The Collegiate Inventors Competition

Hi Everyone. The point of this podcast is to introduce you to some of the brightest young innovators in our world today and to an event that highlights their talents. I am going to be talking about the Collegiate Inventors Competition. This competition started in 1990 and has been acknowledging college minds across the country for twenty-three years now. It has encouraged hundreds of students to share their efforts and innovations with the world. The inventions are created not just to win a competition, but to benefit the future of our society. This event allows students to present their creative passions and put on display their level of expertise.

Just some background info on the event.. All college students are allowed to enter and the invention can be directed towards science, engineering, technology or any other endeavor. Entries are judged on the uniqueness, creativity, technology and the potential value it has to society. It is split up in two sections: The graduate division and the undergraduate division. In the graduate division, 1^st place wins 15,000 dollars. 2^nd place wins 12,500 dollars. 3^rd place wins 10,000 dollars. In the undergraduate division, 1^st place wins 

12,500 dollars. 2^nd place wins 10,000 dollars. 3^rd place wins 7,500 dollars.

Now I’m going to give credit to the winning inventors from the past couple years:

The most recent winners for the graduate division and undergraduate divisions are Inanc Ortac from the University of California and the team of Leslie Myint, Daniel Peng, Andy Tu, and Stephen Van Kooten from Johns Hopkins University. Ortac created Nano-Wiffle-Balls for cancer therapy. The invention offers a therapeutic strategy based on hiding and protecting immunogenic non-human enzymes from the immune system and their delivery to the target. The Johns Hopkins team developed a product called FastStitch. It is a plier-like device that can drive and transfer a needle across its jaw, intended to provide improved fascia closure during abdominal surgery.

In 2011, the graduate first prize went to Kyle Allison from Boston University. The under graduate winner was the team of Patrick Cassidy, Sean Heyrman, Alexander Johnson, and Anthony Sprangers from the University of Wisconsin. Allison’s invention was the Metabolite-Mediated Elimination of Bacterial Persisters. This invention is a type of therapy that utilizes specific metabolites and the aminoglycoside class of antibiotics to eliminate bacteria.  The University of Wisconsin’s team invented BarrierASAP. This is a thermoreversible fluid that is injected as a liquid and forms a solid gel at body temperature, providing protection to healthy tissue.

One of today’s most booming fields is healthcare and most of the innovations created by these students are related to health sciences. However the variety of inventions is vast. It’s amazing to see our youth contributing in such a monumental way.

For more information on the competition or previous winners and their inventions, visit www.invent.org.