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2015 Activities Report

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our missionThe Lemelson Center engages, educates, and empowers the public to participate in technological, economic, and social change. We undertake historical research, develop educational initiatives, create new exhibitions, and host public programming to advance new perspectives on invention and innovation and to foster interactions between the public and inventors.

the Lemelson Center envisionsa world in which everyone is inventive and inspired to contribute to innovation.

THE 2015 JOURNEY

FROM THE DIRECTOR 4

OPENING EVENTS 6

20TH ANNIVERSARY 10

ENGAGE 14

EDUCATE 18

EMPOWER 22

LOOKING AHEAD 24

COLLABORATIONS 25

THE LEMELSON TEAM 26

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2015 was a milestone year for the Lemelson Center. Early summer brought to fruition years of work in exhibit research and planning for public engagement with the opening of the Lemelson Hall of Invention and Innovation (see more on page 6 ). The Center played a leading role in the National Museum of American History’s year of innovation through our public programming and scholarly expertise.

This year also marked the Center’s 20th anniversary. (See how we celebrated the occasion on page 10.) This opportunity to consider and celebrate the accomplishments of the past two decades fittingly coincided with the retirement of founding director Art Molella, allowing us to properly honor his outstanding leadership and long career in the history of science and technology. The Center would not be the respected institution it is today without Art’s intellectual vigor and innovative ideas, and we are fortunate that he is continuing on at the Smithsonian in an emeritus role.

The milestones of 2015 also afforded the Center a period of reflection. As a group, we spent significant time in the fall evaluating where we have been and where we would like to go over the next five years. Coming out of a strategic planning process, we defined our purpose as using insights from our historical work to engage museum visitors in the invention and innovation process, educate children and adults through interactive challenge-based exhibitions and programming, and empower people worldwide to understand and engage with complex technologies and systems. We hold world-leading archival and artifact collections at the National Museum of American History and are building world-class expertise on inventors, innovators, and invention systems. This unique

combination sets the stage for the Lemelson Center to provide critical insights on the role of innovation at present, even as we seek to inspire and empower people to view themselves as inventive.

In coming years, we will continue to develop long-standing areas of scholarly and programmatic work that consider the role of place in invention and innovation and motivations and support systems that lead people to succeed at invention and innovation. We thus plan to further explore technology and other innovation clusters as well as the role of place for inventors, ranging from the national to their community to the microcosm of the laboratory or other workplace. In addition, we will continue research and programming on the topic of what factors—predictable, explainable, and occasionally ineffable—go into the making of an inventor. Building on the 2015 “Can Innovators Be Made?” workshop, the Center will study targeted questions about promoting innovation at the individual and societal levels.

We also will initiate research, exhibitions, educational activities, and public engagement work in the new areas of innovation in sports and the role of risk and failure in invention and innovation. For sports, our plan is to explore the sources of invention and innovation in sports gear, performance-enhancing clothing, prosthetics, and other technologies; the relationship between new methods or techniques in sports and the material innovations; and tensions concerning fair competition and fear of reducing a sport to a technological arms race. For the topic of risk and failure, more extensive scholarly research and new programming will explore the individual and social dynamics of why some people are willing to take risks; when and why failed technologies lead to successes;

the role of national political culture and popular culture in invention and innovation; and how risk management shapes innovation, both as firms seek to meet regulatory mandates and as societies seek to protect themselves from risks generated in the course of industrialization and economic growth. In addition, projects in this topic theme will examine what makes a final consumer product

“work,” whether it is inherently better technology, marketing, or other aspects of uptake by users.

Our work has the potential to inspire millions of Americans and billions of people worldwide to view themselves as having inventive capacity and to build skills and confidence needed to overcome barriers to innovation. Even as the pace of change appears to accelerate in ways that raise concerns for many people, the Lemelson Center will focus on the critical role people can play in shaping technologies, the environment, and social and economic change through their inventions and innovations.

We are incredibly proud of the projects shared in this report—and of the accomplishments of the past 20 years—and energized by our plans for the future. Your participation and support will help make these ideas a reality.

