Two UT graduate students won a national inventing competition after creating a device that can capture and produce water directly from the air, according to an Oct. 22 University news release.
Weixin Guan and Yaxuan Zhao, both materials science and engineering graduate students, invented the machine, AirGel, to combat water scarcity problems worldwide. They won the graduate category of the 2025 Collegiate Inventors Competition, which is hosted by the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Guan and Zhao are the first graduate students representing UT to win the competition since it started in 1990, according to the website.
“It’s such an incredible honor that we can show the national public, or even the world, our Longhorn inventions, and to convey that our motto, ‘What starts here changes the world,’ is really changing the world,” Guan said.
Winners of the competition are awarded $10,000 and a United States Patent and Trademark Office patent acceleration certificate, according to the website.
Zhao said the device uses solar energy to capture moisture in the air and release it as water. She said the device can be used for outdoor activities like camping but also for communities facing water scarcity or disasters.
Zhao said growing up in China and seeing water scarcity in her community was one of the primary driving forces behind this invention.
“From my very early age, I (came) to know how scarce water (resources) can be in some regions, and how this can affect people’s lives,” Zhao said. “This will threaten their health and even threaten their lives.”
Guan and Zhao went to Washington, D.C. to present their invention to a panel of judges. They toured the United States Patent and Trademark Office, networked and attended the awards presentation, Guan said.
“We saw (that) it’s a good opportunity to let us show Texas-born inventions to the national public,” Guan said.
Projects are assessed on a set of five criteria, including originality, student initiative and the potential real-world applications of the inventions, wrote Ken Torisky, senior public relations coordinator at the National Inventors Hall of Fame in an email.
Guan said this competition gave him and Zhao the opportunity to present AirGel to the world and begin steps to push this device to more practical uses.
“We are the first team representing UT Austin to win this graduate championship, and we definitely think we will just be a start, and there will be more,” Guan said. “The best is yet to come.”
