WASHINGTON — Two Kentucky high school students are among just over 100 named national champions in the field of science, technology, engineering, and math.

They earned a trip to the Washington, D.C. this week to show off their ideas at the National STEM Festival.

Vallabh Ramesh, a junior at DuPont Manual High School in Louisville, has developed a material to patch up damage to military aircraft in a way that he said is faster and cheaper.

“I created my own composite and combined it with a different kind of resin called UV resin, as opposed to what’s currently used today, which is epoxy resin,” he said. “At the very least, it’s half the cost, and to come to complete strength, it only takes one hour, as compared to seven days.”

Ramesh is also a research assistant at the University of Louisville’s engineering department.

This is the second year he’s been named a National STEM Champion.

“I love being hands on,” he said. “Ever since I was little, I’ve always tried to find solutions to problems by myself with things that are around me.”

DuPont Manual senior Lucy Teng examined lithium ion batteries and a potential link to cancer.

“With the increased finding of lithium in water, I wanted to see if it had a health hazard potential,” she said. “I looked at its connection to cancer cell growth and I found it impacted breast cancer cell growth.”

Students at the festival will get to present their projects to government and business leaders and the public, tour Washington landmarks and take part in mentor sessions this week.

“This is a completely complex project, and I’m so grateful to have been able to do this, so in the future, I hope to continue biomedical research, but also go in the medical field because I have a passion for just helping the community and helping everyone around me,” Teng said.