ARTHUR DAEMMRICHJerome and Dorothy Lemelson Director

from the directorFROM THE DIRECTOR

When the Lemelson Center was founded in 1995,

the Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb (CFL) was introduced

commercially. Twenty years later, LEDs are overtaking CFLs.

6

Above: Representatives from the Smithsonian, Draper Laboratory, and the Lemelson Foundation open the Lemelson Hall of Invention and Innovation. Smithsonian photo by Rich Strauss.Right: Rob and Dorothy Lemelson and Carol Dahl honor Art Molella on the occasion of his retirement. Photo by John Harrington.

Above and right: Guests to the opening of the Lemelson Hall of Invention and Innovation enjoy

the exhibitions. Photos by John Harrington.

ON JULY 1, THE JEROME AND DOROTHY LEMELSON HALL

OF INVENTION AND INNOVATION, A NEW AND PERMANENT

HOME FOR LEMELSON CENTER EXHIBITIONS, OPENED AT

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY IN ITS

45,000-SQUARE-FOOT INNOVATION WING.

The exciting and original exhibitions and learning spaces that occupy the Hall—Places of Invention, a signature 3,500-square-foot exhibition examining hotspots of invention throughout history; Draper Spark!Lab, a hands-on space for children aged 6 to 12; and Inventive Minds, a small gallery that showcases the work of the Lemelson Center—physically represent the culmination of extensive research into the creative process of invention and innovation and give us an opportunity to put novel educational theory and content into practice.

The Lemelson Center celebrated this momentous occasion with a ceremonial ribbon cutting and reception attended by the Lemelson Foundation and family, Draper Laboratory, Ford Motor Company Fund, and the National Science Foundation, as well as other supporters and constituents. This event also honored the 40-year public history career of founding director Art Molella, who retired in June. Thanks to an endowed gift from the Lemelson Foundation, the Center will establish and host an Arthur Molella Distinguished Fellow starting in 2016.

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Below: Visitors helping to build the largest LEGO representation of the American flag. Photos by (left) Hugh Talman and (right) Steve Ruark, AP Images for LEGO Systems, Inc.

Above: The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra keeps things lively. Smithsonian photo by Rich Strauss.

Above and Right: Visitors getting hands-on in Spark!Lab and Places of Invention.

Smithsonian photos by Chris Gauthier.

DURING THE PUBLIC OPENING ON JULY 1, MUSEUM VISTORS

EXPLORED THE LEMELSON HALL OF INVENTION AND

INNOVATION AND THE REST OF THE WING TO THE SOUNDS OF

THE SMITHSONIAN JAZZ MASTERWORKS ORCHESTRA AND

DJ WILL EASTMAN. VISITORS ALSO HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO

PARTICIPATE IN BUILDING A NEARLY 10-FOOT-TALL AMERICAN

FLAG MADE FROM LEGO BRICKS.

Left: Zane, age 9, cuts the ribbon to open Draper Spark!Lab to the public on July 1. Above: Visitors enjoying Spark!Lab on opening day. Smithsonian photos by Rich Strauss.

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In 2015, the Lemelson Center marked 20 years of celebrating inventive thinking. Since its founding in 1995, the Lemelson Center has grown from an idea shared between the National Museum of American History and Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson to a national resource on invention history with outposts across the United States and in various places around the globe.

Over the past 20 years, the Center has produced hands-on exhibitions, like award-winning Invention at Play and Places of Invention, currently one of the cornerstone exhibitions in the museum’s Innovation Wing, and our own invention incubator, Spark!Lab. Public programs, such as the Innovative Lives series and New Perspectives on Invention and Innovation symposia, have brought together inventors, historians, and the public in unique settings to improve the understanding and appreciation of the fundamental role invention plays in people’s lives. We have trained the next generation of historians, archivists, and museum professionals; added numerous invention-related papers and artifacts to the national collections; and brought our scholarship to millions through our publications and website.

2015Above: The Lemelson Hall of Invention and Innovation opens to the

public, 2015. Smithsonian photo by Rich Strauss.

