In June of 2014, Deepika was named the national winner of the 2014 U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) for her 20-page paper titled “A Novel Photocatalytic Pervious Composite for Degrading Organics and Inactivating Bacteria in Wastewater”. She competed against 54 finalists from 48 states to win the national title and $10,000.

As the national winner, Deepika had the honor of representing the United States at the international SJWP competition held in Stockholm, Sweden. She competed against national finalists from 29 other countries and had the opportunity to meet H.RH. Crown Princess of Victoria. Deepika also dined with the King and Queen of Sweden in Stockholm City Hall’s gold room, the same place Nobel prizes are handed out every year.