College Inventor Winners Announced

The Collegiate Inventors Competition is providing a glimpse into the future of American innovation, courtesy of its contest winners.

Surgical solutions were among the four winning inventions recognized and honored at this year’s competition. Finalist teams (five undergraduate and five graduate), consisting of 19 students from nine U.S. colleges and universities, presented their inventions to a panel of final-round judges earlier this month. The panel was composed of influential U.S. inventors and innovation experts—National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) officials.
 
“For nearly 35 years, the Collegiate Inventors Competition has served as a launchpad for emerging inventors who have the potential to make a significant impact on the world,” National Inventors Hall of Fame CEO Michael Oister. “We are proud to recognize and reward these young innovators who have harnessed an innovative mindset and the power of intellectual property to solve the world’s greatest challenges.”
 
Established in 1990, the Collegiate Inventors Competition is a program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame and is sponsored by the USPTO. In addition to cash awards, the winning teams also receive a USPTO Patent Acceleration Certificate.
 

FIRST-PLACE WINNERS ($10,000 PRIZE)

UNDERGRADUATE:
The Nerve Ninja, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Team Members: Zach Spears, Molly Paras, Lauren Fitzsimmons; Adviser: John P. Puccinelli
A precise solution for safer surgeries: Iatrogenic injuries, or unintentional damage in medical treatments, can occur in many surgeries. In delicate carpal tunnel release (CTR) surgeries, there can be direct damage to nerves and tissue from surgical instruments that have not progressed in decades. The Nerve Ninja enhances safety and efficiency during such procedures by combining the precision of a scalpel blade with the utility of surgical scissors. Featuring a surgical forceps with a groove along one tine and a scalpel slider housed on top, this invention allows surgeons to safely and easily dissect and cut tissue.
 
GRADUATE:
Nutrient-Stabilizing Materials, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Team Member: Linzixuan (Rhoda) Zhang; Advisers: Robert Langer, Ana Jaklenec
Fortifying foods for better world health: The World Health Organization promotes food fortification as the most cost-effective way to address the micronutrient deficiencies experienced by 2 billion people worldwide. While conventional methods of fortifying foods with nutrient supplements can lead to health and environmental issues, Nutrient-Stabilizing Materials offer an innovative alternative. Based on metal-organic frameworks, crystalline compounds consisting of metal ions or clusters chemically bonded with organic molecules, Nutrient-Stabilizing Materials can be incorporated into foods or taken orally as supplements. Production is time-efficient, energy-efficient, cost-effective and scalable. Using only food-derived molecules, the result is a safe, natural product.
The Nutrient-Stabilizing Materials team also won the 2024 People’s Choice Award ($2,000 prize).
  

RUNNER-UP WINNERS ($5,000 PRIZE)

UNDERGRADUATE:
FetalCare Port System, Johns Hopkins University
Team Members: Selena Shirkin, Eric McAlexander, Gloria Kalnitskaya, Ayeeshi Poosarla; Adviser: Ahmet Baschat
Reducing risks in fetal surgeries: Fetal surgery can correct life-threatening fetal abnormalities in the womb with minimally invasive procedures. However, without specific surgical tools designed for fetal use, surgeons must adapt instruments meant for other procedures and indications. To address this issue, the FetalCare Port System is tailored to the uterine environment, reducing risks of membrane rupture and pre-term births—critical problems in fetal surgeries. The system’s design, with an obturator that allows for more precise cutting through the uterine membrane and a radially expanding port sheath, streamlines the surgical process and improves overall efficiency.
 
GRADUATE:
Photoconductive Semiconductor Switch (PCSS), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Team Members: Zhuoran Han, Jaekwon Lee; Adviser: Can Bayram
A reliable switch for a carbon-neutral electric grid: Increased energy demand and climate change cause power outages, disrupting daily lives and costing American households $150 billion annually. Photoconductive Semiconductor Switches (PCSS) promise to address complex challenges faced by the aging U.S. power grid and transform it into a more reliable and resilient grid. The diamond-based PCSS technology allows for faster recovery from outages and improves grid stability with rapid switching, high-voltage capabilities and exceptional reliability, while reducing reliance on fossil fuels, enabling wider adoption of renewable sources and advancing toward net-zero emissions.
 
The Collegiate Inventors Competition is an annual contest that has rewarded innovations, discoveries, and research by college and university students and their faculty advisers for nearly 35 years. A program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, this competition recognizes and rewards the research, innovations and discoveries by college students and their advisers for projects leading to inventions that have the potential of receiving patent protection. Introduced in 1990, the competition has featured more than 500 innovators who have created world-changing inventions, and awarded more than $1 million of support to winning student teams for their work and scientific achievement through the help of its sponsors.