Innovator on YouTube

Lewis & Clark senior Adan Vielma recently won a national video contest, culminating in a trip to Capitol Hill and a scholarship from the Task Force on the Future of American Innovation. The purpose of the contest, featured on the popular video-sharing website YouTube, was to show how federally funded research has changed American life.

Vielma, a communication major from Edinburg, Texas, attended a screening of his video on November 8 in Washington, D.C., during a special event called “Sputnik in the YouTube Age,” hosted by the task force and the Congressional Research and Development Caucus.

“Adan’s video wowed the judges by effectively linking the importance of federally funded research to innovations such as the MRI and GPS that have revolutionized our society,” said John Palafoutas, cochair of the task force.

The task force launched the competition last summer as part of a congressional lobbying campaign to keep the United States globally competitive by reinvesting in science, math, and engineering research and education.

“This was an amazing experience for me,” says Vielma. “The contest allowed me to fuse two interests of mine: animation and progressive technology. I think American innovation can provide key solutions to the problems facing our world.”