Daniel DiLorenzo, an MIT graduate student pursuing both an M.D. and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, has always had an inventive soul. And now he has $30,000 to show for it.

DiLorenzo pieced together his first circuit board in the fifth grade and by the eighth grade he had constructed a robotic arm the same size as his own arm.

"He started inventing when he was just a tot," said Anne-Marie C. Amparo, director of the Lemelson-MIT program, which gives the award.

Yesterday DiLorenzo received the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for inventiveness--and $30,000 in prize money.

More recently, DiLorenzo received two patents in medicine. Among these, according to an MIT news release, was a method to control inoperative brain swelling.

According to Amparo, the award is part of the Lemelson-MIT's efforts to encourage young people to explore their inventive talents.

"[The program] rings some bells and blows some whistles about invention," she said. "We want an equal number of kids to want to be Tom Edisons as Tom Cruises."

DiLorenzo will be free to spend his prize money without restrictions, though Amparo said most previous winners have used the funds to cover costs for inventions.

"He can use it for whatever he wants to do," Amparo said. "We want to show that inventing is not only fun, but financially lucrative."