The Lemelson-MIT Program today announced the winners of the Lemelson-MIT National Collegiate Student Prize Competition (NCSPC), 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. The winners of this year's competition 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."
2015 Prize Winners & Categories
The "Cure it!" Lemelson-MIT Student Prize
"Cure it!" rewards students working on technology-based inventions that can improve healthcare.
The "Drive it!" Lemelson-MIT Student Prize
"Drive it!" rewards students working on technology-based inventions that can improve transportation.
The "Eat it!" Lemelson-MIT Student Prize
"Eat it!" rewards students working on technology-based inventions that can improve food and agriculture.
The "Use it!" Lemelson-MIT Student Prize
"Use it!" rewards students working on technology-based inventions that can improve consumer devices and tools.
Applicants were evaluated by screening committees with expertise in the inventive categories as well as a national judging panel of industry leaders - who also select the annual $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize winner - from a variety of inventive disciplines. Screeners 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.
The competition, supported by The Lemelson Foundation, 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."
Students interested in applying for the 2016 Lemelson-MIT National Collegiate Student Prize Competition can find more information here.
The Lemelson-MIT Program is seeking partners with interest in sponsoring the competition, in addition to supporting the execution and scaling into any new categories. Interested sponsors should contact Joshua Schuler at awards-lemelson@mit.edu .
###
ABOUT THE LEMELSON-MIT PROGRAM
The Lemelson-MIT Program celebrates outstanding inventors and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention.
Jerome H. Lemelson, one of U.S. history's most prolific inventors, and his wife Dorothy founded the Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994. It is funded by The Lemelson Foundation and administered by the School of Engineering at MIT, an institution with a strong ongoing commitment to creating meaningful opportunities for K-12 STEM education.
ABOUT THE LEMELSON FOUNDATION
Based in Portland, The Lemelson Foundation uses the power of invention to improve lives. Inspired by the belief that invention can solve many of the biggest economic and social challenges of our time, the Foundation helps the next generation of inventors and invention-based businesses to flourish. The Lemelson Foundation was established in the early 1990s by prolific inventor Jerome Lemelson and his wife Dorothy. To date the Foundation has made grants totaling more than $185 million in support of its mission. For more information, visit http://lemelson.org .