The Oregon Tech Foundation is pleased to announce that The Lemelson Foundation has awarded a $25,000 grant to further enhance the Ready, Set, Innovate! Program at Oregon Tech. Funding will support the development of a curriculum that integrates in-school and pre- and post-event learning activities, aiming to increase student engagement and innovation outcomes for the overall community.
The grant, which runs from Jan. 6, 2025, to June 15, 2026, will enable Oregon Tech to take the next step in building its university-based innovation ecosystem. The Ready, Set, Innovate! program has grown significantly over the past three years, with students gaining valuable real-world experience in collaboration, project management, and innovation while addressing community challenges.
Both K-12 and college students have consistently reported that the program boosts their confidence in skills such as teamwork, communication, and navigating uncertainty. With this new phase of development, Oregon Tech aims to:
- Increase engagement: Focus on high school, community college, and early-career university students through hands-on learning and empathy-building activities.
- Enhance the innovation process: Provide pre-event contextual learning and post-event refinement of solutions to help students better understand the invention process.
- Strengthen community partnerships: Enable sponsors and stakeholders to integrate innovative student solutions into their work, addressing local economic and social challenges.
This work aligns with The Lemelson Foundation’s goal of cultivating the inventors and changemakers of the future by inspiring students to develop the mindsets, skillsets, and resilience critical for meeting the problems of tomorrow to make the world a better place. By integrating design thinking into the school day, the Ready, Set, Innovate! framework lowers the burden on teachers while creating meaningful connections between students, community organizations, and economic development efforts.
Oregon Tech Business Management professors Hallie Neupert and Kristy Weidman submitted the grant proposal and are helping to spearhead the initiative.
“After receiving seed funding from The Lemelson Foundation to develop Ready, Set, Innovate! we are thrilled to be partnering again to take the program to the next level,” said Neupert. “This funding allows us to build on the success of the program and expand its impact in ways that are sustainable, scalable, and directly beneficial to our community.”
The project will be rolled out in two phases over the next 18 months:
Phase 1: Prototyping the Program Model (January – June 2025)
- Collaboration with K-12 pilot schools, community partners, and Oregon Tech faculty to design a curriculum connecting classrooms to real-world innovation.
- Focus on student engagement, empathy-building, and post-event solution refinement.
- Development of assessment metrics to evaluate the program’s effectiveness and scalability.
Phase 2: Iterating and Scaling (July 2025 – June 2026)
- Pilot testing the curriculum and iterating based on feedback.
- Building capacity to scale the program to more schools and community organizations.
- Strengthening partnerships across K-12 and university innovation ecosystems.
Broader Impact
The expanded Ready, Set, Innovate! program aims to empower students to develop innovative solutions to local challenges, connect deeply with their community, and strengthen the regional economy. By fostering collaboration between students, educators, and community stakeholders, Oregon Tech is creating a model for invention education that bridges the gap between K-12 and college experiences.
This project represents an important step in building a sustainable innovation ecosystem and creating long-term benefits for Klamath County and beyond.
For more information about Ready, Set, Innovate!, please contact Hallie Neupert at hallie.neupert@oit.edu.
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About the Oregon Tech Foundation
The Oregon Tech Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that promotes and funds the educational, cultural, charitable, and service functions of the Oregon Institute of Technology.
About The Lemelson Foundation
Founded in 1992, The Lemelson Foundation believes that all young people possess the potential to be inventors. Recognizing that the most transformative inventions address the needs of diverse communities and cultures, creating positive impact on a broad scale, the Foundation is committed to inspiring and empowering the next generation of inventors and innovators to solve problems that matter. Through its support of invention education, the Foundation strives to expand access to opportunities that cultivate creativity, curiosity, and essential problem-solving skills, enabling young people to realize their inventive potential and contribute to a better future.
