Local Student Research Maps Emergency Care Gaps

A Terre Haute middle schooler reveals that low-income households in Indiana face longer travel times to medical care.

Updated on Oct. 22, 2026 in Secondary Education

Local Student Research Maps Emergency Care Gaps

Live Poll

Do you believe emergency healthcare services are distributed fairly in your area?

Honey Creek Middle School student Nilufer Akgul earned a spot as a top 300 finalist in the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge. The Terre Haute student conducted a research project mapping emergency care access across 39 ZIP codes in Indiana.

Why it matters

The project sheds light on significant healthcare disparities by demonstrating that residents in low-income areas face double the travel distance to emergency facilities compared to those in high-income neighborhoods. This research highlights the challenges of medical access in underserved communities affecting 83,000 residents.

The analysis of 98 emergency facilities found that low-income areas average 4.2 miles to a hospital and 7.8 miles to urgent care, compared to 2.1 miles and 1.3 miles respectively for high-income zones. These figures represent gaps across identified underserved areas.

The players

Nilufer Akgul

A Honey Creek Middle School student whose personal experience in a rural area inspired research into emergency care proximity.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge

A national science competition for middle schoolers that requires qualifying through high performance at local science fairs.

The details

To compete, students must rank in the top 10 percent at a local science fair before completing a national application. Nilufer Akgul utilized public data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Indiana.gov to map 98 emergency facilities against local income levels. The project identifies five underserved areas where residents face increased travel times for emergency medical care.

October 21, 2026: Nilufer Akgul is named a Top 300 Junior Innovator.

The Home Front

This research contributes to the growing body of regional evidence examining how residential location dictates household access to critical medical services. It highlights the practical implications of infrastructure gaps in counties where distance to care remains a significant financial and safety burden.

Families interested in health access can check their proximity to nearby hospitals using public resources like Indiana.gov to identify emergency service gaps. Parents of middle schoolers can support similar scientific inquiry by encouraging students to utilize public databases for community-focused research projects.

The takeaway

This project illustrates the power of using public data to identify local infrastructure needs in middle school science research. Families can explore local healthcare resources to ensure they are aware of the nearest emergency facilities before a time-sensitive medical need arises at home.