Oregon Tech Renewable Energy Engineering student participates in American Indian entrepreneur panel

Cruz Collin (left) presenting at AISES 2024

Oregon Tech is proud to announce that Renewable Engineering student Cruz Tecumseh Collin presented on behalf of the United States Patent and Trademark Office at the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) conference in San Antonio, Texas, this month.

The AISES conference is an annual event that brings together Indigenous STEM professionals and students to focus on educational, professional, and workforce development.

Collin is an enrolled citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and a Native American inventor with patent experience. He is familiar with patent processes and intellectual property law through his father, an Intellectual Property Lawyer, but became more interested in 2021 when he participated in an international baccalaureate program in Toulouse, France, and learned of invention needs in renewable energy.

"It was at the International School of Toulouse, France, where I had teachers who inspired me to pursue the field of renewable energy as they made it very clear to me that there are still major sustainability gaps in the technology that need to be addressed if we are going to have a chance at reaching net zero CO2 emission levels by 2050," Collin said. "I began working on various alternative renewable energy prototypes for which I decided to file patent applications."

Collin's goal in presenting at AISES was to inspire other Native Americans to pursue patent protection for their inventions and explain the Patent Pro Bono Program, where they can get help to pay for their patent legal fees.

"I feel these goals were accomplished as we got a positive response from the audience, and I believe the presentation cleared up a lot of misconceptions about the patent office and patent system for the audience," Collin said.

"My inventions in the 4 Element Hybrid Energy System, Graphene Aerogel Thermoelectric Generator, and a Biobattery design taught me many lessons about innovation, and while I believe they were simply learning opportunities for me, I am far from being done inventing and working with the patent office."

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