Left, Top: Visitors work with LEGO Master Builders to build a lightbulb,

2009. Photo by Stephen Boitano for LEGO Systems, Inc.

Left, Bottom: The original Spark!Lab opens at the National Museum of

American History, 2008. Photo by Chris White.

1995

2005Left: The Lemelsons open the Lemelson

Center in 1995. Smithsonian photo.

Below: James McLurking works with teens during an

Innovative Lives program, 1995. Smithsonian photo.

Right: From Frying Pan to Flying V: The Rise of the

Electric Guitar, 1996. Smithsonian photo.

Above: Kids get up-close with Minerva,

a robot tour guide, 1998. Smithsonian photo.

Right: Invention at Play, 2002. Smithsonian photo.

Below: Mike Augspurger demonstrates his invention to teens at an

Innovative Lives program, 2000. Smithsonian photo by Harold Dorwin.

Right: Inventing Ourselves, 2004.

Smithsonian photo.

20TH ANNIVERSARY

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The Center celebrated its record of achievement in September with an “Impact Inventing” symposium led by the Lemelson Foundation. As part of that symposium, the Center organized a public invention showcase that featured inventors and curators from the National Museum of American History interacting on specific themes: Enhancing Personal Mobility, Fulfilling Basic Human Needs, and Saving Lives. Inventors demonstrated their work and joined curators in conversations that highlighted the theme of impact inventing and explored the invention process and the impact of the inventions.

Above, left: David Sengeh explains his invention, improved sockets for prosthetic legs. Above: High school students from Natick, MA, demonstrate their ice search-and-rescue robot. Below: The crowd was able to ask questions of the inventors. Smithsonian photos by Rich Strauss.

Left: Dorothy Lemelson speaks on the occasion of the Center’s 20th anniversary. Photo by Ralph Alswang for the Lemelson Foundation.

Above and Left: Jeff Brodie and Art Molella speak at the Lemelson Foundation’s Impact Inventing symposium. Photos by Ralph Alswang for the Lemelson Foundation.

Above: Arthur Daemmrich addresses the guests at a celebration of the Lemelson Center and Lemelson Foundation’s 20th anniversary. Photo by Ralph Alswang for the Lemelson Foundation.

Left: Nate Ball demonstrates his powered rope ascender. Smithsonian photo by Rich Strauss.

20TH ANNIVERSARY: Impact Inventing

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engageHip-hop’s birth in the Bronx, NY, 1970s: Neighborhood streets create new beats.

The rise of the personal computer in Silicon Valley, CA, 1970s–80s: Suburban garage hackers + Lab researchers = Personal computing.

Clean-energy innovations in Fort Collins, CO, 2010s: College town combines its energies for a greener planet.

The Lemelson Center published a book to coincide with the opening of the Places of Invention exhibition. Chapters in the volume, published by the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press in June, expand upon central exhibition themes and describe programs undertaken by Smithsonian Affiliate museums that explore and build upon local invention history.

Below: The entrance to Places of Invention.

Photo by Laurel Belman.

Above: The Inventive Minds gallery.

Photo by Laurel Belman.

Below: The Fort Collins and Silicon Valley sections

of Places of Invention. Photos by Laurel Belman.

Places of Invention Places of Invention, which opened in the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Hall of Invention and Innovation in July 2015, takes visitors on a journey through time and place across America to discover the stories of people who lived, worked, played, collaborated, adapted, took risks, solved problems, and sometimes failed—all in the pursuit of something new.

The Places of Invention exhibition features six communities representing what can happen when the right mix of inventive people, resources, and inspiring surroundings come together:

Precision manufacturing in Hartford, CT, late 1800s: Factory town puts the pieces together in explosive new ways.

Technicolor in Hollywood, CA, 1930s: Young town gives birth to the movies’ Golden Age.

Cardiac innovations in Medical Alley, MN, 1950s: Tight-knit community of tinkerers keeps hearts ticking.

Inventive Minds Inventive Minds introduces visitors to the work of the Lemelson Center, particularly its efforts to document diverse American inventors. Brief video interviews, complemented by archival materials and artifacts, put the focus on inventors and their processes, telling their stories in their own words. The gallery also highlights the inventive creativity of Jerome Lemelson and the vision of Jerome and Dorothy in founding the Center in 1995.

