Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Invention Designed by SU Engineering Students Selected as a Finalist for the James Dyson Award

Monday, October 2, 2017, By Alex Dunbar
Share
College of Engineering and Computer ScienceentrepreneurshipStudents
two students

Serena Omo-Lamai ’20 and Charles Keppler ’18

Your favorite clothes may be polluting the world’s water supply. Synthetic clothing including polyester, acrylic and nylon fabrics release millions of microfibers every time they are washed. Even though they are too small to be seen by the naked eye, microfibers have become a massive problem and two undergraduates from the College of Engineering and Computer Science have designed an easy to use product to help catch them.

“They can easily wash down drains, go into the ocean and these tiny pieces of plastic eventually cause a lot of chaos for marine life and aquatic life too,” says Serena Omo-Lamai ’20.

“The shedding of microfibers in washing machines for a city of around 100,000 could be the equivalent of 15,000 plastic bags worth of microfibers every day,” says Charles Keppler ’18.

Keppler and Omo-Lamai designed a microfiber trapping system called “FibreFree” during the six week Invent@SU program over the summer of 2017. After prototyping several designs, Keppler and Omo-Lamai came up with a small plastic ball that holds a replaceable, recyclable filter.

FibreFree is now a finalist for the international James Dyson Award. The award recognizes projects developed by young engineers around the world and encourages iterative design. FibreFree was one of hundreds of products to be submitted to the competition from the U.S., the U.K. China and twenty other countries. Only 115 products moved on to the international competition and now the final twenty products will be personally judged by renowned designer James Dyson.

“We are honored that the Dyson foundation has recognized FibreFree as one of the top 20 entries in a competition filled with amazing designs from around the world,” says Keppler.

“It is overwhelming to know that the Dyson Foundation sees potential for FibreFree to help combat the very real threat of microfiber pollution,” says Omo-Lamai.

The Blackstone LaunchPad entrepreneurship program on the SU campus helped Keppler and Omo-Lamai prepare their Invent@SU project for the award competition.

“We are very proud of Charles and Serena. To be a finalist for James Dyson Award is an incredible achievement and it shows the commitment, creativity and hard work they brought to this project,” says College of Engineering & Computer Science Dean Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg. “This is also a great example of what the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Syracuse University can accomplish.”

The international James Dyson Award winner will receive $40,000 and their university will receive $6,000. The two international runners up will each receive $6,000. The winners will be announced on Oct. 26.

Students in the Invent@SU programs on the Syracuse campus and in New York City get the opportunity to design, prototype and pitch new products. In the summer of 2017, the program was a collaboration between the College of Engineering and Computer Science and VPA’s School of Design.

  • Author

Alex Dunbar

  • Recent
  • Syracuse University Libraries’ Information Literacy Scholars Produce Information Literacy Collab Journal
    Thursday, May 29, 2025, By Cristina Hatem
  • Trip to Atlanta Gives Falk Students ‘Real-World’ Opportunities and Connections
    Thursday, May 29, 2025, By Matt Michael
  • Syracuse Pride on Display: Limited-Edition Poster Supports Future Generations
    Thursday, May 29, 2025, By News Staff
  • Maxwell Advisory Board Welcomes New Leadership
    Thursday, May 29, 2025, By Jessica Youngman
  • Syracuse Stage Hosts Inaugural Julie Lutz New Play Festival
    Wednesday, May 28, 2025, By News Staff

More In STEM

University’s Dynamic Sustainability Lab and Ireland’s BiOrbic Sign MOU to Advance Markets for the Biobased Economy

This month at the All Island Bioeconomy Summit held in Co. Meath, Ireland, it was announced that BiOrbic, Research Ireland Centre for Bioeconomy, comprising 12 leading Irish research universities in Ireland, signed a joint memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Dynamic Sustainability…

Professor Bing Dong Named as the Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The College of Engineering and Computer Science has named Bing Dong as the Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This endowed professorship is made possible by a 1998 gift from the late Fritz Traugott H’98 and his wife, Frances….

Physics Professor Honored for Efforts to Improve Learning, Retention

The Department of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) has made some big changes lately. The department just added an astronomy major approved by New York State and recently overhauled the undergraduate curriculum to replace traditional labs with innovative…

ECS Team Takes First Place in American Society of Civil Engineers Competition

Civil and environmental engineering student teams participated in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Sustainable Solutions and Steel Bridge competitions during the 2025 Upstate New York-Canada Student Symposium, winning first place in the Sustainable Solutions competition. The symposium was…

Chloe Britton Naime Committed to Advocating for Improved Outcomes for Neurodivergent Individuals

Chloe Britton Naime ’25 is about to complete a challenging and rare dual major program in both mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering and Computer Science and neuroscience from the College of Arts and Sciences. Even more impressive? Britton…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.