In This Issue

Ground Broken on New NIHFF School

2008 Induction Ceremony

History comes to life at the USPTO Museum

Quality Counts at Camp Invention

Recent Corporate and Foundation Support

Combined Federal Campaign

Inventor Day

Web Links
invent.org
Annual Fund Giving

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Ground Broken on New NIHFF School

The National Inventors Hall of Fame School…Center for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Learning has broken ground with a projected opening in the Fall of 2009 as part of the Akron Public Schools (APS). Students in grades 5-8 will attend from within the APS system as well as schools from the greater Akron region.

In 2004, NIHFF, APS, the City of Akron, and The University of Akron created the concept for a school that would be located at the Hall of Fame Museum. The partners decided to focus on the middle school level since it encompasses the years during which students make critical decisions regarding their interest in math and science. This original vision has been broadened to having the school become a regional center for creativity and invention with a focus on STEM subjects.

Hall of Fame Inductee involvement has been an important element of the school project. A group of Inductees have shared their thoughts about school experiences and made suggestions for the school planners to consider. Their suggestions and recommendations are reflected in the framework for the school’s program design and they continue to be involved in the process. School officials anticipate continued Inductee involvement through visits to the school and other methods of integrating them into student learning experiences.

During construction of the school facility, the Hall of Fame Museum will be closed, but a new public exhibit on the atrium level is being developed and will be on display later this year.

More information on the school is available here.

2008 Induction Ceremony

Induction 2008 was celebrated in Akron over the weekend of May 2-3. At the Friday evening ceremony, 11 inductees were honored posthumously. The inventors included such innovators as John Charnley, a British surgeon who gave the world a successful technique for hip replacement surgery, and Kelly Johnson, a Lockheed Martin engineer who headed the well-known Skunk Works and was instrumental in creating technologically advanced aircraft.

The Saturday black-tie gala celebrated this year's living inductees, all eight of whom were in attendance. Among those receiving the honor this year were inventors Amar Bose who is known for his audio innovations, Nick Holonyak who created the LED, and chemist Ruth Benerito who discovered wrinkle-free cotton.

Ken Richardson was also honored for his discovery of the anti-fungal drug Fluconazole. After the weekend, he said, “I really enjoyed the first evening, when we were given a tour of the Hall of Fame. It was very flattering to read about past inductees, and to realize that I was considered to be part of that group who had contributed so much to the world. It is very easy to get one’s own achievements out of perspective, and it was also a great reality check, since I realized that I was just one among a large number of inventors who had achieved so much.”

The complete list of the 2008 living inductees includes:

• Ruth Benerito, Wrinkle-free cotton

• Amar Bose, Audio technologies

• Nick Holonyak, Jr., LED

• Erna Hoover, Computerized telephone switching

• Amos Joel, Jr., Switching concept for cellular phones

• William Murphy, Jr., Medical devices

• Ken Richardson, Fluconzaole (anti-fungal drug)

• Louis Stevens, Magnetic disk drive

The complete list of the inductees honored posthumously:

• Robert Adler (1913-2007), Television remote control

• John Charnley (1911-1982), Hip replacement surgery

• Willem Einthoven (1860-1927), Electrocardiograph

• Calvin Fuller (1902-1994), Gerald Pearson (1905-1987), Daryl Chapin (1906-1995), Silicon solar cell

• Clarence “Kelly” Johnson (1910-1990), Fighter aircraft

• Ray McIntire (1918-1996), Styrofoam® brand foam

• Malcom McLean (1913-2001), Containerized shipping

• Harold McMaster (1916-2003), Tempered glass

• David Pall (1914-2004), Filtration technologies

Additional information about this year’s influential class of inductees can be found here.

History Comes to Life at the USPTO Museum

A new attraction at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Museum has just been installed. The “Portrait Gallery” exhibit features high definition video portraits of United States Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, USPTO Director Jon Dudas, and National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees Thomas Edison, Steve Wozniak, and Helen Free. These portraits come to life to talk about the history and growth of the agency and America’s intellectual property protection system.

The new exhibit was conceived and created for the USPTO by the Invent Now Studio to present important facts about the USPTO to museum visitors in a high tech, entertaining, and unique way. “We really think the new exhibit is a magical and entertaining way to educate kids about the USPTO’s history and the role it has always played in promoting American innovation,” Richard Maulsby of the USPTO Office of Public Affairs commented.

The USPTO Museum is located in the atrium of the Madison Building at 600 Dulany Street in Alexandria, VA. The museum is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m.

Quality Counts at Camp Invention

Invent Now Kids is constantly developing new experiences for Camp Invention and before these activities are sent out to the more than 1,000 Camp Invention sites each summer, they are tested to ensure that Campers will not only have fun, but will be learning at the same time! The process of creating these modules is a complex but enjoyable process for the educators who develop the curricula.

After the initial curricula have been written, testing is done in a variety of camp settings over the summer. These testing sites are chosen to reflect demographic, economic, and geographical diversity. The Camp Invention education team, the testing teachers, and directors help tweak the activities and provide some of the best ideas to carry the curricula forward.

Based on this feedback, the curricula are rewritten to make them work for the thousands of teachers across the country that will use it the following summer. By the time a new module hits the national stage it has been thoroughly tested by both adults and children, and is ready to join the dozens of other activities that make up the Camp Invention experience.

For more information on Camp Invention sites near you this summer, click here.

Recent Corporate and Foundation Support

The National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation and its subsidiaries would like to acknowledge the following foundations and corporations for their recent support:

3M – Support for Camp Invention (national in-kind)
Abbott Fund - Official Corporate Sponsor - Collegiate Inventors Competition (national)
Carrier Corporation - Support for Camp Invention (Indianapolis, IN, Syracuse, NY, and Collierville, TN)
Ford Motor Company Fund - Support for Camp Invention and Club Invention
GAR Foundation - Support for Camp Invention and Club Invention (Akron, OH)
The Burton D. Morgan Foundation - Support for Camp Invention and Club Invention (Akron and Wooster, OH)
Motorola Foundation -Support for Camp Invention (Philadelphia, PA, Chicago, IL, and Boca Raton, FL)

For a complete list of our sponsors, please visit our sponsor page here.

If you would like to become a sponsor of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, please contact Hannah Smith, Director of Development, at 330.849.6874; hsmith@invent.org.

Combined Federal Campaign

The National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation has been accepted into the 2008 Combined Federal Campaign.  The Campaign is the largest workplace charitable organization campaign in the United States and the only campaign authorized to solicit and collect contributions from federal employees in the workplace on behalf of charitable organizations.  The 2008 Campaign season runs from September 1 to December 15.

Please contact Joyce Ward, Director of Program Support, at jward@invent.org or 703.706.0081 with any questions related to NIHFF participation in this Campaign.  For more information on the Combined Federal Campaign, visit their web site: www.opm.gov/cfc.

Every Day is Inventor Day!

Help us celebrate the Inductees in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Here are the July, August, and September birthdays of Hall of Fame Inductees who have changed our lives.