OUR RESEARCH-BASED EXHIBITIONS AND PROGRAMS TELL

INTERESTING, SURPRISING, AND HUMAN INVENTION STORIES,

DISPEL MYTHS, AND ENCOURAGE VISITORS TO PARTICIPATE

AND SEE THEMSELVES AS INVENTIVE.

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InnoskateThe Lemelson Center continued this unique and successful collaboration with the skate community in 2015 with multiple events celebrating invention and innovation in skate culture, history, and art.

• Innoskate Global Innovators Congress: The first Innoskate Global Innovators Congress assembled a distinguished international group of innovators who are using skateboarding as a tool to promote positive social change in communities worldwide.

• Innoskate X Games: The Lemelson Center and its partners, IASC and The Boardr, brought the Innoskate experience to X Games Austin in June. Panel discussions held between major skate events highlighted the innovation of the skate deck, diversity and innovation in skate culture, inventive thinking in skate, and the

The Internet Age: Founders to the FutureThis webcasted global innovation summit in June examined the people and events that led to the creation of the Internet. Prominent contributors to the rich history of the Internet, such as Vint Cerf, Mitchell Baker, and Sebastian Thrun, discussed the diverse elements that contributed to the creation of inventions and innovations that led to the Internet Age.

impact of innovations in terrain on the sport. Featured speakers included Tony Hawk, Bob Burnquist, Paul Rodriquez, and Alexis Sablone.

• Innoskate Greenville: Innoskate travelled to Greenville, SC, and to the Children’s Museum of the Upstate in August. Panel discussions explored innovations in skate decks, Greenville as a Place of Invention, and skateboarding as an international incubator. Speakers included representatives from international skate organizations in Afghanistan (Skateistan) and Cuba (Cuba Skate). Innoskate Greenville also included hands-on activities, open skate sessions, a graffiti demo, and a best trick contest.

Wave of InnovationCelebrating the 50th anniversary of the iconic film, The Endless Summer, this event explored innovations in surfboards and surfing techniques in panel discussions with filmmaker Bruce Brown and surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August; boogie board inventor Tom Morey; Surfing Heritage & Culture Center Executive Director Paul Strauch; and surfer and surfboard shaper Greg Noll. The event also featured a donation of significant surfboards and materials from the film to the Smithsonian.

Right: The US Air Force Strolling Strings

performs in Flag Hall during America Now!

Smithsonian photo by Rich Strauss.

Left: Visitors to the museum during America

Now! prototype Spark!Lab activities. Smithsonian photo by Rich Strass.

Right: A poster from “Endless Summer”

is now part of the national collections. Smithsonian photo by Hugh Talman.

Above: Go-go band Team Familiar performs at

America Now!, really getting the crowd dancing.

Smithsonian photos by Rich Strauss.

Right: Jeff Brodie, Bob Burnquist, Brian Harper, and Tony Hawk during a panel at Innoskate X Games. Below: Examples of the progression in skate deck technologies. Smithsonian photos by Kate Wiley.

Go-Go: Born in DCAs part of the museum’s June America Now! music festival, which celebrated innovation in music, the Center hosted a program exploring Washington, DC, as a Place of Invention for go-go music. The event featured a panel discussion with Charles Stephenson, Kip Lornell, and Donnell Floyd of Familiar Faces, and a performance.

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Draper Spark!Lab Spark!Lab reveals the stories behind inventors’ work through hands-on activities that help kids and families learn about the history and process of invention.

Draper Spark!Lab reopened at the National Museum of American History in a new, open, and flexible 2,000-square-foot gallery with the look and feel of an inventor’s workspace. Children between the ages of 6 and 12 create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment, and work their way through the invention process from start to finish. Intentionally interdisciplinary, activities in Spark!Lab are organized around rotating themes—such as the opening theme,

“Things that Roll”—that allow for a broad and diverse look at invention and the museum’s collections and ensure regular visitors have something new to explore. Themes will rotate every four months to keep the space fresh and our staff innovative. Between July 1 and December 31, 2015, Spark!Lab sparked the inventive creativity in 125,000 visitors.

