Nicholas Witham, a fifth-year biomedical engineering Ph.D. student at the U, won first place in the Wilkes Student Innovation Prize competition in May 2023 for his proposal titled, "Renewable Energy And Carbon Capture With Thermomotive Biopolymer Textiles." His idea proposes a novel renewable energy system that generates power through the daily heating and nightly cooling of the earth, known as the diurnal temperature variation. This can be accomplished using a type of artificial muscle known as a twisted coiled polymer actuator, which can be designed to either contract or expand when heated.

For this episode we are sharing an interview Nick Witham did with Chis Nelson on the U Rising Podcast, in which describes his winning idea as well as his efforts to create prosthetic limbs that affordable and accessible.