InvenTeam

Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams™ are grant-winning teams of high school students, teachers, and mentors who work together to invent technological solutions to real-world problems.

They receive up to $10,000 each from the Lemelson-MIT Program to support the development of these solutions, in the process honing hands-on skills in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Motivated by the lack of potable water in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013, the St. Anne’s-Belfield School InvenTeam pursued a grant from the Lemelson-MIT Program to invent an emergency water filter that could be delivered in large numbers following a disaster. The filter would process contaminated water to provide potable water for a short period of time while long-term relief is established. In October 2014 the team was awarded $9,258 to invent the CHINChILLA (Compact, Hybrid, In-situ, Nano-filtering, Chemical removing, Lightweight, Lixiviating, Appliance). In June 2015, the team traveled to MIT to participate in EurekaFest, the culminating conference of the grant cycle. More information on the InvenTeam’s CHINChILLA is available in the student-produced brochure.

In August 2017 the team will begin a process of identifying a new problem to solve.

In the News



Our InvenTeam won a Lemelson-MIT grant to create their CHINChILLA emergency water filter, and was featured on WVTF radio discussing the invention.