Spark!Lab National NetworkThe success of the Spark!Lab philosophy is clear in the increasing interest in replicating it in other parts of the United States and abroad. The Lemelson Center is working to create a robust network of Spark!Labs across the country and in other countries around the world. The Spark!Lab National Network expanded to the Anchorage Museum in Alaska in 2015, thanks to support from the Ford Motor Company Fund. In 2016, the Lemelson Center will open a Spark!Lab at the Michigan Science Center in Detroit.

In 2015, the Spark!Lab National Network—Reno, NV; Kansas City, MO; Pittsfield, MA; Anchorage, AK; and the home Spark!Lab in DC—welcomed over 500,000 visitors.

educate SPARK!LAB, THE CENTER’S PREMIER EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM, AND OTHER PUBLIC

PROGRAMMING HELP YOUNG PEOPLE DEVELOP THE SKILLS AND CONFIDENCE

NECESSARY TO SUCCEED TODAY. THE LEMELSON CENTER ALSO SUPPORTS SCHOLARS

AND ARCHIVISTS WITH EDUCATIONAL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES AND CONTRIBUTES

TO THE INTERPRETATION OF THE HISTORY OF INVENTION AND INNOVATION THROUGH

SCHOLARLY RESEARCH AND THE PRESERVATION OF INVENTION-ORIENTED COLLECTIONS.

Right: Draper Spark!Lab packed on opening day. Smithsonian photo by Chris Gauthier.

Left and below: Visitors in Draper Spark!Lab. Smithsonian photos by Chris Gauthier.

Below: Visitors enjoying Spark!Lab activities in Alaska at the Anchorage Museum. Photos by Tricia Edwards.

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Can Innovators Be Made? WorkshopOver the past half-century, millions of dollars have been invested in ambitious and sometimes controversial programs to inculcate innovative skills and qualities in scientists, engineers, and inventors, and also in youths. Through intense, small group conversation, participants in the workshop reflected on the history, contemporary experience, and future direction of efforts to develop “innovation expertise,” namely the methods, institutional practices, and habits of being that individuals can learn for the benefit of self and society.

The workshop, a partnership between the Center and Virginia Tech, fostered a rare convergence of practitioners and scholars concerned with the cultivation of innovators and innovation from the early 20th century to today.

The Lemelson Center supports the work of scholars through fellowship and travel-to-collections award programs. Lemelson Center fellows in residence in 2015 included:

• Stephen Adams, PhD, Professor of Management, Perdue School of Business, Salisbury University. Project: “Before the Garage: The Beginnings of Silicon Valley, 1909–1960”

• Lucy Cameron, PhD, Queensland-Smithsonian Fellow, Manager, Digital Economy and Productivity, Govt. of Queensland (Australia). Project: “The role of government policy in building an innovation hot-spot”

• Casey Cater, PhD candidate, History, Georgia State University. Project: “Regenerating Dixie: Electric Energy and the Making of the Modern South”

• Gerardo Con Diaz, PhD candidate, History of Science and Medicine, Yale University. Project: “Intangible Inventions: Patents and the History of Software, 1945–1985”

Travel-to-collections awards provide travel funds for research on the history of invention and innovation using the extensive holdings of the Museum’s Archives Center and curatorial divisions. In 2015, award winners in residence included:

• Josh Lauer, University of New Hampshire. Project: “No One’s Home: The Answering Machine as Anti-Communication Technology”

• Alan Noonan, University of Cork College, Ireland. Project: “Biography of Eckley Coxe, Lord of the Anthracite Lands”

• Michelle Rodino-Colocino, Penn State University. Project: “Making Media Work: A Cultural History of New Media and Management”

• Jaipreet Virdi-Dhesi, Ryerson University. Project: “A History of Deafness Cures, 1650–1930”

The annual Lemelson Center Summer Archival Internship offers an opportunity to work on many of the invention-related collections held in the Archives Center. In 2015, the Center hosted Tyler Stump, a University of Maryland student, who completed work on the Heinz Joseph Gerber Papers, the Gerber Scientific Instrument Company Records, and the Arthur Ehrat Papers.

