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  • Escaping the Ordinary in the Classroom

    Escaping the Ordinary in the Classroom

    Grant Kightlinger and Molly Grace, co-creators of the “FairPlay Challenge.” This innovative education curriculum uses an escape room model to engage students in important life lessons. Many of us have had that experience in school of feeling trapped in a boring lesson about a topic that didn’t seem to have any relevance to our lives.…

  • During a Health Crisis, Look for the Inventors

    During a Health Crisis, Look for the Inventors

    It was a deadly pathogen that turned Jason Kang and his friends into inventors. But it’s not the one you’re thinking of. In 2014, Ebola was ravaging West Africa. Kang was a junior at Columbia University at the time. Like many other people, he wanted to help but felt there was little he could do.…

  • Inventing a Better Insect Trap

    Inventing a Better Insect Trap

    How One Pennsylvania Teen Found Inspiration in Her Own Backyard How do you quash an insect invasion that threatens your favorite trees? For fourteen-year old Rachel Bergey of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, the answer involves inventing a new product out of garden netting and aluminum foil, and one key strategy: outsmarting the enemy. The spotted lanternfly is…

  • Going Beyond the Horizon

    Going Beyond the Horizon

    Jim West has been at the forefront of acoustic science for nearly six decades. From his childhood in the segregated South to his recent work on an advanced digital stethoscope, West has always looked for “what exists beyond the horizon.” This article was originally published on USPTO.gov on November 2019. Each month, their Journeys of Innovation…

  • A Teen Inventor’s Experience With Hurricane Sandy Spurs Innovation

    A Teen Inventor’s Experience With Hurricane Sandy Spurs Innovation

    That event spurred her to think about other communities vulnerable to natural disasters. Helen Lyons was inspired to invent by a problem she encountered close to home. When she was in fourth grade living in New York City, her neighborhood was devastated by Hurricane Sandy. “The streets turned into rivers, and I remember watching the…

  • A Conversation With MIT Media Lab’s Ramesh Raskar

    A Conversation With MIT Media Lab’s Ramesh Raskar

    The professor discusses his early influences, approach to technology, and solving the right problem at the right time. In September 2016, Dr. Ramesh Raskar, an associate professor at the MIT Media Lab and holder of more than 75 patents, was awarded the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for his work in developing radical imaging solutions. The WallMore