Joshua Schuler

The Executive Director of the Lemelson–MIT Program has led the InvenTeams initiative to a point where it is now a major part of MIT’s commitment to K–12 education. In this program, teams of high school students, teachers, and mentors identify a problem, research it, and develop a prototype of a solution. The program grew under his leadership from three teams in 2003 to an initiative involving 275 students and 50 teachers and mentors in 2007. He facilitated an internship program with a company founded by a Lemelson–MIT student prize winner, and he works overtime to build connections between MIT entities and their local communities; lately, he forged the MIT Alumni Association Inspirational Teacher Award, through which MIT students celebrate the teachers who inspired them.

He has connected people of all ages who value innovation and has networked them to MIT. He visits the students and mentors personally, and when he is not on the road, he manages the community online. For fostering technological creativity in young people and nurturing a culture of invention in schools nationwide, we congratulate Joshua Schuler for his work in Creating Connections.