For the sixth year, The Lemelson Foundation is giving $100 awards to outstanding young inventors in Society Affiliate Fairs with middle school participants around the country. The prize was created to reward young inventors whose projects exemplify the ideals of inventive thinking by identifying challenges in their communities and creating solutions that will improve lives.

Tochi Ugochukwu, seventh grader from Rochester, New York, combined his passion for engineering with his hope of helping his community by creating a solar protection and absorption system. His innovative blinds harness energy from the sun, keeping homes powered all year long. This project earned Tochi the Lemelson Early Inventor Award at the Terra Rochester Finger Lakes Science & Engineering Fair and was Tochi’s first STEM project.

Tochi designed solar-powered blinds to store and use the energy from the sun to power LEDs. Not only were the blinds effective, but Tochi also tried to make the blinds affordable as well. “Using these materials would make it much more accessible to the worldwide community,” Tochi said.

The estimated cost breakdown was the following:

• Vinyl Blinds: $5–$10
• Four solar panels: $10–$20
• LED lights: $5–$10
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  Total costs around $30

Tochi faced several hurdles during his project, particularly in figuring out a way to secure the solar panels to the blinds so that they could still open and close effectively.

With this being Tochi’s first project, there came a lot of trial and error. Despite the need for improvements, Tochi said he was happy with the overall results.

“When the light hit the solar blinds, the solar panels stored the energy and transferred it to the LEDs,” Tochi explained. “This allowed the LEDs to stay on for double the time the light was shined on the solar panels.”

From the start, Tochi knew he wanted to focus his project on renewable energy, emphasizing the need to explore sustainable energy sources due to Earth’s finite resources. “Renewable energy is our future,” Tochi said. “The sooner we can find a way to safely harness natural elements, the brighter our time ahead looks.”

Winning the Lemelson Early Inventor Prize reaffirmed Tochi’s belief that his hard work could pay off and that he could apply the same work ethic toward future projects. Tochi’s passion for the subject helped keep him motivated. He confidently spoke with the judges, driven by his enthusiasm.

Tochi’s ambitions do not stop at being an engineer. He also hopes to be an architect, weaving his STEM knowledge with design. In addition to his interest in STEM, he also enjoys painting, drawing and writing stories.

“As long as there’s something to create, I’ll make it,” Tochi said. “Whether that be drawing, painting, acting, writing, building, I’ll be there.”