Collegiate Inventors Competition | National Inventors Hall of Fame®

Take Your Innovation to the Next Level with Our Collegiate Inventors Competition

Each year, the nation’s most creative college students come together to compete while networking with world-class inventors.

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What is the Collegiate Inventors Competition?

The Collegiate Inventors Competition® is a unique competition that can take your invention to the next level through networking, marketing exposure, mentorship and more!

Since 1990, with the help of our sponsors, we have awarded more than $1 million to students nationwide.

Day 1
You’ll arrive at the competition and prepare for your judging session.

Day 2
Our panel of experts will judge your invention. Then, you’ll present your innovation to the public during the Expo, followed by the Awards Dinner — where we will announce the 2020 Winners!

Day 3
You'll head home knowing that you’ve had the opportunity to network with the country’s most innovative students, received mentorship from our Inductees and gained national exposure for your invention.

Enter the Competition

The 2020 Collegiate Inventors Competition is now open for entries! Applications are due by June 8.

Apply Now

Congratulations 2019 CIC Winners!

Graduate Winner: Infinite Cooling

Graduate Runner-Up: Nanodropper

Undergraduate Winner: PE-IVT (Positively Engaged, Infinitely Variable Transmission Using Split Helical Gears)

Undergraduate Runner-Up and Arrow Electronics People's Choice Award Winner: PeritoneX

Rewind to 2019

Andrew J. Williamson

Oklahoma State University

Adviser: Khaled A. Sallam

Compressor-Turbine Fusion

The future of heating and cooling will be determined by our ability to increase efficiency, minimize costs and widely adopt green energy alternatives. Compressor-Turbine Fusion has the potential to achieve each of these goals. Directly integrating a turbine into a compressor within a single device, Compressor-Turbine Fusion increases the efficiency of thermodynamic cycles and power equipment, decreases the production of greenhouse gases and can make alternative energy more competitive with traditional power sources.

Nicole Boyd

Michelle Feely

Aaron Maccabee

Xin Xiong

Nicole Boyd, Michelle Feely, Aaron Maccabee, Xin Xiong

Columbia University

Adviser: Aaron Kyle

Dual Monitoring Telemedicine Solution for Diabetic Foot Ulcer

Among the 30.3 million Americans diagnosed with diabetes, 20% develop diabetic foot ulcers. If not detected early and treated properly, these ulcers can lead to amputation, a scenario that can often be life-threatening. Dual Monitoring Telemedicine Solution for Diabetic Foot Ulcer allows patients to monitor for ulcers at home and electronically send information to their doctors. This product is the first to detect symptoms of ulcers with both digital images and algorithms.

Ethan R. Brush

Undergraduate Winner

Ethan R. Brush

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Adviser: Carl Nelson

PE-IVT (Positively Engaged, Infinitely Variable Transmission Using Split Helical Gears)

As demand for electric vehicles rises, so does the need for manufacturers to identify a more suitable transmission. The Positively Engaged, Infinitely Variable Transmission (PE-IVT) represents a new class of transmission that combines the torque of gear-based transmissions with the efficiency of continuously variable transmissions. The PE-IVT operates at 88 to 98% efficiency across all gear ratios, and it could disrupt existing technologies and reduce energy losses across a range of applications and industries.

Tejasvi Desai

Sarah Lee

Eugene Oh

James Qin

Undergraduate Runner Up. Also, Arrow Electronics People's Choice Award

Tejasvi Desai, Sarah Lee, Eugene Oh, James Qin

Johns Hopkins University

Adviser: Elizabeth Logsdon

PeritoneX

End-stage renal disease can be fatal, and with the limited availability of kidney transplants, hundreds of thousands of people require renal replacement therapy to survive. Peritoneal dialysis (PD), a convenient, at-home form of this therapy, carries a high risk of infection. To reduce this risk, the PeritoneX is designed to disinfect PD systems. This syringe-based mechanism can improve lives by minimizing the potential for infection without increasing the time or dexterity required to perform PD.

Jared Brown

Bailey Eaton

Rachel Mann

Jared Brown, Bailey Eaton, Rachel Mann

Georgia Institute of Technology

Adviser: James Rains

SecURO

Prostate cancer affects one in nine men in the United States. When the prostate must be removed, poor visibility and restricted maneuverability can lead to human error and complications including life-threatening infections. Designed to make this procedure safer, SecURO is a single-use, automatic circular stitching device that places the stitches with the pull of a trigger, eliminating problems associated with hand-stitching. Patients can expect faster recovery times and fewer complications when SecURO is used.

Dicky Liu

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Adviser: Can Bayram

Cubic LEDs

LEDs are transforming the lighting industry, but widespread adoption of solid-state lighting is hindered by high upfront costs and green LEDs’ inefficiencies. For brighter, more efficient, more affordable full-spectrum phosphor-free lighting, Cubic LEDs are created on industry-standard silicon substrates nano-patterned with U-shaped grooves to facilitate the growth of pure, defect-free cubic phase gallium nitride. Cubic LEDs are cheaper, more efficient, brighter, produce less heat than conventional lights and LEDs, and can reduce both energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission globally.

Lia Winter

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Adviser: Lynn Youngs

EasyWhip

As many as 20% of all orthopedic reconstruction surgeries fail, leading to about 200,000 revision surgeries in the United States each year. To give surgeons more control over the process of stitching grafts, the EasyWhip™ double-loop stitching apparatus is the first to leverage removable, connected needle portions, resulting in a new whip stitching method that improves graft accuracy, reduces the need for costly revision surgeries and provides better overall outcomes for patients.

Maher Damak

Karim Khalil

Graduate Winner

Maher Damak, Karim Khalil

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Adviser: Kripa Varanasi

Infinite Cooling

Freshwater sources are in great demand as regions fall into drought. Because 39% of all freshwater withdrawals in the United States are attributed to power plants, Infinite Cooling can ionize and collect water from power plants’ cooling towers so it may be re-used as industrial and drinking water. If this invention was used in all power plants across the country, it could save as much as 200 billion gallons of water per year.

Mackenzie Andrews

Allisa J. Song

Jennifer Steger

Graduate Runner Up

Mackenzie Andrews, Allisa J. Song, Jennifer Steger

Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, University of Washington

Adviser: Raghu Mudumbai

Nanodropper

For millions of people with eye conditions such as glaucoma, the unregulated size of eyedropper tip openings poses significant problems. Oversized drops dispensed from these bottles result in wasted medication, leading many patients to run out before their insurance will cover a refill — and each missed dose can contribute to vision loss. Nanodropper is a universal adapter for eyedrop medication bottles that creates smaller and more efficacious droplets to reduce waste, decreases per-dose costs and ultimately increases access to expensive, essential medications.

Joshua Barnett

Tony Chen

Mahdi Al-Husseini

Joshua Barnett, Tony Chen, Mahdi Al-Husseini

Georgia Institute of Technology, Stanford University

Advisers: Shivan Amin, Rocco Giustino, Marty Jacobson, Thomas J. Leppert V.

SALUS (Stabilizing Aerial Loads Utility System)

When helicopters hoist patients, soldiers or cargo, turbulent winds created by the blades can cause the people or objects lifted from the ground to spin, leading to serious damage or even death. SALUS (Stabilizing Aerial Loads Utility System) is an electromechanical stabilization system that uses flywheel technology for safer aerial transport. This innovative device can stabilize a hoisted load in seconds, significantly reducing the time needed to perform a potentially life-saving aerial hoist.