My first meeting is with Media Lab professor Rosalind Picard, an electrical engineer by training who develops ways to measure emotional response.

FORBES: New Technology Coaches Autistic Children and Their Caretakers on Emotional Understanding

She spent her days in the lab, trying to figure out how to genetically engineer plants.

FORBES: Green Genes

The bottle bulb was inspired by engineer Amy Smith, from the D-Lab in MIT.

CNN: Plastic bottles light up lives

Harold Brown, a 31-year-old self-taught engineer, asked if he could conduct experiments at Edison's lab.

FORBES: Magazine Article

"Scalability is really the critical issue, " said Robert McCormick, principal engineer at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado.

CNN: Lab makes renewable diesel fuel from E. coli poop