The “Eat it!” Lemelson-MIT Student Prize: Rewarding technology-based inventions that involve food/water and agriculture. Maher Damak, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $15,000 Graduate Winner Maher developed a polymer additive that can be mixed with pesticides and other agricultural sprays to help them adhere to plants more effectively. Plants currently retain only a tiny portion of chemical sprays, resulting in runoff that leads to the contamination of soil, ground water, and surface water. Maher’s invention would result in the use of 10 times less pesticides and could save farmers 10-20% of their total production costs.