LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION honoring Ming Ma, recipient of a Lemelson-Rensse-
laer Grant to develop a more efficient design for LEDs

WHEREAS, This Legislative Body is pleased to honor Ming Ma, a Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute (RPI) doctoral student who received a Lemelson-
Rensselaer Grant to develop a more efficient design for LEDs; and
WHEREAS, Ming Ma developed a more efficient design for light emitting
diodes (LEDs) which more than doubles the output of traditional designs,
an invention which could reduce the overall cost, energy use, and envi-
ronmental impact of producing light; and
WHEREAS, Most of the LEDs on the market only emit 25 percent of the
light they produce; Ming Ma's design would allow them to emit 70 percent
of the light produced by creating thousands of minute star-shaped
pillars on the LED surface composed of five nanolayers specifically
engineered to help carry the light into the surrounding air; and
WHEREAS, These nanoscale structures, which Ming Ma dubbed "graded-re-
fractive index (GRIN) structures" are produced using a method she
invented; her more efficient design is scalable to commercial levels
without a severe increase in costs and could reduce the overall cost of
producing light and would allow greater control over emission patterns;
and
WHEREAS, Furthermore, because Ming Ma's LED design creates more light
using the same amount of energy as traditional LEDs, it is also less
taxing on the environment; and
WHEREAS, Ming Ma, who is from Jiangxi Province in southeast China,
came to RPI after earning the equivalent of a bachelor's degree from
Fudan University in Shanghai, China; and
WHEREAS, Ming Ma began researching LEDs three years ago on the Lemel-
son-Rensselaer Grant first awarded in 2007; and
WHEREAS, The award is offered through a partnership between Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute and the Lemelson-MIT Program at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, a non-profit organization which recognizes
outstanding inventors, encourages sustainable new solutions to real-
world problems, and enables and inspires young people to pursue creative
lives and careers through invention; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
honor Ming Ma, a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) doctoral student
who received a Lemelson-Rensselaer Grant to develop a more efficient
design for LEDs; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to Ming Ma.