Tabor Academy Science Department Chair Karl Kistler is a finalist for the Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam grant.

Part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams are made up of high school students, educators and mentors who receive up to $10,000 each to invent technological solutions to real world problems.

If awarded the grant, Tabor engineering students want to create an underwater remotely operated vehicle to help collect data for the marine science classes.

As a finalist for the grant, Kistler was recently awarded a Lemelson-MIT Excite Award, which entitles him to attend the program’s annual EurekaFest, a multi-day invention celebration in mid-June.

Physics educator Drew Tanzosh will represent Tabor at EurekaFest for Kistler, who is unable to attend.

At EurekaFest, Excite Award recipients will meet current InvenTeams and attend hands-on workshops and discussions with MIT professors.

Following EurekaFest, Kistler and Tanzosh, with the students and mentors will submit a final application for the InvenTeam grant that is due in September. The team will also reach out to community members with expertise in relevant fields.

A panel of judges composed of educators, researchers, staff and alumni from MIT, as well as former Lemelson-MIT award winners, will select the final InvenTeam grantees in the fall.