Winners of Lemelson-MIT National Collegiate Student Prize Competition (NCSPC) Announced

By Megan Weyrauch on May 28, 2015

You’re a college student: do you know the amazing things you can do? You have the potential to change the world you will eventually inhabit as an adult and raise a family in. So how do you start?

The Lemelson-MIT National Collegiate Student Prize Competition (NCSPC) is a great place to start, though you’re too late for this year’s contest. The Lemelson-MIT Program celebrates outstanding inventors and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention. The NCSPC is funded by the Lemelson Foundation, which is inspired by the belief that invention can solve many of the biggest economic and social challenges of our time and helps the next generation of inventors and invention-based businesses to flourish.

The Lemelson-MIT Program recently announced the winners of the Lemelson-MIT NCSPC, according to this press release.

A nationwide search for the most inventive team of undergraduate and individual graduate students, the Lemelson-MIT Program awarded $65,000 in prizes for inventions in the healthcare, transportation, food and agriculture, and consumer device spaces. Each winning team of undergraduates received $10,000, and each graduate student winner received $15,000.

This year’s competition winners were selected from a diverse and highly competitive applicant pool of students from 28 colleges and universities across the country.

“This year’s Lemelson-MIT National Collegiate Student Prize Competition winners are inventors who recognize pressing issues and are pioneering concepts that will translate into impactful solutions,” said Joshua Schuler, executive director of the Lemelson-MIT Program. “Their work is as remarkable as their passion to mentor and inspire creative thinking among youth.”

Screening committees with expertise in the inventive categories as well as a national judging panel of industry leaders from a variety of inventive disciplines–who also select the annual $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize winner–evaluated applicants. These committees and judges assessed candidates on breadth and depth of inventiveness and creativity, potential for societal benefit and economic commercial success, community and environmental systems impact and experience as a role model for youth.

Supported by The Lemelson Foundation, the competition builds on the legacy of the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize, which has served as a springboard for collegiate inventors for 20 years.

“It is both incredible and inspiring to learn of the societal contributions being made by our Student Prize applicants and winners,” said Dorothy Lemelson, chairman of The Lemelson Foundation. “It is a privilege to be associated with each of them.”

So, who were the big winners?

“Cure it!”

The “Cure it!” Lemelson-MIT Student Prize rewards students working on technology-based inventions that can improve healthcare.

Winning Undergrad Team: Stephen John and Joseph Barnett, Western Michigan University, $10,000

Invention: John and Barnett developed a device that provides respiratory support to infants delivering pressure to prevent lung collapse. This device is a simple, energy efficient, safe, reliable and inexpensive way to provide biphasic positive airway pressure and nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation for hospitals with limited resources. This team wants to equip medical centers in developing countries to deliver more comprehensive treatment for neonates struggling with Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

Winning Graduate Student: Carl Schoellhammer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $15,000

Invention: Schoellhammer is developing two inventions that will drastically enhance pain-free drug delivery in patients via the gastrointestinal tract. The first invention, the Microneedle Pill (mPill), allows medicine traditionally administered by painful injection to be ingested orally; the ingestible capsule has small micron-scale needles protruding from it, which introduce the drug directly into the GI tissue in a painless, safe manner.

His second invention, the Ultrasound Probe (uProbe), enables the fast, local delivery of therapeutics to the GI tract by using low frequency ultrasound to physically and painlessly drive medication into tissue.

“Drive it!”

The “Drive it!” Lemelson-MIT Student Prize rewards students working on technology-based inventions that can improve transportation.

Winning Graduate Student: Josh Siegel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $15,000

Invention: Drivers are only able to access data for 23 standard parameters in their cars, though a typical car has hundreds of sensors and actuators for manufacturer use. Siegel is developing a system to access this “hidden” data through a car’s On Board Diagnostics (OBD) port and connect this information to a common-cloud development app platform. His hardware device, called Carduino, enables users to access real-time data from all their cars’ sensors and actuators and develop apps that enable them to predict vehicle failures, provide remote control of vehicle functions and crowdsource info like traffic data and road conditions.

“Eat it!”

The “Eat it!” Lemelson-MIT Student Prize rewards students working on technology-based inventions that improve food and agriculture.

Winning Graduate Student: Alexander Richter, North Carolina State University, $15,000

Invention: Despite the vast resources spent each year on crop protection applications, crop damage is estimated at 37 percent due to plant pests and diseases occurring to a large extent because of loss of pesticide efficacy related to pesticide clumping, drying and run off. If the world is to grow enough food to meet the needs of the 2050 projected population, agricultural productivity must rise dramatically. In addition, today’s toxic and expensive pest control solutions can impact nature’s ecological balance and could pose untold long-term risks.

Richter is developing a novel approach to delivering antimicrobial and anti-fungal pest control agents via lignin-core environmentally-benign Nano Particles (EbNPs). Biodegradable, these EbNPs could be the basis for Reduced Risk Conventional Pesticide Products that have the potential to reduce the amount of chemicals used in plant protection by as much as 90 percent, save farmers more than 25 percent on pest control initiatives and, in a world facing looming food shortages, help increase crop yields for more and better food.

“Use it!”

The “Use it!” Lemelson-MIT Student Prize rewards students working on technology-based inventions that can improve consumer devices and tools.

Winning Undergrad Team: Justin Keenan and Kevin Paroda, Pennsylvania State University, $10,000

Invention: Roommates passionate about expanding the field of 3D printing, Keenan and Paroda created ECHOdrive, an aftermarket vacuum chamber build plate to automate the 3D printing process. ECHOdrive is sold as an add-on to existing 3D printers and allows continuous automated printing, mitigates warping of prints of all shapes and sizes and boasts remote printing capabilities which eliminates the need for human/machine interaction. ECHOdrive also offers improved print quality over traditional aftermarket build plates. This technology is designed to attract those who cannot afford to purchase a new machine but want to enhance their 3D printing capabilities.

The Lemelson-MIT Program is seeking partners with interest in sponsoring the competition and the execution and scaling into any new categories. Contact Joshua Schuler at awards-lemelson@mit.edu if interested!

Think you have what it takes to win the 2016 Lemelson-MIT National Collegiate Student Prize Competition? Find out more info here.

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