Blog Posts

Anyone who has been a part of Public Invention within the past five years will have met volunteer coordinator and admin extraordinaire Miriam Castillo. From recruiting volunteers for project teams, to running Google Ad campaigns, to brainstorming solutions within the admin team, Castillo has been a critical member of the organization. Recently, she shared the […]

Megan Cadena has been a part of Public Invention nearly since its inception, and is a crucial Invention Coach as well as a cornerstone of the administrative team. Over the years, she has fostered a community of fellow technologists and innovative enthusiasts that continues to flourish. In a recent interview, Cadena shared her experiences working

Public Inventor, Scientist, Engineer Roy Phillips is a Public Invention volunteer, PhD student at Rice University, and a contractor for multiple health and tech startups. His work combines a biological understanding of the human brain with engineering and a deep understanding of AI neural networks. Recently, he has used his expertise to support the software,

Although I have never seen myself as truly left-brained, I have had a longstanding interest in science, technology, and creating. Whether as a kid putting together miniature houses with knick-nacks, writing stories, or searching up Khan Academy human biology videos for fun, I enjoyed building and learning new subjects. I pursued an English degree at

“I was asking Dr. Read if there were more ways for me to contribute, or how I could grow, especially in robotics. And that’s when he mentioned Public Invention.” – Avinash Baskaran Avinash Baskaran has been a crucial contributor to multiple Public Invention projects, and has been involved in the open-source movement since his undergraduate

On June 15, 2025, three Public Invention project teams traveled to Austin, TX, to present their work and demonstrate their projects during Public Invention’s first, in-person Demo Day. The presenters included the PolyVent, the Moonrat Portable Incubator, and the Krake project teams. The latter is an alarm device whose development has been headed by Invention

Lawrence Kincheloe has been a crucial participant in multiple Public Invention projects, ranging from the General Purpose Alarm Device (GPAD) and the NASA-MCOG to a new preliminary project, the Biochar Toilet. A proud Oklahoma resident, Kincheloe has been a part of his local open source community since graduating from university in 2009, and he has

Development of a Wi-Fi Enabled, Wireless Medical Alarm Device: the Krake One of Public Invention’s most prominent projects, the General Purpose Alarm Device, or GPAD, which was recently published in HardwareX, has developed into a wireless version called the Krake. Both versions aim to be used in a medical setting as a peripheral annunciator, connecting