So much to celebrate this year! Over 190 young inventors from 49 schools came to the California State Railroad Museum to present to the judges and see each other’s inventions at the Northern / Central California Invention Convention. For many of these schools, this was the first time their students had participated. We are so happy to have them on board.
Our deepest thanks to our Premier Sponsors California State Railroad Museum Foundation and the California State Railroad Museum who opened their fabulous museum to our inventors and their families. It is such a fantastic location for our convention — and everyone was so impressed.
The Awards Ceremony was broadcast on April 18th. If you missed the awards ceremony or would like to view it again, here is the link The Video is 40 minutes..
Check out the list of participants and their inventions. List is in order alphabetically by last name.
Merit Awards a given to students in each grade level whose inventions are deemed by the judges to be exemplary for the grade and age level. Each student will receive a Merit Award ribbon as well as a set of Inventor Trading Cards provided by the Silicon Valley US Patent Office. Many thanks to them! Inventors are listed alphabetically by last name.
Industry Focus Awards: Inventions are categorized into one of 12 industry categories. A winner is chosen in each category by independent Judges in their areas of interest and expertise. If the category is supported by corporate or organizational sponsors, they choose the winner and provide an award. Each winner will receive a plaque representing their category and a prize from either the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento, or Rolling Robots, Palos Verdes. Our thanks to both of these organizations for their consistent support of our efforts! List is alphabetical by industry focus.
As our convention grows, we are looking for industry partners so that in time each category is sponsored by an organization or business that operates in that sector. If you know of an organization that might be interested in being an industry sponsor, please contact us.
Invited to Nationals: These inventors are invited to present their inventions to teams of judges as part of the National Invention Convention hosted by The Henry Ford. They will join an estimated 500 inventors from all over the United States in Dearborn, Michigan from June 4-6, 2025 They will meet with other inventors and see what is happening among young student inventors – as well as tour The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation – one of America’s outstanding museums.Congratulations to them all!! They are listed alphabetically by last name.
Top Awards: The three top awards are Best in Show, Most Marketable & Most Innovative. There were so many extraordinary inventions that the judges had a hard time deciding!! These three stood out from a field of fantastic inventions.
Srihari Muralidharan is an 11th grader from Irvington High School in Fremont and has been awarded Analog Devices Best in Show for his invention RadCube.
RadCub Problem/Solution statement: My invention helps solve the problem of the crazy difficulty that high school and college teams face when designing a cubesat payload by providing a slew of sensors on a space-ready plug and play cubesat payload board that can be used in many different missions. Other products exist that are mechanically similar to the functionality of the cubesat boards, except these designs do not take into account the size, power and environment restrictions for space operation as they are not made to be used on a cubesat.
Skandevel Chitravel and Aarav Patel are 3rd Graders from O.N. Hirsch Elementary School in Fremont and have been awarded Central Coast Patent Agency's Most Marketable Invention for their invention Zip It, Don't Rip it..
Zip It, Don't Rip it Problem / Solution Statement: The boom in the e-commerce industry has increased the demand for packing and shipping material all across the globe. More and more shipping materials are in the landfills, often after a single use! This is a huge load on the environment, and the impact of it is longstanding and punishing.
Our invention,' Zip it, don't Rip' aims to solve this problem of 'unsustainable shipping options' by providing a solution that enables a shipping bag to be reused several times before being tossed in the landfills. Our invention will also help decrease the demand for new packaging material and help lower the carbon footprint due to shipping and e-commerce activities.
Rose Moules is a 5th Grader at Watsonville Charter School of the Arts in Watsonville and has been awarded The Eagan Family Foundation's Most Innovative Invention Award for her invention Safe Bathroom Solver
Problem / Solution statement: On a plane, the bathroom is first come first serve. There is nowhere safe to stand. You can be waiting in your seat for someone to leave 0 - but when they do, someone else jumps up and gets there before you. Sometimes the pilot makes you sit back down and you have to start over. My invention allows you to press a button for the bathroom from your seat. So you enter a virtual queue and you are notified when you are next. I searched all over google, tik tok, YouTube, and could not find anything like it. The only thing I could find was how dangerous it is to stand in line for the bathroom, however it is the only thing you can do.
The Big Thinker Award is in honor of Jerry Spivak who was a research scientist with Bell Laboratories and AT&T and supporter of the California Invention Convention from its inception
In 2025, the Big Thinker award is awarded to the team of Cienna Lawrence and Kaliyah Sweeney, 6th Graders from Lawrence E. Jones Middle School in Rohnert Park, for their invention Butter Glidr.
We are trying to make spreading butter easier because for some people spreading butter is hard and messy with a knife. Our invention allows you to spread butter on your toast for the perfect amount of butter - more easily and cleaner.
The King Family Youth Innovators Award goes to the team of Chloe Jones and Rylee Parra, 6th Graders from Bradley Elementary School in Corralitos, for their invention The Tee Saver.
The Tee Saver helps prevent the ball from rolling away during batting practice and having to pick it up over and over again. It is also designed to hold the tee upright if it is hit by a bat and starts to tip over.
The Michelson's Young Inventors Award is awarded to two separate individual inventors.
Ryan Turzak, a 4th Grader at Vine Hill Elementary School in Scotts Valley, for his invention Beach Sweeper. It is an invention for kids to help clean up plastic and trash on the beach in a safe and fun way.
Sahithi Cherukuri, an 11th Grader from Santa Clara High School, in Santa Clara, for her invention SprOut of This World: Drone-Submarine for Space Ecosystems, which addresses the four restricting factors of extraterrestrial plant growth through its novel technologies.
The Griffith - Marlin Award for Teamwork goes to the team of Jesus Lustre and Oliver Vasquez, 6th Graders from Sherwood Elementary School in Salinas. Their invention is the Bird Catcher 3000.
We catch birds in our cage and we want to be able to decide to release them or keep them captured right away. This invention uses gravity as well as a sound sensor that alerts people when it catches a bird.
The Maksumov Family Girls Inventing the Future Award is awarded to three individual inventors:
Camilla Gutierrez, a 5th Grader at Moreland Notre Dame School in Watsonville, for her invention Tubi Tooth Brush. My invention is a toothbrush that has the toothpaste connected. It makes brushing my teeth faster and if I go somewhere, I only need to bring one thing.
Melissa Baltazar, a 6th Grader at Ceiba College Preparatory Academy in Watsonville, for her invention Scop Florbrush. The problem that the Scop Florbrush solves is to provide a multi-purpose, all-in-one tool cleaner that can reach into nasty dirty stinky place.
Luna Ramirez, a 4th Grader at Natividad Elementary in Salinas, for her invention Lunanax. People have needs for their feet to stay cold or stay warm because of health reasons. Lunanax solves the problem by having a set of buttons that adjust the hot or cold of the shoe to the needs of the people.
The California Invention Convention is a registered 501(c)(3) with a tax-exempt EIN 84-3492216. We currently do not charge the schools for the curriculum. We rely strictly on sponsors and donations for which we are most grateful.
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