The Archives Center acquired the following invention-related collections in 2015:

• Manny Villafaña Papers (7 cubic feet). The collection documents Manny Villafaña, inventor, entrepreneur, and founder of several medical device companies since 1971.

• Arthur Ehrat Papers (addenda 3 cubic feet). Arthur Ehrat invented and patented a breakaway basketball rim, fashioning his prototypes from bolts, metal braces, and one key part: a piece of the heavy-duty coil spring on a John Deere cultivator.

• Benjamin H. Stansbury Papers (6.5 cubic feet). The collection documents the inventing and design work of Benjamin Stansbury.

WebThe Lemelson Center launched its new website, http://invention.si.edu, early in 2015. In September, the website received a 2015 WebAward for Outstanding Achievement in Web Development for Best Education Website from the Web Marketing Association.

Research and Training Opportunities Archival Acquisitionseducate

Right: Fellow Gerardo Con Diaz. Far Right: Fellow Stephen Adams. Smithsonian photos by Chris Gauthier. Above and left: Participants in the Can Innovators Be Made? Workshop. Photos by Eric Hintz (above) and Chris Gauthier (left).

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Places of Invention Affiliates Project The Places of Invention Affiliates Project brought together Smithsonian Affiliate organizations and their community partners to research and document their places of invention. Through public programs, oral histories, site visits, and archival research, teams learn how invention can be a lens for understanding local history and engaging the public in new cultures of innovation.

Affiliate teams produced short videos highlighting the resources, people, and geography that sparked local invention. These videos are an integral part of the Places of Invention exhibition’s signature piece—a large interactive map accessible from the exhibition and website. Related public programming took place at each Affiliate location. For a complete list of participating Affiliate museums and community partners, see page 25.

ePals Spark!Lab Invent It! Global ChallengeHeld for the fourth year in 2015, the Invent It! Challenge allows children across the world to showcase their creative thinking on a global stage, with the opportunity to win various prizes, including an official patent filing. Individual students, entire classrooms, schools, and other organizations serving children between the ages of 5 to 18 are encouraged to participate.

Smithsonian/USPTO Innovation FestivalThe Lemelson Center collaborated across the Smithsonian and with the US Patent and Trademark Office on the 2015 Innovation Festival. After a national call, 13 companies, universities, government agencies, and independent inventors were selected to participate in the festival, which explored how today’s inventors are creating the world of the future. Highlights included innovation and invention programs, hands-on activities, expert talks and demonstrations, and opportunities for visitors to meet and exchange ideas with inventors and innovators while exploring their own creative abilities.

Professional ConnectionsThe Lemelson Center’s “staff projects initiative” provides start-up grants to researchers, curators, and education specialists at the National Museum of American History for projects that broaden public understanding of invention and innovation, while fostering enhanced collaboration between the Center and our Smithsonian colleagues.

Past grants have supported research and collecting trips, exhibition development, educational and public programs, and web projects. In 2015, grants were awarded to:

• Judy Chelnick, Division of Medicine & Science; Carlene Stephens, Division of Work & Industry; and Alison Oswald, Archives Center/Lemelson Center. Project: “Medical Robotics”

• Paul Johnston, Division of Work & Industry. Project: “The Norie Marine Atlas and the Guano Trade”

• Alexandra Lord, Division of Medicine & Science. Project: “Innovation and Closing the Gap in Neurological Research”

• Harold Wallace, Division of Work & Industry. Project: “Collecting Light Emitting Diodes: Cree, Inc.”

Future is Here: The Future of YouThe Lemelson Center partnered with Smithsonian magazine to present the 2015 Future is Here Festival. The weekend featured an exploration of “The Future of You” through a distinguished lineup of speakers, as well as various movie screenings and demos. In conjunction with the Festival, the Center hosted a small group of inventors for a documentation workshop.

