Presentations for Libraries:
Women Invent!
America’s women inventors are a smart, spunky, intelligent bunch. I’ve assembled a slide show about them and tell their stories while showing it. I focus on different women depending on my audience but can talk about Sybilla Masters, who in 1715 was the first woman in America to claim an invention, Madam Walker, creator of hair care products and the first African-American female millionaire, Maria Telkes, inventor of the Solar heated house, Bette Graham, creator of Liquid Paper, Patsy Sherman, co-inventor of Scotchgard, Gertrude Elion, inventor of drugs to treat childhood leukemia, Elizabeth Hazen and Rachel Brown, inventors of Nystatin, the first anti-fungal anti-biotic, Stephanie Kwolek, inventor of Kevlar, the material used to make bullet-proof vests, Rose Totino, inventor of frozen pizza and many, many more. Sometimes I present their stories historically. Other times I focus on just on women inventor-entrepreneurs or on contemporary inventors.
Kids Inventors Workshop
with a little prompting, most kids come up with great ideas for inventions. After I show them slides of kid inventors, and demonstrate and let them handle some of the kid inventions that have been made into products, we watch videos of kid inventors and kids act as though they are judges at an invention fair. Then, we brainstorm ideas and the kids come up with their own ideas for inventions. In the process, they also learn how to keep a log and read a patent . They leave with handouts about invention programs and contests they can enter and with the idea, “Hey, I can be an inventor.”
Past Appearances:
Los Angeles Public Library Central Branch
Los Angeles Public Library Branches including Venice, Los Feliz, Malabar, Studio City and more.
Los Angeles County Public Library
Torrance Public Library
California School Librarians Conference
