Lemelson-MIT Program

Building on his knowledge of organic chemistry, Timothy Swager, John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry and Head of the Department of Chemistry at the MIT, designs molecules with novel functions and applies them in the real world. Through advancements in molecular wires, Swager has invented a new class of highly sensitive materials, which are employed in explosives detection and have potential applications in healthcare, environmental protection, and security. Swager received the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for his inventiveness, illustrated in this video profile. ?

Littleton High School of Littleton, New Hampshire, was a 2003 pilot InvenTeams grantee that has since sustained a culture of inventiveness. In this video from the 2007 InvenTeams Showcase at MIT, the InvenTeam describes Project Argus, a remote-sensing network device it has been inventing to monitor the weather.

Merrimack High School from Merrimack, New Hampshire, received a 2007 InvenTeams grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program to invent a solar-powered biodiesel processor, which it used and tested as fuel in an old Air Force bus acquired by the InvenTeam. In this video an InvenTeam student describes the project at the InvenTeams Showcase, held at MIT in June 2007.

Johnson High School InvenTeam from St. Paul, Minnesota, received a 2006 InvenTeams grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program to invent a portable hydraulic press that can create a product from recycled sawdust waste that accumulates in its wood shop class. In this video, the InvenTeam explains its project at the InvenTeams Showcase, held at MIT in June 2006.

St. Paul's School from Concord, New Hampshire, received a 2006 InvenTeams grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program to create a fall sensor for the elderly -- a wearable device that transmits a nursing home patient's motion to a nurse's station that monitors the data. In this video, the InvenTeam presents its project at the InvenTeams Odyssey, held at MIT in June 2006.

Video taken during a summer 2008 trip by Catlin Powers and Scot Frank to Ladakh, India and Yunnan, China. Detailed within are some aspects of rural life, the terain, modes of transportation, people, and culture. This trip was related to field research into suitable areas for more portable and light weight solar cooker and heating system for the Himalayan region. In association with One Earth Designs, a non-profit focusing on engineering solutions for high-altitude community innovation.

Rada Monkey Girl

An introduction to Sacha Yaku and its work on the potable water system of an indigenous community in Ecuador. Sacha Yaku is now starting an "Art for Water" program to tell the story of Santa Ana in the United States and by selling traditional jewelry and pottery to raise money for the water system. The program was started by a pair of MIT undergraduates in 2006 (Froylan Sifuentes ChemE '09 and Kendra Johnson 1E '09).

Upper Darby High School from Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, received a 2006 InvenTeams grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program to invent an omni-directional wheelchair. In this video, the InvenTeam presents its prototype at MIT, upon completion of the grant. As demonstrated, the wheelchair is capable of translational, lateral and rotational movements.

Nerinx Hall High School from Webster Groves, Missouri, received a 2006 InvenTeams grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program to invent the Water Treatment and Transportation Apparatus (WTTA). In this video, the InvenTeam presents its prototype at MIT, upon completion of the grant. Inspired by two students who visited southern Mexico during a spring-break service trip, this device is designed to ease the burden on women who are tasked with hauling five-gallon buckets of water to their homes and provide cleaner water for their households' use.

MIT AeroAstro Space Systems Lab's SPHERES microsatellites are tested on the International Space Station.

A 100 uF oil-filled capacitor is charged to 3 KV. This takes approximately 15 minutes to charge, creating a charge on the capacitor that could be lethal. The capacitor is then discharged through a 12" length of 30 gauge bare iron wire.When the high voltage current flows through though high resistance wire, the bonds between iron molecules are shattered, resulting in a loud bang, a shower of sparks, and a cascade of wispy filaments floating through the air.Not all of the charge on the capacitor is disharged through the wire, so a shorting bar must be used to release the remaining charge.

A Presentation by Eric Hudson, Associate Professor of Physics at MIT, on imaging high-temperature superconductors by scanning tunneling microscopy.

Students give a presentation on imaging the two gaps of a high-temperature superconductor

Part 1 of a MSRP 2008 graduate application panel consisting of: Paula Hammond - Bayer Professor of Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering Dava Newman - Professor, MacVicar Faculty Fellow, Director TPP, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautic Stephen Bell - Professor, Department of Biology Terry Orlando - Professor, Graduate Officer, Ashdown Housemaster, Dept of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

A short documentary about streptomyces, rhodococcus, and the search for new antibiotics. By Graduate Program in Science Writing students Grace Chua, Allyson Collins, and Lissa Harris.