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LEMELSON CENTER SCHOLARSHIP AND PROGRAMMING EXAMINE PAST AND PRESENT

INNOVATIONS AND EVOLVING INNOVATION PROCESSES TO EMPOWER THE PUBLIC TO

SOLVE PROBLEMS, NAVIGATE CHALLENGES, AND LEAD POSITIVE CHANGE IN THEIR

LIVES AND COMMUNITIES.

Above and right: Inventors interact with

visitors to the Innovation Festival, allowing

them hands-on access to inventions.

Smithsonian photos by Rich Strauss.

Right: Inventors discuss documentation

techniques during the Future Is Here Festival.

Smithsonian photo by Chris Gauthier.

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WE WILL CONTINUE TO UPHOLD A VIBRANT PRESENCE

ON AND OFF THE NATIONAL MALL IN 2016 THROUGH

THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES:

• Amplifying the Lemelson Hall of Invention and Innovation with programs that engage, educate, and empower the public, including launching an annual program exploring music innovation

• Updating Inventive Minds and Draper Spark!Lab with new themes and object rotations

• Publishing the latest volume in our series with MIT Press, The Early American Daguerreotype: Cross-Currents in Art and Technology

• Expanding the Spark!Lab National Network by opening Spark!Lab at Michigan Science Center

• Challenging students to explore their inventive creativity in the Fourth Annual Spark!Lab Invent It! Challenge in collaboration with ePals

• Identifying the inaugural Arthur Molella Distinguished Fellow and welcoming the 2016 class of fellows, travel-to-collections award grantees, and interns

COLLABORATION, SHARING IDEAS AND VIEWPOINTS, FLEXIBILITY, AND RISK-TAKING ARE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF ANY INNOVATIVE ENDEAVOR. THE CENTER HAS AN EXTENSIVE TRACK RECORD OF WORKING WITH AN ARRAY OF PARTNERS ACROSS A BROAD SPECTRUM OF DISCIPLINES TO CREATE SUCCESSFUL PROGRAMS.

Anchorage Museum

Art Arsenale (Kyiv, Ukraine)

Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination

Association of Children’s Museums

Berkshire Museum

Bryd Library

C&G Partners

Children’s Museum of the Upstate

Doolittle Institute

ePals and Cricket Media

ESPN

Innoskate Planning Team: Ryan Clements, Betsy Gordon, Josh Friedberg, and Miki Vuckovich

International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC)

Lemelson Foundation

Lemelson-MIT Program

The MIT Press

National Academy of Inventors

National Museum of American History

National Museum of the American Indian

National Science Foundation

Nike, Inc.

Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.

Roto Group LLC

R/P Marketing Public Relations

Science City at Union Station

Smithsonian Grand Challenges Consortia

Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press

Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and Oral History Project

Smithsonian magazine

Smithsonian Office of Contracting

Smithsonian Office of General Counsel

Smithsonian Women’s Committee

Society for the History of Technology

Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum

US Department of State

US Patent and Trademark Office

VentureWell

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

PLACES OF INVENTION AFFILIATES PROJECT ORGANIZATIONS AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSSmithsonian Affiliations

American Textile History Museum Lowell Telecommunications Corporation

Lowell National Historical Park

Berkshire Museum The Berkshire Historical Society

Conner Prairie Interactive History Park Howard County Historical Society

Indiana Gas Boom Heritage Development Area

Museum of History and Industry 20after1

The National World War II Museum University of New Orleans

looking ahead Peoria Riverfront Museum

Peoria Historical Society

USDA-NCAUR

ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum Southern Oregon Historical Society

Senator John Heinz History Center MCG Jazz

Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh

Telluride Historical Museum Pinhead Institute

US Space & Rocket Center University of Alabama at Huntsville

Western Reserve Historical Society WCPN/WVIZ ideastream

The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art, and Technology Owens Corning

Left: The latest installment in the

Center’s series with MIT Press.

Below: Monica Smith flanked by Director Emeritus

Art Molella and Director Arthur Daemmrich.

Photo by John Harrington.

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Left: The Innovation Echo panel hosted by the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Photo by Jason Dixon.

