LEMELSON ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CENTER
The Lemelson Program exposes students to the independent reasoning and creative thinking essential to the process of inventing. The program supports students from the initial concept of an innovation through its development and possible introduction to the market.
The Lemelson Assistive Technology Development Center (LATDC teaches design, innovation, and entrepreneurship through the medium of assistive technology – that is, technology to assist people with physical, mental, or age related disabilities. Learning takes place though the lens of universal design, resulting in products or built environments to be used by the widest possible range of ability levels.
Currently funded through a five-year grant from the Lemelson Foundation, the program encompasses courses, activities, internships, collaborations with businesses and nonprofit organizations, and creative project work. Teams of students design, construct prototypes, and build equipment for people with disabilities. Through experience as well as through research and course work, students learn about applied design, anatomy and ergonomics, problem-solving, need-finding, consumer research, market influence on design, intellectual property protection, and the impact of aging on design.
The program facility, the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for Design, offers workshops in a wide variety of design and fabrication skills. The center, open to all Hampshire students, includes a shop equipped for work with metals and plastics and a laboratory for drafting and computer-aided design.
The process of invention is costly and highly speculative. Building a strong endowment to support LATDC will ensure that future Hampshire students have the resources they need to support their exciting and important innovations.
Founder of the Lemelson Program
The Lemelson Program was founded on the belief that invention, innovation and entrepreneurship are essential components to any college curriculum, and important to the nation's economic future. The late Jerome Lemelson and his wife, Dorothy, generously provided Hampshire College with a $3.2 million grant to develop the program, now manifested in a range of college initiatives. The Lemelsons chose Hampshire to lead this national education program because its interdisciplinary, contract-based approach to education is well-suited to teaching innovation and invention.