Alexandria, VA — June 9, 2008 — Three of the six 2008 JETS/AbilityOne National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC) finalist coaches have been named Excite Award recipients and Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams finalists: Jeremy Wickenheiser from Edcouch, Elsa High School, Edcouch, TX; Jim Stewart from Garfield-Palouse High School, Palouse, WA; and Scott Grant from Texas Academy of Math and Science, Denton, TX. Excite Awards are given to applicants who have submitted the initial InvenTeam grant application and have been selected to complete the final application.

Through a unique partnership established between JETS and the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams program, NEDC finalist team coaches are automatically offered the Excite Award at the conclusion of the NEDC competition. "JETS goal is to continue fostering the excitement for engineering and give our coaches the opportunity to bring this enthusiasm back into the classroom. The Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams program bridges this gap and continues to be a tremendous value to our educators," says Leann Yoder, JETS executive director.

Excite Award recipients are invited to the annual InvenTeams Odyssey at EurekaFest, where they attend workshops on invention and learn about the experience first-hand from other InvenTeams that are at the culmination of fulfilling their grants. Travel, food and lodging for the Odyssey are provided for Excite Award recipients. Excite Award recipients will participate in one full day of training during EurekaFest and are invited to submit an application in early September to become a grantee for the following year.

The NEDC is a real-world high school engineering design competition in which teams of students from across the nation design and build an assistive technology device for use by a person with a disability in his or her workplace. The three coaches honored with the Excite Award began working with student teams to compete in NEDC in September 2007. Teams first identified a workplace scenario that currently challenged persons with disabilities. Next, they worked together to solve the challenge by designing, testing and presenting their devices. These three coaches and their teams were among the top six NEDC Natioanl Finalists in 2008, and each received a free trip to Washington, D.C. for the finals competition and a cash prize for their school.

Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams is a national grants initiative of the Lemelson-MIT Program to foster inventiveness among high school students. InvenTeams composed of high school students, teachers and mentors are asked to collaboratively identify a problem that they want to solve, research the problem, and then develop a prototype invention as an in-class or extracurricular project. Grants of up to $10,000 support each team's efforts. InvenTeams are encouraged to work with community partners, specifically the potential beneficiaries of their invention.

The National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC) is a JETS competition made possible through a partnership with NISH and the AbilityOne program. For more information, email nedc@jets.org or visit the JETS Web site at www.jets.org.

Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS)
JETS is the leading non-profit educational organization dedicated to promoting engineering and technology careers to America's youth. From exciting student competitions to assessment tools and career exploration materials, JETS helps students plan for rewarding futures by showing them how engineering can help them pursue their dreams. JETS programs touch more than 40,000 students and 10,000 educators from 6,000 high schools across the country every year.

Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams is a national grants initiative of the Lemelson-MIT Program to foster inventiveness among high school students. InvenTeams composed of high school students, teachers and mentors are asked to collaboratively identify a problem that they want to solve, research the problem, and then develop a prototype invention as an in-class or extracurricular project. Grants of up to $10,000 support each team's efforts. InvenTeams are encouraged to work with community partners, specifically the potential beneficiaries of their invention.