2 Pitt graduate students are finalists in the Collegiate Inventors Competition

Patrick Dunn and Alireza Mohammadzadeh, both graduate researchers in the Swanson School of Engineering, have been named finalists in the Collegiate Inventors Competition (CIC) for their invention, AgriNUE. The National Inventors Hall of Fame that honors and rewards college innovators based on their idea’s originality, potential value and usefulness to society.

“This recognition is a great reward for all the hard work our team put into bringing this invention to life,” said Mohammadzadeh, a bioengineering PhD candidate. “I’m grateful to my collaborators, mentors and teammates, whose dedication and unwavering support made this achievement possible.”

[Vote for AgriNUE for the People’s Choice Award.]

Developed from a multidisciplinary Pitt project, AgriNUE is designed to tackle the global challenge of excessive nitrogen pollution by adapting drug delivery technology from the biomedical field to agriculture.

Nitrogen fertilizer is essential for crop growth and food production. However, inefficient application practices make these fertilizers a double-edged sword, with emissions from improper use causing significant environmental and health problems. The wide-ranging consequences of nitrogen runoff include drinking water contamination, toxic algal blooms and eutrophication.

To combat this danger, AgriNUE encapsulates fertilizers in tiny, plant-based lipid particles similar to those used in COVID-19 vaccines. These particles protect the nutrients and control their movement in the soil, extending their availability to plants. The particles are designed to release nutrients only near plant root zones, enhancing nutrient use efficiency, reducing losses and minimizing environmental impacts. This provides a more sustainable method of fertilization, aligning agriculture with environmental responsibility.

“It is an absolute honor to be a finalist in the Collegiate Inventors Competition. Our team has worked extremely hard in developing AgriNUE,” said Dunn, an environmental engineering PhD candidate. “We’ve spent countless hours planning, running experiments and overcoming issues over the past few years to get to this point.”