A short documentary about streptomyces, rhodococcus, and the search for new antibiotics. Made by Graduate Program in Science Writing Students Andrew Moseman, Rachel VanCott, Megan Rulison, and Ashley Yeager.

The Bromfield School from Harvard, Massachusetts, received a 2007 InvenTeams grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program to create a memory-assist device for people with Alzheimer's, dementia, and other memory-related illnesses. In this video, the InvenTeam explains its project at the InvenTeams Showcase, held at MIT in June 2007.

Part 2 of MSRP 2008 a graduate application panel consisting of:Paula Hammond - Bayer Professor of Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical EngineeringDava Newman - Professor, MacVicar Faculty Fellow, Director TPP, Department of Aeronautics and AstronauticStephen Bell - Professor, Department of BiologyTerry Orlando - Professor, Graduate Officer, Ashdown Housemaster, Dept of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science??

As part of the DARPA Learning Locomotion project, the CSAIL Robot Locomotion Group under the direction of Prof. Russ Tedrake has been designing robust control strategies for a small quadruped robot to dynamically traverse rough terrain containing obstacles with heights comparable to the leg length of the robot. The success of these efforts was due to an efficient kinematic planning algorithm which selects footholds and transitions across the terrain, and on the design of new kinodynamic motion planning tools for double-support gaits (in which two feet are off the ground at the same time for a portion of the gait cycle).This video, taken by Katie Byl, MIT MechE PhD candidate, demonstrates a rare combination of careful foot placements and aggressive dynamic movements, all generated by the same machinery. The robot, 'LittleDog,' is built by Boston Dynamics and operates in a motion capture environment with 'known' terrain; the hope is that this technology will transition to the 'BigDog' robot in the near future in order to improve its capabilities for negotiating 'extreme' terrain.?

Yossi Sheffi Director, MIT Center for Transportation Professor, Engineering Systems, MITCTL Director Yossi Sheffi discusses his book The Resilient Enterprise: Overcoming Vulnerability for Competitive Advantage, in which he argues that a company s survival and prosperity depend more on what it does before a disruption occurs than on the actions it takes as the event unfolds. Dr. Sheffi focuses not only on security but on corporate resilience - the ability to bounce back from such disruptions - and how to turn that resilience into competitive advantage.

Martin Fisher is co-founder of the non-profit social enterprise KickStart. To date, Fisher s low-cost irrigation pumps and innovative business model have helped to lift nearly 80 percent of his customers poor African farmers out of poverty. Biography | Press Release

Joseph DeSimone, Chancellor s Eminent Professor of Chemistry at of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a polymer expert who has inventions in green manufacturing, nanomedicine and medical devices. His lab-to-market entrepreneurship and commitment to mentorship are hallmarks of his career.BiographyPress Release ?

Tess Veuthy ('08) and Maria Luckyanova ('08) discuss their non-profit organization, Developing World Prosthetics, and their work in India with the Jaipur Foot Organization. Their team, Vac-Cast Prosthetics, now called Developing World Prosthetics, won the 2006-2007 MIT IDEAS Competition.

Phi Ho ('08) discusses his work with The Global Child in Cambodia while on a Public Service Fellowship.

An interesting way of demonstrating the operation of a stepper motor. The rotating wire makes contact with the stepper coils in a specific sequence that causes the motor to "step."

The first act of the play "Moby-Dick: Then and Now," directed by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, and performed in North Kingstown, RI in July 2007.

Clip of Rudy Cabrera describing his thoughts on performance in the theater and in real life.

The CNN series "Innovators" spotlights MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Senior Lecturer Susan Murcott and her work to bring clean water to developing countries. It highlights the innovation of the Kanchan [Note: Kanchan should have superscript TM and should be in italics if you can do that] Arsenic Filter, which she, together with a team of Nepali partners and a former student, Tommy Ngai, invented in 2002. The Kanchan [italics] filter removes both arsenic and microbial contamination from drinking water is one example of the pioneering work she and others are engaged in - the design and dissemination of household drinking water treatment and safe storage systems - a new cluster of innovative technologies to bring safe water to people everywhere. See also: http://web.mit.edu/watsan