Lemelson-MIT’s 15th Annual EurekaFest Celebration
By: Kaitlyn McMullin, Brody Salazar, Erin Butts
From June 15 to 17, the Lemelson-MIT Program, funded by the Lemelson Foundation, celebrated 26 years of supporting inventors whose projects attempt to improve the world.
The Lemelson-MIT Program was established in 1995 by the late Dorothy Lemelson and awards several prizes, which can be as big as $500,000 to people of varying ages for their work as inventors.
To celebrate this, the 15th annual EurekaFest was held and showcased the 2021 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams. The event occurred on Zoom over the course of three days this year as a result of the ongoing pandemic. The InvenTeams were still able to present in the digital environment.
The first day of EurekaFest began with an introduction from the faculty director of the Lemelson-MIT program, Michael J. Cima. It continued with guest speaker Dr. Asegun Henry, presentations from Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams and student prize winners.
Lemelson-MIT’s InvenTeams consists of high school students from various countries who were given an InvenTeam grant and tasked with creating a functional model that solves an existing problem in their community or the world.
There were four group sessions. Group one's presentations showcased inventions related to recycling, deaf athletes, police accountability, plastic waste and eardrum repair. Group two's presentations demonstrated inventions related to wheelchairs, wildfires, microgravity and ocean environment.
Group three's inventions discussed elderly needs, nerve injuries, mosquitoes, pregnant mothers and clean drinking water. Group four's inventions discussed lake ice thickness, grain bins, energy efficient pumps and firefighter's boots.
As part of their work hours, interns from the new I3 program at Chaffey College attended EurekaFest. Similar to the Lemelson-MIT's InvenTeams showcased at EurekaFest, I3 interns will be building a working prototype with the potential of having their invention patented. Their invention will be targeted towards community needs.
The Summer Research Opportunity interns (SRO) were not obligated to attend EurekaFest, but interns may still find the event useful for their field of research. The goals of the SRO program are to find solutions to demanding needs and to discover new information within the STEM community.
The inventions that the IvenTeams and student prize winners presented can help keep SRO interns informed on what is currently happening in the STEM community, as well as what issues are being focused on.
The goal of the Lemelson-MIT program is to inspire students and educators to creatively solve problems through invention. They say their research confirms that their invention education helps “students of all backgrounds develop interest, confidence and capabilities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).” The purpose of EurekaFest is to inspire upcoming inventors by celebrating the creation of young inventors.
For more information about EurekaFest you can view Lemelson-MIT's webpage and check out each day of the event.