Lonnie Johnson - Guest Expert

Episode 2

SuperSoaker inventor Lonnie Johnson serves as a guest expert on the new USA Network original reality/competiton series Made in the USA. He appears on episode 2, "Does It Work?" to test the inventors' practical know how by supervising them in an ingenuity challenge.

In 1989, Johnson formed his own engineering firm and licensed his most famous invention, the SuperSoaker water gun, to Larami Corporation. Two years later, the SuperSoaker became the #1 selling toy in America, and has generated almost $1 billion in retail sales. Johnson currently holds over 90 patents, with over 20 more pending.

Johnson is currently the President and Founder of Johnson Research & Development Co., Inc., a technology development company, and its spin-off companies, Excellatron Solid State, LLC, and Johnson Electro Mechanical Systems, LLC (JEMS), both of which are developing revolutionary energy technology.

Johnson holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering, an M.S. degree in Nuclear Engineering, and an honorary Ph.D. in Science from Tuskegee University. Upon graduation, he joined the Air Force and served as an Advanced Space Systems Requirements Officer at Strategic Air Command headquarters. He was twice awarded the Air Force Achievement Medal and the Air Force Commendation Medal. After leaving the military, he joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. During his nine year career with JPL, he received multiple achievement awards from NASA for his work in spacecraft system design for the Galileo Mission to Jupiter and the Mars Observer projects, and was instrumental in the Cassini Mission to Saturn. He is the author of several publications on spacecraft power systems.

Articles on Johnson have appeared in numerous publications including Time, The New York Times, and Inventor's Digest. Johnson serves on the Board of Directors of the Georgia Alliance for Children, an organization which serves as an informed and influential voice to protect the rights and interests of Georgia's needy and powerless children. He is a member of the 100 Black Men of Atlanta, a Board member of the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Commonwealth National Bank in Mobile, Alabama.