MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- A Middle Tennessee State University professor hopes a new invention will save Americans up to 120 millions gallons of fuel a day.

Dr. Charles Perry said he has invented a motor, called a wheel hub motor, that can double a driver's gas mileage.

Perry was awarded $50,000 in grants to take his invention from the lab to the marketplace.

A lab in Virginia has also agreed to match the $50,000 grant.

Perry beat out inventors from Vanderbilt University, the University of Tennessee and Saint Jude Research Center for the grant. The award beat out 15 other proposals from institutions around the state.