Invention Factory 2016 Photo Gallery

For the fourth consecutive year, the Invention FactoryTM has taught students the essentials of inventing — from brainstorming an idea to researching precedents to building a prototype. This year the six-week program culminated in a rousing set of student presentations given to a panel of judges that included professors, inventors, engineers and patent lawyers. Many of the inventions were born out of a wish to ease the lives of people suffering from medical challenges. For instance, the winning team, Dongho Kim and John Yoon, designed a spoon that allows sufferers of tremors from numerous neurological diseases to eat with greater ease.

Below is a selection of photographs from the final review. Read the full story about the program and the inventions created this year.

Photos by Marget Long

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.