Four Student Teams’ Innovations Win 2024 Collegiate Inventors Competition

The 2024 Collegiate Inventors Competition, an annual competition for college and university students and their advisers, provided a glimpse into the future of American innovation and emerging technological trends from the nation’s brightest young innovators. Students were recognized and honored in mid-October for their inventions — from a fetal surgery device to technology allowing for faster recovery from power outages.

Ten finalist teams comprising 19 students from nine colleges and universities across the United States presented their inventions to a panel of final-round judges composed of the most influential inventors and innovation experts in the nation: National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees and United States 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,” said 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.”

The competition’s first-place winners ($10,000 prize) were an undergraduate team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who created “The Nerve Ninja,” a precise solution for safer surgeries, and a graduate team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who developed nutrient-stabilizing materials to help fortify foods for better world health.

The runners-up ($5,000 prize) were an undergraduate team from Johns Hopkins University and a graduate team from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Advised by Ahmet Baschat, the Hopkins team members were Selena Shirkin, Gloria Kalnitskaya, Ayeeshi Poosarla and Severna Park resident Eric McAlexander. They presented the FetalCare Port System, designed to reduce 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 unique 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.

The graduate team was honored for their photoconductive semiconductor switch, designed to allow for faster recovery from power outages and improved grid stability.

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.