Chase Lewis is a scientist, engineer and inventor from Chapel Hill competing with international peers.
And he’s only 13.
Lewis’ latest invention — a triangular cart called a ‘travois’ used to help refugees transport their children to refugee camps — recently caught international attention, winning him a spot as one of 16 finalists in the Smithsonian Invent It Challenge.
Lewis said he became interested in helping refugees when his mother showed his family an article about the horrors refugees faced during the Somalia famine.
He said he learned that parents were forced to leave behind their children if they could not be carried and were too tired to walk.
His mother, Michelle Lewis, said her son was surprised there were no transportation options for the parents.
“It shocked him,” she said.
In search of a solution, Chase Lewis designed and built a travois and entered it into the Smithsonian challenge.
Chase Lewis said if he wins the challenge, he will be able to patent his invention, which took him about a year to complete.