Megan Dominguez, Schenectady Museum Suits-Bueche Planetarium Jason Murphy, Schmeiser, Olsen & Watts LLP

Mary Ellen Hern, Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium Ricki D. Shapiro, GE Global Research
Louis R. Mazzone, GE Global Research

November 2011

Dear Educator:

Be a part of INVENTION CONVENTION 2012!

Invention Convention is an annual regional and statewide invention competition for students from grades K through 8. You may have experienced the creative energy of our student inventors during previous competitions. If so, you know how much fun it is. If you haven’t participated, we invite you and your students to join in the fun. An added bonus is that Invention Convention is aligned with NYS MST Learning Standard 5, which relates to Technology and Engineering Design.

In collaboration with the Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium and GE Volunteers, this contest is organized and run by volunteer scientists, engineers, patent attorneys, agents and others. We believe that interdisciplinary programs such as Invention Convention have great value in the school curriculum, and we hope you and your students will participate this year.

Now in its 15th year, Invention Convention has engaged more than 14,000 students from this region in creative problem solving with us since we began in 1998, including more than 1,300 in 2011!

A flyer describing the program is enclosed with this letter. We encourage you to photocopy it and distribute it to other educators who also may want to participate in the program. Additional information, examples of student invention disclosures, instructions for scheduling a free school outreach program, and links to invention websites may be obtained at:

http://www.crd.ge.com/invent/

Please feel free to call me at 518.382.7890 ext. 227 with any questions. Invention disclosure forms used by the student inventors may be downloaded and printed from the website.

The deadline for returning invention disclosure forms is February 10, 2012, so it’s never too early to start Invention Convention! We look forward to seeing this year’s inventions!

Sincerely,

Megan Dominguez

Education and Planetarium Manager

Capital Region Coordinator

INVENTION CONVENTION 2012

Enclosure