Handheld T-ray Device promises new capabilities

At the Center for Terahertz Research, more than 30 scientists actively conduct research and development in terahertz wave science and technology. Scientists and engineers from more than 100 universities, companies, medical schools, and clinics have visited Rensselaer’s terahertz facilities, and the team has helped scientists from 25 countries learn to use the technology.

The Lemelson-Rensselaer Student Prize is funded through a partnership with the Lemelson-MIT Program, which has awarded the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize to outstanding student inventors at MIT since 1995.

Nathan Ball, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the 2007 winner of the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize. Ball received the award for life-saving inventions including the ATLAS Powered Rope Ascender, a portable, battery-powered device that can lift a 250-pound load hundreds of feet into the air in a matter of seconds.

This year the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign also joined Rensselaer as a new partner institution with the announcement of the $30,000 Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize. Michael Callahan is the inaugural winner of the Lemelson- Illinois Student Prize. He is a graduate student in Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering who has invented a method to intercept neurological signals near the source of vocal production and convert the signals into speech. He hopes to make it possible for people with limited speech or movement abilities to communicate.

On May 3, the winners of all three student prizes will join together for a panel discussion at the Museum of Science, Boston. The panel is open to the public and included in the Exhibit Halls admission.

About Rensselaer Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is the nation’s oldest technological university. The university offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences, information technology, architecture, management, and the humanities and social sciences. Institute programs serve undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals around the world. Rensselaer faculty are known for pre-eminence in research conducted in a wide range of fields, with particular emphasis in biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, and the media arts and technology. The Institute is well known for its success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace so that new discoveries and inventions benefit human life, protect the environment, and strengthen economic development.