Undergraduate wins American innovation contest held 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 Web site YouTube, was to show how federally funded research has changed American life.

Vielma, a communications 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, co-chair of the task force.

A member of Lewis & Clark’s Electric Car Club, Vielma considers the government’s investment in science, math, and engineering research and education a foremost challenge facing the United States today—a key concern of the task force.

“This was an amazing experience for me,” Vielma said. “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.”

Vielma received a $1,000 scholarship from the task force. View all the contest videos on YouTube.