Winners Announced in 2011 Collegiate Inventors Competition
The 2011 Collegiate Inventors Competition Finalists and Sponsors at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, DC
On November 15, at a ceremony at the U.S. Department of Commerce, Invent Now named the winners of its 2011 Collegiate Inventors Competition. The winners were selected from among 26 students representing 11 inventions. Students presented their work to an esteemed panel of judges, which included six National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees, top scientists from Abbott, intellectual property experts from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and medical and entrepreneurship experts from the Kauffman Foundation.
Kyle Allison, a Ph.D. candidate at Boston University, received the $15,000 graduate first prize for his Metabolite-Mediated Elimination of Bacterial Persisters, a combination therapy utilizing specific metabolites and the aminoglycoside class of antibiotics to effectively kill persistent bacteria.
A team of three students from Yale University, Elizabeth Asai, Nickolas Demas, and Elliot Swart, was honored with the $12,500 Undergraduate first prize for the 3Derm System, a handheld imaging device that takes 3-D, high-definition images of skin lesions or other abnormalities in the clinic or at home. Through a proprietary Web interface, the 3Derm System lets doctors remotely access the images more efficiently, allowing them to potentially detect skin cancer in earlier, easier-to-treat stages.
Graduate students Julio D’Arcy and Albert Mach, both of UCLA, received second and third prizes respectively for their work. D’Arcy created a universal coating solution to thin-film deposition while Mach invented a process for isolation of rare cancer cells from liquid blood biopsies – which he calls the “centrifuge chip."
In the Undergraduate category, Patrick Cassidy, Sean Heyrman, Alex Johnson, and Anthony Sprangers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison won second place for creating BarrierASAP, a special, thermoreversible barrier used to protect healthy tissue while nearby cancerous tissue is being removed. Third place undergraduate winners James Lee, Colin Mitchell, Lauren Riesenberg, and Meghan Moore of the University of Cincinnati developed BLINX, a device that applies topical electrical stimulation to the muscle around the eyes to induce blinking to promote eye hydration in comatose patients in intensive care.
Nearly 250 people attended the event, which featured Neal Conan, host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation, as emcee and speeches from David Kappos (Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, USPTO), Thom Ruhe (Director of Entrepreneurship, Kauffman Foundation), and Dr. Jeffrey Pan (Senior Project Leader, Advanced Technology, Global Pharmaceutical Discovery, Abbott) who represented the Competition’s sponsors.
Steve Jobs Exhibit Opens at the USPTO
In tribute to the remarkable influence of Steve Jobs, the USPTO is showcasing The Patents and Trademarks of Steve Jobs: Art and Technology that Changed the World.
“This exhibit commemorates the far-reaching impact of Steve Jobs’ entrepreneurship and innovation on our daily lives,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos. “His patents and trademarks provide a striking example of the importance intellectual property plays in the global marketplace.”
Located in the atrium of the USPTO’s Madison Building, the exhibit was created and designed by Invent Now. It features more than 300 of the patents that bear the name of the iconic innovator along with many of the trademarks that have given Apple its instantly recognizable identity around the world. The display gives insight into the visionary commitment Jobs gave to each of the products and designs he influenced during his time with Apple, the company he co-founded at the age of 21 with his friend, fellow computer enthusiast and National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee Steve Wozniak.
The Jobs exhibit, which runs through January 15, 2012, is free and open to the public, as is the adjacent National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum. Both are located at 600 Dulany Street in Alexandria, open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturday from 12pm to 5pm (closed Sundays and Federal holidays).
New Camp Invention Program for 2012
Invent Now has been a leader in bringing fun summer science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities to elementary-aged children across the country. For 21 years, the Camp Invention program has provided children a creative outlet for the application of classroom learning in an engaging, informal setting with programming that combines practical research findings with hands-on, age-appropriate activities.
In 2011, the number of children impacted by Camp Invention grew 15% over 2010, and the number of program sites increased by 16%. For the 2012 season, we plan to continue to make the same concerted effort to extend Camp Invention’s outreach, allowing more children in more locations to benefit from the program.
