AKRON, Ohio, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Collegiate Inventors Competition, a program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, has announced the finalists for its 2006 Competition. This year's group of outstanding submissions includes students from diverse institutions across North America. The 2006 Collegiate Inventors Competition is sponsored by the Abbott Fund and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Jeffrey Dollinger, President of Invent Now, Inc., the subsidiary of the Hall of Fame that administers the Competition, said, "We're impressed by the high caliber finalists for this year. The innovations that they have created involve cutting edge technology. These students and their work are outstanding examples of what their generation's legacy will be."

The 2006 finalists are: Undergraduates Andrew Deonarine, University of Toronto (Advisor: Sarah Teichmann) An alignment-based method for searching text based on meaning (Advanced Web searching) Kari Thompson & Elizabeth Higgins, Doane College (Advisor: Andrea Holmes) Flunitrazepam colorimetric sensor (Date-rape drug sensor) Fan Yang, Johns Hopkins University (Advisor: Xiaobing Wang) Anti-adherent compounds for contact lenses (Anti-bacterial compounds) John Zhang, University of Calgary (Advisor: Jon Rokne) Chromatel (Advanced steganography) Graduates Xing Chen, University of California, Berkeley (Advisors: Carolyn Bertozzi and Alex Zettl) Cell nanoinjectors based on carbon nanotubes Adam Cohen, Stanford University (Advisor: William E. Moerner) Trap for single molecules Craig Hashi & YiQian Zhu, University of California, Berkeley (Advisor: Song Li) Nanograft: Tissue-engineered vascular graft Matthew Haugland, University of Oklahoma (Advisor: Kenneth Crawford) "Uncoupled surface layer" model (Temperature prediction model) Brandon Moore & Eiki Martinson, Florida Atlantic University (Advisor: Daniel Raviv) Vacuum-based water distillation Ki Tae Nam, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Advisor: Angela Belcher) Virus-assembled battery Amy Rosen, State University of New York at Stony Brook (Advisor: Ira Cohen) Tracking the 3-D distribution of delivered stem cells in vivo with quantum dot nanoparticles

The fourteen finalists, representing eleven entries, will travel to Alexandria, Virginia to present their inventions to a final panel of judges, comprised of National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees and other prominent technology experts, on October 18th. The winners will be announced at a special evening awards ceremony at the new United States Patent and Trademark Office headquarters in Alexandria. The top undergraduate winner will receive $10,000, the top graduate winner will receive $15,000, and the overall grand prize winner will receive $25,000. Winning advisors will also receive recognition and a $3,000 prize.

"The USPTO understands the incredible power of innovation," noted Jon Dudas, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property. "This year's collegiate inventors represent the amazing wealth of creative talent in America's universities. They are the new explorers whose ideas will improve lives around the world."

"At Abbott, innovation is key to our success in bringing new medicines and treatments to patients," said Bruce Beutel, PhD, Target and Lead Discovery, Abbott, the global research-based healthcare company. Dr. Beutel is also a final round judge for the competition. "We applaud these students for their initiative to address previously unresolved challenges. Their creativity and dedication to science will result in advances that affect everyone."

The process for the 2006 Competition began when entries were solicited from college and university campuses across North America. Each entry was judged on the originality of the idea, the novelty of the process or technology, and the invention's potential value and usefulness. The student finalists were selected through an exhaustive review by first round experts.

The Collegiate Inventors Competition encourages students to be active in science, engineering, mathematics, technology, and creative invention. This prestigious challenge recognizes and rewards the innovations, discoveries, and research by college and university students and their advisors for projects leading to inventions that can be patented. Introduced by the Hall of Fame in 1990, the Competition has annually rewarded individuals or teams for their innovative work and scientific achievement. For more information on the Competition, visit http://www.invent.org/collegiate. For more information on the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, visit http://www.invent.org/.

The Abbott Fund is a not-for-profit, philanthropic foundation established by Abbott.

For over 200 years, the basic role of the USPTO has remained the same: to promote the progress of science. Through the issuance of patents, the USPTO encourages technological advancement by providing incentives to invent, invest in, and disclose new technology worldwide. Through the registration of trademarks, the agency assists businesses in protecting their investments, promoting goods and services, and safeguarding consumers against confusion and deception in the marketplace. By disseminating both patent and trademark information, the USPTO promotes an understanding of intellectual property protection and facilitates the development and sharing of new technologies worldwide.

CONTACT: Rini Paiva of National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation,
+1-330-388-6160, or rpaiva@invent.org

Web site: http://www.invent.org/
http://www.invent.org/collegiate