Chad Mairn is a Professor and founder of the Innovation Lab (iLab) at St. Petersburg College. While an undergraduate studying Humanities at the University of South Florida (USF), Chad was awarded a Library of Congress Fellowship helping archive personal papers and other items in the Leonard Bernstein Collection. During his Library and Information Science graduate work, also at USF, Chad became a technology liaison between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Florida public libraries.

Over its 10+ year history, the iLab has secured funding from several grants, including a $7,500 Curiosity Creates grant from the Walt Disney Company and ALA’s Association for Library Service to Children to expand their Maker Boot Camp series. This series fostered creativity in children ages 6 to 14. The program integrated key creativity skills such as imagination, decision-making, collaboration, and self-expression. In June 2022, the iLab received a $10,000 grant from the International Space Station National Lab to launch a "Space Lab" project, utilizing resources from NASA, ISS Space Station Explorers (SSE) Pinellas County Schools, and other STEM educational partners. In late 2024, a $258,735 grant from the Florida Department of Commerce for the Digital Connectivity Technology Program was awarded to help bridge the digital divide in underserved Florida communities by providing laptops and digital literacy opportunities for the public. In fall 2025, other grants were fully funded including the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art Projection Mapping Project ($24,250), Empowering Workforce Readiness and Artificial Intelligence Fluency ($11,700) -- a usability study using Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses that will give students and faculty hands-on experience with wearable AI to support learning, teaching, and workforce readiness, and a grant totallling $19,774.98 to expand the SPC's MIRA program's Synthesizer Lab into an innovative space filled with professional-grade analog and modular synthesizers, opening new creative and educational opportunities in music technology and collaboration.

Chad's recent work centers on emerging technologies. He has authored book chapters and numerous articles on the societal impact of technology. Currently, he writes the "From the Innovation Lab" column for Computers in Libraries magazine. In 2016, Chad was awarded the League of Innovation Excellence Award in Teaching and Learning for Innovation in the Use of Technology.