Keith A. Brown, Xing Liao
Northwestern University
Invention: The Desktop Nanoprinter
As technologies like computer chips get smaller and smaller, the ability to quickly make tiny structures is increasingly important. The Desktop Nanoprinter provides a tool for engineers to create nano-prototypes with the touch of button. The nanoprinter uses thousands of tiny, independently controlled beams of light to write nano-scale features.
Advisor: Chad Mirkin

Keith Hearon
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Invention: Sustainable Nanocomposite Performance Plastics
Imagine a durable, biodegradable plastic bag made from orange peels. That's the future with Citrene™, a new family of plastics made from a naturally occurring citrus rind extract. This sustainably sourced plastic could soon be used in applications from medical devices to protective coatings, and of course, bags for oranges. 
Advisor: Duncan Maitland

George Korir 
Stanford University
Invention: Punch Card Programmable Microfluidics
Worldwide, nearly half of children who die under the age of five—98% of these in developing countries—are newborns. Punch Card Programmable Microfluidics technology is designed to change this. A simple-to-use, remarkable low-cost technology, it employs paper punch cards and a hand-crank system for the rapid and accurate diagnosis of neonatal sepsis.
Advisor: Manu Prakash

Rahul Mukherjee, Eklavya Singh
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Invention: Advanced All-Carbon Lithium Ion Batteries
As anyone with a smart phone knows, the Holy Grail of battery technology is faster charging and longer lasting. The Advanced All-Carbon Lithium Ion battery technology uses a mix of materials to deliver both. It's a biodegradable "green" chemistry combination, with no toxic metals, for abundant electricity on the go.
Advisor: Nikhil Koratkar

Alexander R. Nectow
The Rockefeller University
Invention: Retro-TRAP: Molecular Profiling of Neurons Based on Connectivity
For new treatments of brain diseases from depression to Parkinson's, neuroscientists need to determine how brain cells, or neurons, are both physically and functionally connected. Retro-TRAP provides the route to this 21st century view of our brains. It enables the ability to profile neuron types based on their connectivity in the brain.
Advisor: Jeffrey M. Friedman

Katarzyna M. Sawicka
SUNY Stony Brook University
Invention: Immuno-Matrix
Imagine vaccination without a needle and as simple as putting on a Band-Aid^®. The innovative ImmunoMatrix skin patch uses nanofibers to hold and effectively deliver a vaccine through the skin. It's painless, self-administered and doesn't produce biohazardous waste. The future of large-scale vaccination just got a patch on the arm.
Advisor: Sanford R. Simon

The 2014 final round judges include 10 Inductees from the National Inventors Hall of Fame: Edith Flanigen (Molecular Sieves), Eric Fossum (CMOS Active Pixel Image Sensor Camera-on-a-Chip), Marcian "Ted" Hoff (CPU), Don Keck (Optical Fibers), Al Langer (Implantable Heart Defibrillator), Kumar Patel (Carbon Dioxide Laser), Steve Sasson (Digital Camera), Spencer Silver (Post-It Notes), Jim West (Electret Microphone), and Robert Wilson (Plasma Display). Other judges include Elizabeth L. Dougherty (USPTO), George Elliott (USPTO), Wolfgang Fraunhofer (AbbVie) and Jeffrey Y. Pan (AbbVie).

About the Collegiate Inventors Competition: 
The Collegiate Inventors Competition recognizes and rewards undergraduate and graduate students who are committed to research, discovery, invention and innovation as they address the problems of today's world. The Competition specifically recognizes and rewards the innovations, discoveries and research by college university students and their advisors for projects leading to inventions that may have the potential of receiving patent protection. Introduced in 1990, the Competition has awarded more than $1 million to winning students for their innovative work and scientific achievement through the help of its sponsors.

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SOURCE Collegiate Inventors Competition