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George Mason University

2025 ASSIP Short Course: Aspiring Inventors’ Club

2025 Aspiring Scientists Short Courses

Students in Mason's Inventors Club

Aspiring Inventor's Club: Translating creating ideas into impactful inventions*
Instructors: Marissa Howard, PhD and Lance Liotta, MD, PhD

The 2025 Aspiring Inventor’s Fellowship Club will be addressing the world’s greatest challenges in engineering, global health, social wellness, and sustainability. Students will be able to choose a challenge area that will be advised by a local expert in the field. The Aspiring Inventor’s Fellowship Club is an intensive 7 week course that teaches students the fundamentals of inventorship, product design, and commercialization. The students are taught basic skills in creativity to identify problems and needs in the market to ultimately build a prototype solution to their identified problem. Students will have access, in the same building, to Mason’s Innovation Exchange Lab for skills acquisition portion of this experience. This includes 3D printing, microelectronics, wearable device design, CAD/CAM computer design, and tutorial in a fully function fabrication workshop. By the end of the session, students will have developed an original patentable idea and will outline an entrepreneurial plan for rolling out their invented prototype.  

Meeting Times: Sessions start June 24th through August 8th. Sessions will meet twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) from 3-5:30 PM in-person. Students, parents, and special guests are expected to also attend the Graduation Symposium on August 8th to present their inventions and pitch their products.  Attendance at each session is strongly recommended; no make-up sessions are provided. 

Program Cost: $800/student.  

Location: George Mason University, Fairfax Campus, Classroom TBA 

Instructors: 

Marissa Howard: mhowar13@gmu.edu  

Dr. Lance A. Liotta: lliotta@gmu.edu 

Apply Here!

 

Example Success Stories: 2015-Present

Team Smart Sleeve:2017Built By Girls Competition Finalist, 2017 Conrad Challenge Semi-Finalist ; Congressional App Challenge Finalist for VA’s 11th District ; 1st Place Technovation Regional Pitch Competition; Patent: A Noninvasive Wearable Biomechanical and Physiology Monitor for Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation. Licensed by Phase II Staffing and Contracting, LLC. Manassas, VA  Full Utility Awarded 2020

ASSIP Success Story

Smart PD3: A Multi-Platform, High Performance Computational Diagnostic Tool for Parkinson’s Disease: 2018 Conrad Challenge Semi-Finalist

StrokeSave Alert System: A Novel, High Performance Mobile Application for Stroke Diagnosis using Deep Learning and Computer Vision": ExploraVisionHonorable Mention Award which is given to the top 10% of all ExploraVision projects submitted in 2019. ; Top 300 Regeneron STS Scholar;  2018 Congressional App Challenge Winner for Rep. Gerry Connelley.

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Unbox: A Non-Invasive Mental Health Monitor and Support Network for Adolescents: Conrad Challenge 2019 Innovator (Round 1 & 2); Diamond Challenge 2020 2nd Place Social Innovation Pitching Finalist

Gotcha Back: A Novel Force-Sensing Detector for Long-term Spinal Injury in Backpack Users: Conrad Challenge 2019 Innovator (Round 1 & 2)

MicroCounter: A Novel Method for Calculating the Concentration of Microplastics in Water Samples using a Proprietary Neural Network: Conrad Challenge 2019 Round 1 Finalist

AppleADay: A Multidisciplinary Method for Diagnosis of Anxiety in Healthcare Workers Using Passive Tracking: Conrad Challenge 2020 Innovator (Round 1 & 2)

* The programs and services offered by George Mason University are open to all who seek them. George Mason does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic national origin (including shared ancestry and/or ethnic characteristics), sex, disability, military status (including veteran status), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, pregnancy status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. After an initial review of its policies and practices, the university affirms its commitment to meet all federal mandates as articulated in federal law, as well as recent executive orders and federal agency directives.