Illinois Innovation Award & Fiddler Innovation Fellowship

The Illinois Innovation Award honors University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students for excellence in cutting-edge innovation or translational research that addresses real-world problems and has the potential to make a significant impact. The recipient will receive a monetary award of $20,000 in the form of direct deposit to the student’s University account, and a trophy. The Illinois Innovation Award is awarded by The Grainger College of Engineering through the Technology Entrepreneur Center. $450,000 has been awarded to student innovators since 2007.

Eligibility
Graduate or undergraduate students who are registered as full-time, on-campus students during the 2024-2025 academic year at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are eligible.

Evaluation Criteria
Special achievement in innovation or translational research.

Nomination Requirements
Complete the nomination form and upload the following documents: 1) Nomination letter, 2) Letter from the nominee describing their role in innovative achievements and/or translational research, and 3) Resume of the nominee. Note: University units, faculty members, mentors, and advisors may nominate. Mentors do not have to be employed by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Students may not nominate.

Submission
Each unit is limited to two nominations. Nominations should be submitted by the deadline via the nomination form.

Selection
A limited number of finalists will be chosen by the Illinois Innovation Award Committee. The finalists will be notified by email and will be announced prior to the Awards Ceremony. One recipient will be chosen from among the finalists, and will be announced at the Awards Ceremony in Spring 2025.

For more information, see the Illinois Innovation Award Rules & Guidelines.

Past Illinois Innovation Award Recipients

Janet Sorrells (2023 Recipient) Janet, a graduate student in Bioengineering, is working on novel sensing technologies for biomedical applications at the Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory to address critical needs for improving speed and accuracy. Janet has used her technology to characterize metabolic signatures of extracellular vesicles in cancer with the hope of using her technology for rapid biomarker detection in clinical screening and diagnostics. Learn More

Guanhua Xun (2022 Recipient) Guanhua, a graduate student in Bioengineering, is a member of the research group led by Professor Huimin Zhao. The research team developed a rapid, Scalable, and Portable (SPOT) testing system for COVID-19 diagnosis. Guanhua is also developing a SPOT-based at-home testing system for rapid diagnosis of any viral respiratory infections in a single test.

Maha Alafeef (2021 Recipient) Maha, a PhD candidate in Bioengineering, developed an inexpensive, yet highly accurate nucleic acid-based test for COVID-19 diagnosis with sample to assay time of less than 5 minutes requiring no RNA isolation or nucleic acid amplification. The technology was licensed to RNA Disease Diagnostics, Inc., an early-stage biotech company.

Lucas Frye (2017 Recipient) Lucas, a Gies Business MBA graduate, is the founder of Amber Agriculture the maker of a grain bin monitoring system. The system can detect moisture and temperature to help prevent grain from spoiling. Amber Agriculture has raised $2 million in funding. Lucas was recently named to the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 Industry and Manufacturing list.

Ritu Raman (2015 Recipient) As a PhD candidate in Mechanical Science and Engineering, Ritu focused on using 3D printing to manufacture biological building blocks which can harness the innate abilities of biological materials. Ritu is now the d'Arbeloff Career Development Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, and her lab designs adaptive living materials.

The Fiddler Innovation Fellowship honors University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign undergraduate and graduate students for excellence in addressing cultural, societal, or global challenges with innovative solutions that incorporate the interdisciplinary areas of creativity, art or design, and technology. The innovative solution must have the potential for making a significant impact. The recipient will receive an award of $10,000 in the form of direct deposit to the student’s University account, and a trophy. The Fiddler Innovation Fellowship is awarded by the Emerging Digital Research and Education in Arts Media (eDream) Institute, which is endowed by Jerry Fiddler and Melissa Alden. eDream is based at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).

Eligibility
Students who are registered as full-time, on-campus students during the 2024-2025 academic year at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are eligible.

Evaluation Criteria
Special achievement in interdisciplinary innovation (which incorporates creativity, art or design, and technology) that addresses cultural, societal, or global challenges in the past two years.

Nomination Requirements
Complete the nomination form and upload the following documents: 1) Nomination letter, 2) Letter from the nominee describing their role in innovative achievements, and 3) Resume of the nominee. Note: University units, faculty members, mentors, and advisors may nominate. Mentors do not have to be employed by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Students may not nominate.

Submission
Each unit is limited to two nominations. Nominations should be submitted by the deadline via the nomination form.

Selection
A limited number of finalists will be chosen by the Fiddler Innovation Fellowship Committee. The finalists will be notified by email and will be announced prior to the Awards Ceremony. One recipient will be chosen from among the finalists, and will be announced at the Awards Ceremony in Spring 2025.

Past Fiddler Innovation Fellowship Award Recipients

Bara Sadaah (2023 recipient) Bara, a student at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, has developed an anti-fatigue vest for surgeons to reduce fatigue and provide muscle relief. The vest utilizes multiple sensors to measure the surgeon's posture in real-time and provides feedback, alerting them to correct any improper posture that may lead to fatigue. The long-term goal of the anti-fatigue vest is to address the physician shortage by reducing early retirement of surgeons due to deteriorating health. Learn More

Gabe Tavas (2022 recipient) Gabe, who recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Sustainable Design from the College of Fine and Applied Arts. He is the founder of Symmetry Wood, a biotech company that is focused on making a wood alternative made from bacterial waste from kombucha brewing. The bacteria is used to produce cellulose, the major component of wood.

Ariana Barreau (2021 recipient) Ariana is an MD candidate in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and co-founder of ProteCKD, a chronic kidney disease (CKD) pre-screening program that aims to reduce racial disparities in renal care and health expenditures in CKD care. Ariana is also co-founder of AxisMed, a healthcare innovation pre-incubator.

Ananya Cleetus (2020 recipient) Ananya has a bachelors degree in Computer Science and is the founder of Anemone, a mental health crisis app. The app allows users to create a safe space on their phone with built-in crisis plan tools, emergency resources, coping skills, and a virtual grounding box.

Jewel Ifeguni (2019 recipient) Jewel has a bachelors degree in Computer Science and is founder and CEO of YouMatter Studios, a virtual reality media startup focused on diversity and inclusion in media. YouMatter Studios has created How We Got Here, a docuseries that is forefronting Black Voices and shifting the nation’s conversation around allyship.