A UBC student has just won a huge grant.
Ann Makosinski, who is 18-years-old and lives in Victoria has won the $50,000 Quest Climate Grant. The grant is in collaboration with Shell and Canadian Geographic and provides money to young entrepreneurs who are creating solutions to climate change.
Makosinski has made two appearances on Jimmy Fallon about her inventions and was one of six people to win the grant for 2015.
The first invention Makosinski created is called the Hollow Flashlight. The flashlight runs off the heat from the human hand. The project all started because she wanted to help her friend in the Philippines who couldn’t study because she didn’t have electricity. Because it was dark her friend wasn’t able to see her textbooks and was failing her classes. Makosinski didn’t like that so she decided to create the flashlight as well as a headlamp version.
The second invention she featured on Fallon is a cellphone-charging travel mug that uses the same technology. Makosinski said the problem for students was their phones were always dying and their coffee was always too hot.
The E-drink recovers some of the hot temperature of the drink and turns it into electricity, giving the cellphone a bit of a boost.
Makosinski has made her name known in the world. The young student was named to Time magazine’s 30 under 30 and won four awards at the 2014 Intel Science and Engineering Fair and spoke at four TEDx events. Makosinski continues to study in the Arts One program at UBC.
The Quest Climate Grant will open soon for 2016 grant inventors.
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