Recognizing Tomorrow's Leaders Today

Today's young inventors are tomorrow's technological and entrepreneurial leaders. The $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize seeks to recognize and inspire these burgeoning inventors and innovators.

The student prize is awarded annually to an MIT senior or graduate student who has created or improved a product or process, applied a technology in a new way, redesigned a system or in other ways demonstrated remarkable inventiveness. Award winners gain invaluable exposure to the science, business and investment communities through national press around this award.

Past winners include Brian Hubert for developing the world's first nanoassembly machine and Amy Smith for inventing low-tech devices for addressing problems in developing countries. Find out more about past recipients in our Winners' Circle.

Eligibility Requirements
All MIT seniors and graduate students are eligible to compete for this award regardless of major. Applicants must be individual inventors; teams are not eligible.

Two letters of recommendation from MIT faculty or research-scientist staff must be included as part of the application.

Award Process
Interested students may apply by completing the online application form, which can be accessed on the right side of this page. Once your application is submitted, a distinguished panel of MIT alumni including scientists, technologists, engineers and entrepreneurs selects the winner.

This award is part of a comprehensive program administered by the Lemelson-MIT Program and established by the Lemelson Foundation to raise the stature of inventors and to inspire invention among young people.

New Student Prizes
The student prize has expanded to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and California Institute of Technology. Funded by the Lemelson-MIT Program, the $30,000 Lemelson-Rensselaer Student Prize, the $30,000 Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize, and the $30,000 Lemelson-Caltech Student Prize are modeled after the $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Student Prize; however, each is administered by its respective school.