University of Minnesota Electrical and Computer Engineering graduates Patrick Delaney (May '08), Matthew Beckler (CE May '08), and current student Caleb Braff, are one of twelve finalist teams in the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation's 2008 Collegiate Inventors Competition. They have been awarded a $2000 finalist prize for their Solar LED Lighting Innovation low powered economical device that provides many hours of light to areas without electricity.

The ECE team, whose advisor is Professor Paul Imbertson, will be competing for the grand prize of $25,000 during Global Entrepreneurship Week (Nov. 17-23) at the Kauffman Foundation headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri.

Other finalist teams represent Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California at Berkeley, University of Texas at Dallas, Harvard Medical School, University of Michigan, and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Abbott Fund, the philanthropic foundation of the global health care company Abbott, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) are the competition sponsors.