Dorothy Jones-Davis

Me in a nutshell: Connector, Maker, Mom, Wife, Extrovert, PhD Neuroscientist, Passionate about inclusion and broadening participation – not necessarily in that order.

What Drives Me: I am deeply interested in finding ways to create connections between a diversity of makers, leveraging their collective skills to harness solutions for the world’s challenges – grand and small.

My accomplishments: I’m currently the Executive Director of Nation of Makers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping makers by supporting maker organizations; through advocacy, the sharing of resources and the building of community within the maker movement and beyond. Prior to my current position, I was a co-producer of the National Maker Faire, the DC Mini Maker Faire, and the #MakerMap. I was also an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow within the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Engineering, where my primary area of work was in understanding the ways in which perceived educational “disruptions” such as the Maker Movement can be leveraged to improve access to pathways in engineering education and careers for traditionally underrepresented populations. I have made many presentations and served as a panelist at a number of venues, including the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Patent and Trademark Resource Center Annual Summit, the IEEE Innotek Conference, the USPTO National Science Teacher’s Institute, and World Maker Faire on this topic, and served on the White House OSTP Interagency Working Group on Making. I am a PhD level neuroscientist by training, and my prior position was as a Scientific Project Manager for Neuroscience at a local Foundation where I managed public-private-partnerships and consortia between the Federal government, academia and private industry partners.

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