CHAMPAIGN (Chambana Today) – The National Inventors Hall of Fame has announced the winners this year, and the University of Illinois team Photoconductive Semiconductor Switch won the Graduate Runner-Up Award on Thursday. The winners were announced at the 2024 Collegiate Inventors Competition®, an annual competition for college and university students and their advisers.

Finalist teams consisted of five undergraduate and five graduate teams from nine colleges and universities across the United States. The competitors presented their inventions to a panel of judges composed of experts from the National Inventors Hall of Fame® Inductees and United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) officials.

Established in 1990, the Collegiate Inventors Competition is a program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame and is sponsored by the USPTO. Here is the full list of winners:

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 is the winner of 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 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.

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.

For more information, visit invent.org/collegiate-inventors.