Late last week, the USPTO announced the winners of the 2006 Collegiate Inventors Competition, and the Grant Prize went to Matthew Haugland of the University of Oklahoma. According to the invent.org website link below, Mr. Haugland’s technology focused on accurately predicting temperatures at night after purchasing land and installing a number of weather stations on the plot to obtain temperature data, and based on the data he collected, Mr. Haugland “developed a weather forecasting technique that accurately predicts nighttime temperatures.” For winning the competition, Mr. Haugland received a $25,000 prize. First place in the Graduate Category ($15,000) went to Craig Hashi and YiQian Zhu, both from the University of California, Berkeley, for their development of a vascular graft made from a polymer and a patients own bone marrow stem cells. First place ($10,000) in the Undergraduate Category went to Fan Yang of Johns Hopkins University for her development of a coating for contact lenses to prevent bacteria from adhering, thus reducing the risk of a contact lens-induced eye infection. The Collegiate Inventors Competition first took place in 1990, and is held on an annual basis and “promotes exploration in invention, science, engineering, technology, and other creative endeavors and provides a window on the future technologies from which society will benefit in the future.”

USPTO Press Release: LINK
Collegiate Inventors Competition Overview: LINK
Invent.org Webpage for Matthew Haugland: LINK
Invent.org Webpage for Craig Hashi & YiQian Zhu: LINK
Invent.org Webpage for Fan Yang: LINK