The Power of an Idea

This young woman's name is Dianna Marcellus. She is an engineer. She is a role model. She is a queen. She is also a patent-pending inventor. She is the future. Word.

Eighth-grader Dianna Marcellus from the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science won the top prize, a $15K scholarship and intellectual property legal services, in the Power of an Idea competition for coming up with a nifty invention - a robot that does manicures. The law firm of Burns & Levinson LLP sponsored the competition and the firm will help Dianna secure a patent. Dianna was encouraged to enter the competition by two teachers at her school, Jamy Drouillard and Myriam Hibbard. Dianna learned to build and program robots by attending the 2005 ITEST summer program sponsored by Northeastern University and TechBoston. The program invites any high school student enrolled in the public schools of Boston to create a new device, machine or process. Yesterday, she officially submitted her application for a patent of her invention. There is hope, my peoples. All this NSBE Love is not in vain.