Collegiate Inventors Competition Winners Announced!
Timothy Lu of Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology received the $25,000 grand prize at the 2008 Collegiate Inventors Competition Awards Ceremony for his invention of a new method of combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The event was held on November 19 at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week.
In addition to the grand prize, awards were also given for the top graduate and undergraduate student inventions. This year’s winners include graduate student Paul Podsiadlo of The University of Michigan for his Ultra Strong and Stiff, Optically Transparent Plastic Nanocomposite and Greg Schroll of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who created a new spherical robot with the potential to drastically advance areas such as surveillance, reconnaissance, and disaster zone assessment. They each received a $15,000 prize from the Competition.
The finalists and winners received significant media recognition, including articles in BusinessWeek and Popular Science.
The Competition is sponsored by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the Abbott Fund, the philanthropic foundation of the global health care company Abbott. For more information on this year’s winners and the Competition, please visit www.invent.org/collegiate.
Collegiate Inventors Competition Winner Daniel Fletcher Named White House Fellow
Earlier this year, 2001 Collegiate Inventors Competition Winner Daniel Fletcher was appointed as one of 14 White House Fellows to participate in America's most prestigious fellowship program for leadership development and public service. The White House Fellows Program, founded in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, offers exceptional men and women first-hand experience working at the highest levels of the Federal government. Fellows participate in an education program consisting of roundtable discussions with leaders from the private and public sectors and study trips to examine U.S. policy in action.
Fletcher won the Collegiate Inventors Competition for his work with a pulsed liquid microjet. Applications included precise tissue dissection and drug injection for more effective treatment of diseases affecting all parts of the body, especially the eye. Fletcher is currently an Associate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley and Deputy Division Director of Physical Biosciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research focuses on the development of new biomedical technologies.
Invent Now Kids inspires nearly 70,000 kids to explore invention!
Dr. Shultz at Charlotte Central School, Charlotte, VT
In 2008, Invent Now Kids (INK) reached more children than ever before through the Camp Invention and Club Invention programs. Helping to inspire learning, creativity, and an inventive spirit, INK programs impacted nearly 70,000 participants in over 1000 site locations across the United States. With support from numerous sponsors, both nationally and regionally, programming was experienced by children from diverse ethnic and backgrounds.
In addition, this year NIHF Inductees played a greater role than ever in the success of the Camp Invention program. Inductee Forrest Bird hosted a program week at his museum in Idaho, while Inductees Bob Metcalfe, Wilson Greatbatch, Peter Schultz, Don Bateman, and Al Langer all made visits to see the Camp Invention program in person. Children at each location were excited to meet and interact with the Inductees, and the Inductees were paid back in kind with all of the attention and interest of these young minds.
Looking into 2009, INK programming will increase its curriculum focus on the importance of environmental and life sciences as we equip children with the skill set needed to be critical thinkers, leaders, inventors, and entrepreneurs.
Inductee News
 National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee Forrest Bird was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal from President George W. Bush at a ceremony in the Oval Office earlier this month. The Presidential citation lists Bird's groundbreaking work in creating the world's first mass-produced medical respirator.
The award recognizes U.S. citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service for the nation, and is second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom in honors the President can give to a civilian. Bird was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995 and since then has stayed active with its programs. He currently serves on the board of directors for the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Inc. subsidiary.
 Inductee Luc Montagnier has received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2008 for discovering the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The co-founder of the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention, Montagnier was awarded the prize with his colleague Françoise-Barré-Sinoussi.
Montagnier and fellow virologist Robert Gallo of the Institute of Human Virology were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004 for their independent work with HIV.
If you have Inductee news you would like included in the next e-newsletter, please email media@invent.org.
In Memory: Amos Joel, 1918-2008 and James Fergason, 1934-2008
The National Inventors Hall of Fame was saddened by the recent deaths of two inductees. Amos Joel, who invented a switching device for cellular phones, passed away in October and Jim Fergason, a pioneer in the liquid crystal industry, passed away earlier this month.
Joel, 90, was a 2008 inductee who was a tinkerer from an early age, always pursuing the question of how something worked. A career Bell Labs employee, he received over 70 patents, including one for technology that allows cell phone users to maintain continuity of service as they move from region to region. Joel is survived by his daughters Stephanie and Andrea who joined him in Akron last May to celebrate his induction.
Fergason, 74, was inducted in 1998 and was respected as a scientist, entrepreneur, and businessman, as well as an inventor of liquid crystal display technology. His twisted nematic LCD is a critical element that enabled growth of the liquid crystal industry. A longtime advocate of independent inventors and the holder of over 130 patents, he leaves his wife of 52 years, Dora, their four children, and 10 grandchildren.
Sponsorship
As 2008 comes to a close, we hope you will consider a year-end gift to support the mission and programs of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation. We appreciate your gift in any amount, and your donation is fully tax-deductible. Please click here for a giving form and fax the form to:
Hannah Paulin
Director of Development
Fax: 330.849.6874
Phone: 330.849.6874; hpaulin@invent.org
Thank you for your continued interest in the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation.
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