Gertrude "Trudy"Belle Elion was an American biochemist and pharmacologist, who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with George H. Hitchings and Sir James Black for their use of innovative methods of rational drug design for the development of new drugs. This new method focused on understanding the target of the drug rather than simply using trial-and-error. Her work led to the creation of the anti-retroviral drug AZT, which was the first drug widely used against AIDS. Her well known works also include the development of the first immunosuppressive drug, azathioprine, used to fight rejection in organ transplants, and the first successful antiviral drug, acyclovir (ACV), used in the treatment of herpes infection.
ClearRx is a trademark for a design for prescription drug packaging, designed by design student Deborah Adler as a thesis project and adopted by Target Corporation for use in their in-store pharmacies in 2005. The design is an attempt to clarify certain difficult aspects common to most prescription bottles used in the US.
Amy Smith is an American inventor, educator, and founder of the MIT D-Lab and senior lecturer of mechanical engineering at MIT.
Mária Telkes was a Hungarian-American biophysicist and inventor who worked on solar energy technologies.
Ruth E. Carter is an American costume designer for film and television. She is best known for her collaborations with Spike Lee, John Singleton, and Ryan Coogler. During her film career, Carter has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, for her work on Lee's biographical film Malcolm X (1992), Steven Spielberg's historical drama film Amistad (1997), and winning twice for Coogler's Marvel superhero films Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). She was the first African-American to win and be nominated for Best Costume Design and the first Black woman to win multiple Academy Awards in any category. Her other film credits include Do the Right Thing (1989), What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), Love & Basketball (2000), Serenity (2005), The Butler (2013), Selma (2014), Marshall (2017), Dolemite Is My Name (2019), and Coming 2 America (2021).
Catherine Martin is an Australian costume designer, production designer, set designer, and film producer. In a career spanning over three decades, she is recognized for her prolific work across stage and screen with her husband, Baz Luhrmann. These include their collaborations on such acclaimed films as Strictly Ballroom (1992), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Australia (2008), The Great Gatsby (2013), and Elvis (2022). She has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, six BAFTA Awards, and a Tony Award.
Angela M. Belcher is a materials scientist, biological engineer, and the James Mason Crafts Professor of Biological Engineering and Materials Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. She is director of the Biomolecular Materials Group at MIT, a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and a 2004 MacArthur Fellow. In 2019, she was named head of the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT. She was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022.
Carolyn Ruth Bertozzi is an American chemist and Nobel laureate, known for her wide-ranging work spanning both chemistry and biology. She coined the term "bioorthogonal chemistry" for chemical reactions compatible with living systems. Her recent efforts include synthesis of chemical tools to study cell surface sugars called glycans and how they affect diseases such as cancer, inflammation, and viral infections like COVID-19. At Stanford University, she holds the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professorship in the School of Humanities and Sciences. Bertozzi is also an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and is the former director of the Molecular Foundry, a nanoscience research center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Ayanna MacCalla Howard is an American roboticist, entrepreneur and educator currently serving as the dean of the College of Engineering at Ohio State University. Assuming the post in March 2021, Howard became the first woman to lead the Ohio State College of Engineering.
The Lemelson Foundation is an American 501(c)(3) private foundation. It was started in 1993 by Jerome H. Lemelson and his wife Dorothy. The foundation held total net assets of US$444,124,049 at the end of 2020 and US$484,432,021 at the end of 2021.
Anna Wagner Keichline was an American architect, inventor, suffragist, and World War I Special Agent from Pennsylvania. She was the first woman to be registered as an architect in Pennsylvania and she was "one of the first women to actually practice architecture professionally". She was awarded seven patents, including one for a notched brick in 1927.
Allene Rosalind Jeanes was an American chemist whose pioneering work significantly impacted carbohydrate chemistry. Born in 1906 in Texas, Jeanes' notable contributions include the development of Dextran, a lifesaving blood plasma substitute used in the Korean and Vietnam wars, and Xanthan gum, a polysaccharide commonly used in the food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. Jeanes' innovations have had a lasting influence on medical treatments and everyday consumer products, highlighting her role as a key figure in applied carbohydrate science. Her achievements earned her numerous accolades, including being the first woman to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Sangeeta N. Bhatia is an American biological engineer and the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor at MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Bhatia's research investigates applications of micro- and nano-technology for tissue repair and regeneration. She applies ideas from computer technology and engineering to the design of miniaturized biomedical tools for the study and treatment of diseases, in particular liver disease, hepatitis, malaria and cancer.
Corinna E. Lathan is an American entrepreneur, engineer, and social activist. She is the author of InventingThe Future: Stories from a Techno Optimist. Dr. Lathan is currently CEO of De Oro Devices. She is also the Co-Founder, and former CEO and Board Chair of AnthroTronix, Inc., a biomedical research and development company headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. Lathan is recognized for her work on digital health software and assistive technology.
Lita Talarico is a co-founder and co-chair of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design Program in New York City. She also co-founded the SVA Masters Workshop in Italy, an ongoing summer program. She also teaches and lectures on design entrepreneurism around the world.
Jacqueline S. Casey was a graphic designer best known for the posters and other graphic art she created for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). While practicing a functional Modernism, Jacqueline S. Casey was a graphic designer in the Office of Publications from 1955 to 1989, and was appointed director in 1972. In discussing her design, Casey stated, "My work combines two cultures: The American interest in visual metaphor on the one hand, and the Swiss fascination with planning, fastidiousness, and control over technical execution on the other."
Jackie Yi-Ru Ying is an American nanotechnology scientist based in Singapore. She is the founding executive director of the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN).
Ruth Adler Schnee was a German-born American textile designer and interior designer based in Michigan. Schnee was best known for her modern prints and abstract-patterns of organic and geometric forms. She opened the Ruth Adler-Schnee Design Studio with her spouse Edward Schnee in Detroit, which operated until 1960. The studio produced textiles and later branched off into Adler-Schnee Associates home decor, interiors, and furniture.
Patricia Billings is a sculptor, inventor and businesswoman. She invented the building material Geobond. Billings has an entry in the Historical Encyclopedia of American Women Entrepreneurs, 1776 to the Present.
Lydia O'Leary (1900-1982) was the inventor of foundation makeup designed to cover birthmarks and discolorations; she received a patent for her invention in 1932. Her company, Covermark Beauty, is still in existence, now a subsidiary of Pias Intercosmex.
