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Blog

Evaluation in Spark!Lab

We iterate our process not just by doing the job, but also by improving how we do it each time.

Blog

Sporting Invention: Applying the IPOP Framework

The Sporting Invention exhibition team is using the IPOP framework to test which Ideas, People, Objects, and Physical experiences might resonate with visitors.

Lemelson Center Research

2017 Lemelson Center Activities Report

The Lemelson Center had a remarkable 2017, with growth in research and education, and dynamic new public programming initiatives.

Spark!Lab

Spark!Lab Staff Spotlight: Zach Etsch

Our veteran Spark!Lab Lead Facilitator loves to educate, engage, and empower our museum visitors.

Spark!Lab

Spark!Lab Staff Spotlight: Mary Kate Robbett

The most recent addition to the Spark!Lab crew, this former NMAH ambassador has already brought her enthusiasm and museum experience to thousands of young visitors.

Spark!Lab

Spark!Lab Staff Spotlight: Antanesha Mayfield

This Spark!Lab veteran loves hearing about kids’ inventions almost as much as she loves her new baby girl.

Spark!Lab

Spark!Lab Staff Spotlight: Natalia Febo

Even in her time away from the Smithsonian, this Lead Facilitator is a master maker.

Spark!Lab

Spark!Lab Staff Spotlight: Jocelyn Knauf

Although she doesn’t describe herself as ‘an inventor,’ Spark!Lab’s Floor Manager espouses the exhibit’s innovative spirit — in visitors’ lives and her own.

Blog

Strategic Planning for an Innovative Organization

At the Lemelson Center, we try to live our mission by being innovative in our work. But how do you reconcile the strategic planning process with the sometimes-chaotic innovation process?

Blog

Creative Problem Solving at Work

A visitor's "lost" cell phone leads to inventive problem solving at the Lemelson Center.

Spark!Lab

Spark!Lab Staff Spotlight: Laurel Miller

Spark!Lab’s Interpretive Exhibits Manager is all about cultivating innovation and creativity.

Spark!Lab

Why Do It?

Why do I love my job? I do it so that visitors, regardless of their path, can develop skills that drive them to be successful in their lives.

Spark!Lab

Roll Out the Old . . . Bring in the Sound!

As we ready Spark!Lab for its next theme, Things that Make Sound, I interviewed Interpretive Exhibits Coordinator Tim Pula about the process of developing new activities.

Places of Invention

Twenty Years of Exhibitions at the Lemelson Center

Having worked on Lemelson Center exhibitions for 20 years, I've learned a few things. What topic should we tackle next?

Spark!Lab

And We Were There . . .

The Lemelson Center's first website premiered 20 years ago today.

Invention Stories

Send Me a Kiss by Wireless

In exchanging emoji's with my daughter, I'm part of a long history of communicating by wireless.

Invention Stories

Playing Games on the Job

Playing vintage video games must fit under the “other duties as assigned” part of my job description.

Spark!Lab

Spark!Lab, Looking Back and Moving Forward

2014 was a giant year for Spark!Lab that saw our staff spread our message across the United States and around the world. This year should be equally—if not more!—exciting.

Places of Invention

Inventing an Exhibition, Part 4 (of 4)

The clock is ticking down as exhibition installation starts soon. It’s been a long road but we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and look forward to sharing this exhibition with the public!