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  • Grantee Roundup: Invention-Based Enterprises Addressing COVID-19 in Developing Countries

    Grantee Roundup: Invention-Based Enterprises Addressing COVID-19 in Developing Countries

    From solar-powered, mobile testing units to imaging technology to identify fevers in crowds Invention is critical to finding new solutions to challenges during a crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how local impact inventors can pivot to address the health and well being of communities in resource-limited settings. In India, with a population of nearly…

  • The Lemelson Foundation Awards Grants to Five Universities to Accelerate Environmentally and Socially Conscious Engineering

    The Lemelson Foundation Awards Grants to Five Universities to Accelerate Environmentally and Socially Conscious Engineering

    New Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Initiative draws hundreds of stakeholders from academia, industry, philanthropy, government and nonprofit sectors Portland, OR – The Lemelson Foundation, the world’s leading foundation focused on improving lives through invention, announced the launch of the new Engineering for One Planet (EOP) initiative intended to instill social and environmental principles across…

  • How Building Skateboards Inspired One Young Woman to Become a Prizewinning Inventor and a Role Model for Young Women in STEM

    How Building Skateboards Inspired One Young Woman to Become a Prizewinning Inventor and a Role Model for Young Women in STEM

    From a family of Vietnamese refugees and the only girl in her college physics program, Kayla Nguyen has overcome her share of obstacles. Now she’s working to encourage other women and girls interested in science. “Inventions and physics are all around us,” says Kayla Nguyen. Now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,…

  • How Building Skateboards Inspired One Young Woman to Become an Engineer, Physicist — and Prizewinning Inventor

    How Building Skateboards Inspired One Young Woman to Become an Engineer, Physicist — and Prizewinning Inventor

    From a family of Vietnamese refugees and the only girl in her college physics program, Kayla Nguyen has overcome her share of obstacles. Now she’s working to encourage other women and girls interested in science. What do skateboards, surfing, and the astronaut Sally Ride have in common? For postdoctoral researcher Kayla Nguyen, they all played…

  • Invention for All

    Invention for All

    Lessons on How to Build a More Inclusive Ecosystem Note: All photos were taken before COVID-19 social distancing was put into effect. We are living in unprecedented times. Challenges are stacking up around us, from new emergencies like COVID-19 to existing issues like climate change. We are already seeing dramatic repercussions for our economy, our…

  • Invention for All

    Invention for All

    Global challenges are stacking up around us, from new emergencies like COVID-19 to existing issues like climate change. We are already seeing dramatic repercussions for our economy, our lives and our livelihoods. In the latest article in Invention Notebook, Foundation Executive Director Carol Dahl examines the role that invention and inventors can play to help…

  • Black Lives Matter – Our Commitment to Change

    Black Lives Matter – Our Commitment to Change

    Systemic racism is at the heart of the series of events that led to the murders of innocent Black Americans such as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery. Not only is systemic anti-Black racism pervasive in policing, but it also manifests in decades of housing discrimination, mass incarceration, unequal opportunities…

  • A New Model for Health Innovation in East Africa

    A New Model for Health Innovation in East Africa

    How our social enterprise providing life-saving medical oxygen responded to the pandemic, and showed the market opportunity for other inventors and entrepreneurs UPDATE: Since this article’s publication, Hewatele was awarded the inaugural Rotman Innovation of the Year Award by Grand Challenges Canada as one of its supported initiatives with the largest sustainable increase in lives saved orMore

  • Accessing Capital During a Pandemic: Resources for Early-Stage Entrepreneurs

    Accessing Capital During a Pandemic: Resources for Early-Stage Entrepreneurs

    Key Tips and Insights into Funding Sources during COVID-19 Note: An earlier version of this article was originally published on VentureWell’s Inside Impact blog. In the best of times, securing funding for a venture as a student entrepreneur can be tricky work. As the startup industry braces for the impacts of the COVID-19More

  • Invention Roundup: The Next Stage of COVID-19 Inventions

    Invention Roundup: The Next Stage of COVID-19 Inventions

    From Virus-Killing Robots to Improved Telemedicine Inventors continue to pivot and direct their ideas and energy to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. Low-cost, rapid detection of the virus is still an important need. But in the absence of a vaccine, inventors are also looking for different ways to efficiently sanitize surfaces and kill the virus before…

  • Finding and Creating the Next Generation of Inventors

    Finding and Creating the Next Generation of Inventors

    Why the Future of Invention, STEM, and Our Children Depends on Advancing Equity Note: All photos were taken at Oregon MESA events before COVID-19 social distancing was put into effect. This has been a difficult year so far. If 2020 has shown us anything, it is that we as a society desperately need problem solvers.…

  • Why Every STEM Graduate Needs to Be Environmentally Focused

    Why Every STEM Graduate Needs to Be Environmentally Focused

    NOTE: To learn more on this topic, visit the Engineering for One Planet website. The United Nations Environment Program has crowned June 5th World Environment Day. And although the pandemic may have caused many news desks to push aside climate change headlines for the time being, we cannot afford to forget theMore