 KN95 masks. They also trained 300 ambassadors to read the data and help families stay safe.
If you live in a vulnerable neighborhood, check the live map before heading out and consider the filters for your home. Always talk to a doctor if your child’s asthma flares up.