Women in the National Inventors Hall of Fame : The First 50 Years

This book features all the women inducted in the first fifty years of the US National Inventors Hall of Fame. Each entry first provides a biography of the inductee and then goes on to describe one or more of their major inventions with descriptions that are accessible to those with little or no formal training in science. The evolution of the opportunities available to women in education and the professions becomes evident as the reader moves chronologically through biographies and inventions of the woman. Later inductees have received Nobel Prizes for their work and have become members of academies such as the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Medicine. Others have received the National Medal of Science or the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. As an important part of the Women in Science and Engineering book series, the work highlights the contributions of women inventors, inspiring women and men, and girls and boys, in a variety of scientific fields.

Ilene Busch-Vishniac is an acoustician, an advocate for women in STEM fields, an inventor, an author, and a C-suite business entrepreneur.  She began her professional career at Bell Laboratories, where she was privileged to work with James E. West, a scientist awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation and a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. While at Bell Labs, her work on acoustic sensors and actuators led to seven US patents, one of which was named outstanding patent of the year by the company. She left Bell Labs for an academic position at The University of Texas, where she rose through the ranks to become the holder of an endowed chair.  Her research led to an additional four US patents and many awards for research, teaching, and communication. Ilene left the University of Texas to assume her first administrative position as the Dean of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.  From there she moved to the Provost and Vice President, Academic office at McMaster University and then the President and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Saskatchewan. Upon retiring from academia, Ilene spent time as a higher education consultant, and then joined Sonavi Labs, Inc., a company spun out from research at Johns Hopkins University, as the Chief Innovation Officer.  She later assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer as well.  She retired from her positions at Sonavi Labs in December, 2022.

Lauren Busch is an operations research analyst with a bachelor’s degree in systems science and engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and a master’s degree in operations research from George Washington University. She began her career at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, where she analyzed the effectiveness of US Naval ship defense systems. She did mathematical modeling and optimization for a chemical manufacturer. Busch also spent many years as a government contractor developing natural gas price forecasts for the US Department of Energy for its Annual Energy Outlook. Additionally, she was a principal at a search engine optimization firm. Busch has been active as a community volunteer and currently serves as an advocate for young children in foster care through Dallas CASA.

Jill S. Tietjen, P.E., is an author (15 books published to date), international speaker, and electrical engineer. She is the co-author of the best-selling and award-winning books Her Story:  A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America, and Hollywood: Her Story, An Illustrated History of Women and the Movies. Her 2022 award-winning book was Over, Under, Around, and Through: How Hall of Famers Surmount Obstacles. Her 15th book, released in 2024, is Duty Calls: Lessons Learned from an Unexpected Life of Service, the memoir of the 14th United States Surgeon General (and first woman) Dr. Antonia Novello (with whom she co-authored). A former blogger for the Huffington Post, she speaks around the country about women’s contributions to history. Tietjen has conducted research into historical women around the world for the past thirty years. She is arguably one of the top historians on women across all fields of endeavor in the country. Tietjen works to bring women more visibility through her ceaseless nominations of historical and living women for national, state, and local awards. Her nominees have been successfully inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame, and the Hall of Fame of Delaware Women. Two of her nominees have received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation (awarded by the President of the United States). Tietjen is the CEO of Technically Speaking and is a nationally known advocate for attracting more women into scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematics careers. She is frequently invited to be the keynote speaker at engineering, science, and women’s conferences and meetings around the country, and to speak at universities. In addition, she is often profiled and quoted in the media, her articles have been printed in a wide variety of publications, and she does regular television and radio appearances. Tietjen serves as an outside director on the board of Georgia Transmission Corporation and served on the board of Merrick & Company 2010-2021.  She serves on the honorary board of the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame. She has received numerous awards and has been inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame, and the National Academy of Construction.