A New Jersey high school senior has won a place as a finalist in the nation’s most prestigious science fair with a clever new take on the bug zapper.

Selina Zhang, 18, designed and field tested a synthetic, eco-conscious, A.I.-powered trap that uses machine learning to selectively lure and electrocute the invasive spotted lanternfly, a species native to China that is now plaguing 17 US states.

Zhang’s invention placed her as one of 40 finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the country’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.

Found in large numbers, with few known predators, spotted lanternflies annually cause a tremendous amount of damage to agriculture. Eating plant sap from tree to tree, their feeding activity creates stress responses in plants that make them more susceptible to damage and disease.

Worse still, the lanternflies excrete a sticky substance colloquially called honeydew that gloms onto the plants they feed on. It blocks photosynthesis and is a breeding ground for black sooty mold. In total, it costs $3 billion in agricultural damages every year on the East Coast.

Selina’s “ArTreeficial” trap, made from a parasol seized from her family’s patio, lures the insects using an incense she made from the lanternfly’s favorite tree, the tree of heaven, which is also an invasive species. An electric mesh then selectively shocks the bug after detection.

None of these features or mechanisms were obvious at the start, and Selina was forced to perform weeks of field study on the spotted lanternfly’s behavior, learning where they liked to feed on various trees, and taking pictures of them.

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She also had to examine what was already being used to counter the invasive species already. Typically, traps of neonicotinoids are effective at killing the pest, but unfortunately, they also kill all other bugs that are lured into it, like pollinating bees. Sticky bands wrapped around trees have the same effect of harming friend and foe.

“For field observations, you have to accumulate a lot of observations over time, and it can sometimes be uneventful,” says Zhang. “But it was also an important test of patience, because you get rewarded by these really interesting things.”

Taking 500 close-up photographs in addition to the field notes, she programmed a deep-learning algorithm to detect when a spotted lanternfly has landed on the trap. A double-layer electric mesh designed like a chessboard then zaps the lanternfly depending on which square it’s on.

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She says she got her inspiration from Dance Dance Revolution, a famous arcade game where players have to step on squares in coordination with the rhythm of a song.

Selina’s prototype tree costs just under $200 to construct, but she believes large-scale production could dramatically reduce the cost. She is also researching ways to improve her attractant using an essence from the electrocuted lanternflies. The entire system is solar powered.

“The project uses A.I., it uses chemistry, it’s dealing with climate change and solar power. It’s a whole amalgam of the interdisciplinary nature of science and engineering in this project,” says Maya Ajmera, the president and CEO of Society for Science, which hosts the talent search. “That’s what makes it stand out for me.”

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A general overachiever, Selina is an award-winning violinist who has performed solo at New York’s Carnegie Hall, while also finding time to invent the ArTreeficial Trap, and illustrate her own comic books, in which she turned the spotted lanternfly into a menacing villain.

“Everywhere it goes, it’s spreading disaster,” Zhang told Smithsonian Magazine. “With my comics, I wanted people to better understand this local invasive species and its behavior.”

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