On Wednesday, October 14, 2015 the Lemelson-MIT program announced that Stockbridge High School has received a Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams™ grant of up to $10,000!
Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams™ are teams of high school students, educators, and mentors that receive grants up to $10,000 each to invent technological solutions to real-world problems. InvenTeams research intellectual property, exchange ideas, design parts, build models, and make modifications as they develop their invention prototypes. They learn to move forward through challenges and celebrate “Eureka!” moments, all while cultivating their technical leadership skills. Projects are collaborative efforts, driven by the students. The InvenTeam initiative fosters a “learning-by-doing” environment fueled by inquiry-based thinking.
The Stockbridge High School InvenTeam’s proposed invention is an accessory for a GoPro style sports/action camera that turns the Camera into a low cost, remote underwater camera and water quality monitoring system capable of shooting time-lapse photography for up to 5 days at a time in remote locations without having to change batteries or SD cards. At the heart of our project is the unique base and mounting system which also houses a sensor package capable of collecting water quality data and logging the data on an SD card. Image, GPS and water quality data which has been logged on the SD card can then be used by scientists to study the effect of lampricide on reducing numbers of invasive Sea Lamprey in the Great Lakes. This invention will be used by marine biologists, teachers, researchers and citizen scientist to capture photographic and water quality data in aquatic environments over extended periods of time. This invention will increase the effectiveness of current research methods with the goal of improving the efficiency of lampricide application within the tributaries to the Great Lakes.
The team members are Poppy Cox (11), Faith Whitt (10), Madison Howard (10), Kelly Cool (10), Michelle Zemke (9), Katelyn Knieper(9), Baylee Heidrich (8) and Sylvia Whitt (8). The team’s faculty mentors are Mr. Richards and Mr. Trapp. The team will also be working with Julie Hinderer, Senior Science Program Associate at the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission has pledged to support this team’s project with mentorship and field testing site selection.
Students, teachers, and mentors representing the Stockbridge InvenTeam will travel to Cambridge, Mass. in June for the Lemelson-MIT Program's EurekaFest, a multi-day celebration of the inventive spirit. InvenTeams present and showcase their prototypes at EurekaFest’s public exhibit. Teams are inspired by the National Collegiate Student Prize winners, MIT faculty, and one another.
True success for each InvenTeam is students having fun throughout the grant cycle while collaborating to build a useful and unique device that positively impacts the lives of others. - See more at: http://lemelson.mit.edu/inventeams#sthash.ytIQrAzU.dpuf
