McLean Teen Wins $50K Scholarship For Prosthetic Arm Project

MCLEAN, VA — McLean resident Benjamin Choi won a $50,000 scholarship from the prestigious Davidson Fellows Scholarship Program for an engineering project where he created a low-cost, mind-controlled prosthetic arm.

Choi, who graduated from The Potomac School in McLean this year, was one of only three students across the country to be recognized as a Davidson Fellows Laureate and one of only 21 scholarship winners in the 2022 Fellows class.

He won the scholarship for his project, “An Ultra-Low Cost, Mind-Controlled Transhumeral Prosthesis Operated via a Novel Artificial Intelligence-Driven Brainwave Interpretation Algorithm.”

Choi, 18, will be attending Harvard University in the fall. His other interests include playing violin in various orchestras, writing for numerous literary journals, and playing squash on the national junior circuit.

“Being named a Davidson Fellows Laureate means so much to me,” Choi said in a statement. “It’s truly an honor to be recognized alongside such an inspiring group, and words cannot express my gratitude to all those who have supported me along the way.”

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The Davidson Fellows Scholarship Program offers $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 college scholarships to students 18 or younger, who have completed significant projects that have the potential to benefit society in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics, literature and music.

For his project, Choi developed the world’s first ultra-low cost, mind-controlled prosthetic arm using his novel AI algorithm for noninvasive brainwave interpretation. His prosthetic arm is more than 1,500 times less expensive with the potential to improve the lives of amputees, according to the Davidson Fellows Scholarship Program.

The 2022 Davidson Fellows will be honored during a reception at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and with a virtual project presentation ceremony in September.

The Davidson Fellows Scholarship has provided more than $9 million in scholarship funds to 407 students since its inception in 2001. It is a program of the Davidson Institute, a national nonprofit organization founded by Bob Davidson in 1999 and headquartered in Reno, Nevada.

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