GeoVerse Lab
← Innovation & International Collaboration Division

Innovation Hub & Open R&D Center

Fosters breakthrough innovations in geoscience technologies through interdisciplinary collaboration and rapid prototyping, running design-thinking workshops, ideation sprints, and proof-of-concept development in dedicated makerspace facilities.

⚙️ GeoVerse System Administration Division🖥️ AI & Computing Sciences Division🔬 Basic Sciences Division⚡ Intelligent Geophysical Exploration Division🛢️ Resource & Energy Engineering Division🌍 Applied Geoscience Solutions Division💼 Economics, Policy & Strategy Division🎓 Education & Training Development Division🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration Division
Technology Transfer & Commercialization CenterInnovation Hub & Open R&D CenterStartup Incubation & Entrepreneurship CenterInternational Partnership & Cooperation CenterHorizon Scanning & Tech Intelligence Center
Thomas Edison🔑
⭐ Center Chief
Thomas Edison
Center Head
💡 Prolific inventor, industrial research lab
Frank Bass🔑
1926–2006
Frank Bass
Researcher
💡 Created the Bass diffusion model, the standard mathematical model for forecasting the adoption rate of new innovations, foundational to innovation metrics
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
Alex Faickney Osborn🔑
1888–1966
Alex Faickney Osborn
Researcher
💡 Invented brainstorming, the foundational structured group-ideation technique used in nearly all modern innovation and hackathon methodologies
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
J. P. Guilford🔑
1897–1987
J. P. Guilford
Researcher
💡 Founded the psychological study of creativity, introducing the concept of divergent thinking that underlies modern ideation and innovation-metrics research
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
Robert H. McKim🔑
1927–2022
Robert H. McKim
Researcher
💡 Co-founded Stanford's Product Design Program and pioneered "visual thinking" pedagogy, the direct forerunner of modern design thinking methodology
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
Charles F. Kettering🔑
1876–1958
Charles F. Kettering
Researcher
💡 Founded General Motors Research Corporation and pioneered the corporate industrial research laboratory as an engine of continuous applied innovation
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
Taiichi Ohno🔑
1912–1990
Taiichi Ohno
Researcher
💡 Created the Toyota Production System, the origin of lean manufacturing principles that directly underlie modern lean startup and lean innovation methodology
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
Buckminster Fuller🔑
1895–1983
Buckminster Fuller
Researcher
💡 Pioneered "design science" and prolific independent prototyping (geodesic dome, Dymaxion designs), embodying the maker-culture ethos of DIY invention and rapid physical experimentation
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
C. West Churchman🔑
1913–2004
C. West Churchman
Researcher
💡 Co-founded operations research as a discipline and articulated "the systems approach," a holistic methodology for tackling complex innovation and design problems
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
Donald Schön🔑
1930–1997
Donald Schön
Researcher
💡 Founded organizational learning theory and the concept of the "reflective practitioner," describing how innovators learn by reflecting-in-action during design and prototyping work
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
Yoji Akao🔑
1928–2016
Yoji Akao
Researcher
💡 Created Quality Function Deployment (QFD), a structured method for translating customer needs directly into engineering and design specifications
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
Kelly Johnson🔑
1910–1990
Kelly Johnson
Researcher
💡 Founded Lockheed's Skunk Works and its 14 rules of rapid, small-team, autonomous engineering, the model for modern rapid-prototyping and proof-of-concept development
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
Arthur David Hall III🔑
1925–2006
Arthur David Hall III
Researcher
💡 Wrote the first comprehensive methodology for systems engineering, providing a structured process for developing complex innovative systems from concept to deployment
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
Kaoru Ishikawa🔑
1915–1989
Kaoru Ishikawa
Researcher
💡 Developed the fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram and popularized quality circles, foundational tools of total quality management and continuous-improvement (kaizen) culture
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
Genrikh Altshuller🔑
1926–1998
Genrikh Altshuller
Researcher
💡 Created TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving), a systematic methodology for solving engineering contradictions derived from analyzing hundreds of thousands of patents
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
Henry Dreyfuss🔑
1904–1972
Henry Dreyfuss
Researcher
💡 Founded human factors industrial design, establishing anthropometric and ergonomic principles for designing products around real human users
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center
Lawrence D. Miles🔑
1904–1985
Lawrence D. Miles
Researcher
💡 Created Value Analysis/Value Engineering at General Electric, a systematic method for maximizing product function relative to cost, core to innovation-metrics and impact evaluation
🚀 Innovation & International Collaboration DivisionInnovation Hub & Open R&D Center