Student Wins $30,000 for Creation of Solar Lantern for the Developing World

URBANA, Ill., April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- When Patrick Walsh visited India as part of a delegation of Engineers Without Borders (EWB), he expected his life to be impacted. He just didn't know how much.

The India trip, following his freshman year in college, put him on a path to change the way 1.6 billion people light their homes. Walsh's innovation -- a battery-powered, solar-charged LED lamp -- was responsible for his being named the winner of this year's $30,000 Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize. The award ceremony was held on February 28th at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"Our university is at the delicious stage, where the institution itself is creative and is itself a seedbed of discovery," remarked U of I Chancellor Richard Herman, addressing the five finalists and others in attendance at the award ceremony. "Illinois is now known as one of the leading institutions for creation of new works. Your inventions embody that idea."

This is the second year for the Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize at Illinois, which encourages the creation of sustainable new solutions to real world problems. The $30,000 Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize is funded through a partnership with the Lemelson-MIT Program.

"Patrick's solar-powered units are brighter, safer, healthier, longer-lasting, and less expensive light for people with unreliable electricity, or as a main light for people who do not have an electrical connection in the home," explained Andrew Singer, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Technology Entrepreneur Center at Illinois.

"By replacing kerosene lamps for lighting within the home, the portable lamp will not only reduce the $38 billion in fuel supplies every year but will also eliminate the health risks both in terms of indoor air quality and the potential for accidental fires that kerosene lamps create," said Walsh. His new company, Greelight Planet, Inc. Is preparing to launch the first of its lamps, the SolarFlare, this spring.

As a part-time entrepreneur in training, Walsh took top honors in the University's V. Dale Cozad Business Plan Competition last year. In December 2007, he received a Mondialogo Engineering Award, given by a partnership between UNESCO and DaimlerChrysler. Walsh has also received grants from the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) to further prototype development and distribution in India.

Administered by the Technology Entrepreneur Center, the Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize is awarded on an annual basis to an undergraduate or graduate student who has created or improved a product or process, applied technology in a new way, redesigned a system, or demonstrated remarkable innovativeness in other ways.

In addition to Walsh, the finalists for this year's Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize included: Stephen Diebold -- undergraduate student in industrial design, College of Fine & Applied Arts; Christopher Fields -- graduate student in chemistry, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences; Yun Fu -- graduate student in electrical and computer engineering, College of Engineering; and Shravan Gaonkar -- graduate student in computer science, College of Engineering.

About the Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize

The $30,000 Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize is awarded to a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who has demonstrated remarkable inventiveness and innovation.

The $30,000 Lemelson-Illinois 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. (see: web.mit.edu/invent)