Latest

Inventing Our Future: A National Inventors’ Day Celebration

A message from Rob Schneider, Executive Director, The Lemelson Foundation

5 min read

Envisioning a Safer Eye Exam

This young inventor created a synthetic model eye to help medical students train for optical procedures.

4 min read

A Champion for Sustainability

Transforming Engineering Curricula to Protect Our Planet

7 min read

Making STEM Education More Inclusive for Emerging Entrepreneurs

Five attributes that innovation and entrepreneurship programs should cultivate

6 min read

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. But as you watchedMore

9 min read

Making Engineering Elementary

How a model for equity-oriented engineering curriculum is engaging students from all backgrounds and in the earliest grades Students engineering windmills that harness the wind’s energy. (Credit: Youth Engineering Solutions, Museum of Science, Boston) Engineers are crucial to building our future. And to harness the best solutions for tomorrow’s social and environmental challenges, we need aMore

11 min read

Transforming the Game with Invention

Shawn Springs, CEO of Windpact. This former athlete turned entrepreneur and inventor is creating new sports technology to improve player safety. Who can be an inventor? A dynamic new exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation is posing that question through a unique lens, andMore

9 min read

Recharging the Electric Vehicle Industry

Siblings Steven (left) and Zora Chung (right) co-founded technology company ReJoule. This sustainable startup is building a circular economy for EV batteries from the ground up How do you make a critically important sustainable industry even more sustainable? For electric vehicles, one of the challenges is the sustainable source itself — the lithium-ion battery. Although they areMore

11 min read

Paving the Way to Sustainability

Removing roadblocks for low-carbon building materials can spur innovation and lower greenhouse gas emissions

3 min read

Previous

  • How to Integrate Sustainability Into College Engineering Curricula

    How to Integrate Sustainability Into College Engineering Curricula

    A pilot program across five U.S.-based higher education institutions is shedding light on successful steps toward systems change. Engineering is one of the most fundamental contributors to human health and prosperity. From consumer goods to hardware and software products to buildings and modes of transportation, the solutions that engineers create are core to nearly every…

  • From STEM to Spotify: How an After-School Invention Program Helped Launch a Career in Big Tech

    From STEM to Spotify: How an After-School Invention Program Helped Launch a Career in Big Tech

    After moving from Vietnam to the U.S. in fourth grade, Spotify engineer Thien Nguyen discovered his love for math, as well as a supportive community, through his new school’s MESA program. Engineer Thien Nguyen discovered his facility for numbers and a supportive community through Invention Education. Thien Nguyen was born in Vietnam and lived there…

  • Meet the College Inventor Who Is Making Medicine More Equitable

    Meet the College Inventor Who Is Making Medicine More Equitable

    Inventor Dasia Taylor is one of those people who seems destined to change the world. At just 14 years old, she was consulting at Harvard on the topic of equity. Now 19, Dasia is in the process of patenting her first medical device — low-cost sutures that switch color if an infection has occurred, an…

  • This Georgia Classroom Runs on Invention Education

    This Georgia Classroom Runs on Invention Education

    Audrey Cristelli and her advanced learning teacher, Lisa Rogers, at Audrey’s 5th grade graduation. At Smyrna Elementary School near Atlanta, prizewinning student inventor Audrey Cristelli learned from educator Lisa Rogers how to think outside the box. Audrey Cristelli was just 10 years old when she had the idea — what if there was a gamified…

  • Meet the Woman Who is Transforming Early Breast Cancer Detection in India

    Meet the Woman Who is Transforming Early Breast Cancer Detection in India

    Through her novel thermal imaging device, Indian entrepreneur Geetha Manjunath is making breast cancer screening more accessible to more women. What compels a PhD in computer science to become a pioneer in cancer detection? In the case of Indian entrepreneur Geetha Manjunath, the answer is heartbreak, combined with a passion for helping people in need.…

  • This Former Rugby Player is Now a Game-Changing Inventor

    This Former Rugby Player is Now a Game-Changing Inventor

    Tozuda’s Head Impact Indicator is a tiny tool that attaches to a helmet and signals to its wearer when a significant impact has occurred. Personal experience drove Jessie Garcia to create her novel head impact indicator. Identify a problem, then work to solve it. That’s the basic formula for invention, and that’s exactly how Jessie…

  • Fighting Infant Mortality Through Hypothermia Detection

    Fighting Infant Mortality Through Hypothermia Detection

    Narain’s TempWatch bracelet, a wearable device that monitors a newborn’s temperature. Biomedical engineer Ratul Narain’s monitoring devices help detect hypothermia and other illnesses in underweight newborns. Every year, 20 million clinically underweight babies are born worldwide. Of these, eight million are born in India, where many parents don’t have easy access to neonatal care resources.…

  • It’s Not Always Easy Being Green, But It Should Be

    It’s Not Always Easy Being Green, But It Should Be

    A pioneer in the field of green chemistry, John Warner talks about the successes and challenges in creating sustainable change. John Warner is, to put it mildly, passionate about his work. He is a prolific inventor holding more than 300 patents, as well as an educator and entrepreneur. He is most passionate when talking about…

  • The Surge in Climate Action Requires a Surge in Green Talent, but How on Earth to Fill the Gap?

    The Surge in Climate Action Requires a Surge in Green Talent, but How on Earth to Fill the Gap?

    Creating a new generation of engineers skilled in sustainability is an investment in the health of people and the planet