UBC student Ann Makosinski wins $50K for phone-charging mug

A first-year University of British Columbiastudent has won $50,000 for inventing a phone-chargingtravel mug that harnesses heat from hot beveragestocreate energy.

Ann Makosinski, 18, won theQuest Climate Change Grant,along with five other Canadian recipients, on Dec. 16.

The teenager invented the heat-powered mug when she noticed two pervasive problems among her friends: depleted batteries on their smart phones and coffee too hot to gulp down between classes.

"I decided to combine both of those problems and find a solution with my e-drink," Makosinski said.

Sherecently debuted her inventionon the Tonight Show with host Jimmy Fallon.

"It was just a really great time," saidMakosinski, a self-described show business aficionado.

Not her first invention

It wasn't her first time onthe show. Makosinskipreviously appeared alongside Fallonin February 2014 to show off the invention that got her a lot of attention at the tender age of 15: a flashlight powered by bodyheat.

"I think that opened a lot of doors for me becauseof the awareness of my project," she said.

Makosinskisaid she was driven to create the invention when a friend from the Philippines told her she failed a grade because she couldn't afford electricity to study at night.

The project, called Hollow Flashlight, won her a prize in her age category at the Google Science Fair in 2013.

She then created a body-heat powered headlamp, which she presented in Toronto when shewon the2014 Weston Youth Innovation Award at 16.

Future projects

The amount of light emitted by the flashlightis still an issue she said she's trying to resolve, but her new prize money will go towardfinalizing both projects.

"What I hope to happennext is to get both the e-drink andthe flashlight into production with all the R& D and everything figured out, and just keep creating," she said.

"I do hope to get them in stores and indevelopingcountries, specificallyfor the flashlight, in 2016."

Forother teens who marvel at her accomplishments at such a young age, Makosinski has advice.

"What I kind of wantto spread as my message to all kinds of youth that I get to reach out to is, you can do cool stuff, you've justgot toput in time and be dedicated," she said.