We are excited to introduce our new Camp Invention program, ENVISION, for the 2012 season! In this program, children have the opportunity to explore invention from every angle as they problem solve their way through a time machine, a magnet city, and gadget challenges. Children will be immersed in adventure as they set sail to the magnificent island of Magnetropolis and explore the power of magnets while rebuilding and restoring light to the island! The journey continues as they also travel through time and space, exploring flight and optics while learning how to think like an inventor and build inventions that will morph into amazing, new prototypes. The children are the investigators, engineers, and scientists as they create inventions to resolve the challenges at hand.
For more information on supporting Camp Invention 2012, please contact campinvention@invent.org.
Invent Now's Inspiring All Kids Campaign
This summer Camp Invention impacted over 76,000 children but we have the capacity to do so much more. With scholarship support, on average each camp could accommodate an additional 45 children before reaching capacity. This translates to:
- more children who will have an increased interest in STEM following their Camp Invention experience
- more girls who otherwise might not participate in STEM-based programs
- a more diverse group of children – geographically, racially, and economically
We need your help to ensure that every Camp is filled to capacity. By providing financial support, you will help us provide tuition to kids who otherwise wouldn’t attend. In doing so, you will be helping to build our future creative and technical workforce. Your donation will make a significant impact.
To help learn more about this campaign and how you can help support it, please contact Hannah Paulin at hpaulin@invent.org.
Thanks to Our Sponsors!
Thank you to the following sponsors who have recently confirmed support for Invent Now’s programs:
3M Skin and Wound Division
Babcock and Wilcox Power Generation Group, Inc.
Bridgestone Americas, Inc.
The Dow Chemical Company
Ford Motor Company, Chicago
Kinder Morgan Foundation
R.J. McElroy Trust
The S.K. Wellman Foundation
The Whittenberger Foundation
For a complete list of sponsors please visit our sponsor page.
To make an online donation please visit our donate page.
Inductee News
Two National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees were recently honored as recipients of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor given to scientists and inventors by the U.S. government. President Obama bestowed the medals at a White House ceremony on October 21st.
Yvonne Brill, a 2010 Inductee, received the award for her innovations in rocket propulsion systems for geosynchronous and low-earth orbit communication satellites. Early in her career, she saw the importance of an electric rocket system for the then-fledgling communications satellite industry, resulting in her electrothermal hydrazine thruster which works to keep satellites on-orbit.
Also honored was Inductee Don Bateman for developing critical flight-safety sensors now used by aircraft worldwide, including ground proximity warnings systems (GPWS) and systems to detect wind shear. Inducted in 2005, Bateman’s systems provide advance warning to aircraft crew about impending dangers and the FAA has mandated their use on most jet aircraft.
In Memory
In September, Inductee Wilson Greatbatch (1919-2011), known as the designer of the first practical implantable pacemaker, passed away at the age of 92. His insight for the implantable pacemaker came in the 1950s, and in 1960, it was implanted for the first time in humans. Today, more than half a million pacemakers are implanted every year. In 1970, Greatbatch founded the company Greatbatch, Inc. in order to make batteries for the medical device industry, a company that still thrives. His research interests in recent years included helium fusion as a way to generate significant amounts of power.
Greatbatch was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1986 and often participated in NIHF activities and events. A favorite pastime was to visit with schoolchildren and talk about invention. As recently as 2008, Greatbatch visited a Camp Invention site where he talked with campers and answered their questions about inventing.
Donate Today!
Please consider making a gift today to support Invent Now! You can designate your gift to support any one of our programs, or contribute to the area of greatest need. 100% of your gift is tax deductible. For every $1.00 donated, $0.84 directly supports the organization's programs.
To designate Invent Now as a beneficiary of a stock holding, will or trust, retirement plan, or life insurance policy, please contact Hannah Paulin at hpaulin@invent.org. |
