UT Graduate Researchers Are Finalists in Collegiate Inventors Competition

A team of engineers from The University of Texas at Austin has been named one of five graduate finalists in the 2025 Collegiate Inventors Competition (CIC), one of the most prestigious awards for engineering students in the U.S.

Weixin Guan and Yaxuan Zhao, graduate researchers with the Texas Materials Institute and the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at UT's Cockrell School of Engineering, have been recognized for their innovative and cost-effective device that extracts drinking water from humidity in the air. The team is advised by Guihua Yu, the John J. McKetta Centennial Energy Chair in Engineering.

Called AirGel, the solar-powered atmospheric water-harvesting device produces clean drinking water using hydrogels made from agricultural and food waste. The hydrogel sorbents pull in water vapor like a sponge and then release the collected liquid using sunlight, making AirGel a low-energy solution to water scarcity - an issue affecting more than 2 billion people worldwide. Designed to work entirely off grid, the sustainable device is ideal for arid climates and for producing clean water after natural disasters.

"We wanted to show that making clean water from air doesn't have to be expensive, fragile or tied to geography," said Guan.

Zhao added: "The system can cycle multiple times per day and link into larger arrays, so it can serve both a single household and potentially an entire community. That flexibility is what makes it practical in the real world."

Guan and Zhao will present their invention Oct. 16 to a panel of judges composed of National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees and officials from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Winners, who will be announced the same day, receive a cash prize and a patent acceleration certificate from the USPTO. In addition to the national judging, fellow Longhorns can support Guan and Zhao by voting for them in CIC's People's Choice Award. Votes can be cast once per day online through Oct. 15.

A program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the Collegiate Inventors Competition, which is sponsored by the USPTO, celebrates the country's most promising student inventors. Since its introduction in 1990, the CIC has featured more than 500 innovators. Being selected as a finalist places UT Austin among the top producers of student-led inventions in the U.S. this year.

"AirGel reflects the best of UT Austin's engineering spirit, from discovery to impact, linking research with practical design to solve global problems," said Yu.