Below: Paul Schmitt during a panel at Innoskate X Games. A young skater shreds on the vert ramp. Smithsonian photos by Kate Wiley.

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THE LEMELSON CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF INVENTION AND INNOVATION IS SUPPORTED BY THE LEMELSON FOUNDATION, A PRIVATE PHILANTHROPY ESTABLISHED BY ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S MOST PROLIFIC INVENTORS, JEROME LEMELSON, AND HIS FAMILY. FOUNDED IN 1992, THE LEMELSON FOUNDATION WORKS TO INSPIRE AND ENABLE THE NEXT GENERATION OF INVENTORS AND INVENTION-BASED ENTERPRISES IN ORDER TO BUILD A STRONGER U.S. ECONOMY AND CREATE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE FOR THE POOR IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT LEMELSON.ORG.

Lemelson Center Team 2015Arthur Molella, Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Director/Director Emeritus

Arthur Daemmrich, Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Director

Jeffrey Brodie, Deputy Director

Joyce Bedi, Senior Historian

Laurel Fritzsch Belman, Project Curator

Michelle DelCarlo, Spark!Lab National Network Manager

Tricia Edwards, Head of Education

Zach Etsch, Spark!Lab Facilitator

Natalia Febo, Spark!Lab Facilitator

Chris Gauthier, Web and New Media Specialist

Eric Hintz, Historian and Fellowship Coordinator

Anna Karvellas, Program Specialist and Editor

Jocelyn Knauf, Spark!Lab Floor Manager

Anna Mayfield, Spark!Lab Facilitator

Laurel Miller, Interpretive Exhibits Manager

Alison Oswald, Archivist and Travel-to-Collections Coordinator

Tim Pula, Interpretive Exhibits Coordinator

William Reynolds, Administrative Support Specialist

Monica Smith, Exhibition Program Manager

Kate Wiley, Public Affairs Specialist

The Lemelson Center is grateful for the volunteers and Smithsonian staff members who assisted with special events and other public programs.

Lemelson Center 2015 Advisory CommitteeStephanie Cohen, Digital Strategy and User Engagement, Alpha Industries, Inc.

Lisa D. Cook, Associate Professor, Economics and International Relations, Michigan State University

Roger Horowitz, Director, Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society; Hagley Museum and Library

Robert (Bob) Horton, Chair, Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Henry Lowood, Curator, History of Science & Technology, Stanford University Libraries

Cheryl McCallum, Director of Education, Children’s Museum of Houston

James McLurkin, Engineer and Roboticist, Google, Inc.

Christine Peterson, Executive Director (retired), Stanford Research Institute

Len Polizzotto, Vice President (retired), Strategic Business Development & Marketing, Draper Laboratory

Kate Roberts, Senior Exhibit Designer, Minnesota Historical Society

Dorothy, Eric, and Robert Lemelson, ex officio members

Lemelson Center Research AssociatesRobert Kargon, Willis K. Shepard Professor of the History of Science, Johns Hopkins University

Edward Tenner, independent writer and technology analyst

Michael Brian Schiffer, Research Professor, University of Maryland

Lemelson Center Visiting CommitteeRuth Schwartz Cowan, Professor Emerita, University of Pennsylvania

David J. Rhees, Emeritus, Bakken Library and Museum

Jeffrey L. Sturchio, President and CEO, Rabin Martin

Martin Levitt, Library Director Emeritus, American Philosophical Society

Below left: Tricia Edwards speaking at the International Symposium of

Science Museums. Photo courtesy of the National Science Museum of Korea.

Below right: Tim Pula tinkering in his Spark!Lab office. Smithsonian photo.

Below: The Lemelson Center team at the June opening

of the Lemelson Hall of Invention and Innovation.

Smithsonian photo by Rich Strauss.

educate

28The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and InnovationNational Museum of American HistorySmithsonian Institution

P.O. Box 37012 MRC 604Washington, DC 20013-7012P 202.633.3656F 202.633.4593E lemcen@si.edu

For updates on activities at the Lemelson Center, visit invention.si.edu.

©2016 The Lemelson Center