Awesome NY have made their first selection! It was tough NY - you completely blew us away with amazing incredibly brilliant ideas.
We are awarding January’s $1000 grant to Ben Dubin-Thaler’s Cell Motion BioBus.
Come celebrate with us at the First AF-NY Award Ceremony on Monday February 8 at 8 pm, at the Apple Bar, 17 Waverly at Greene (no cover, cash bar). Join us for a beer and meet the NY Micro Trustees.
Join our event on Facebook.
Awesome NY have made their first selection! It was tough NY - you completely blew us away with amazing incredibly brilliant ideas.
But - this month, for our inaugural grant, we’ve picked a LASER TWEEZER that makes amoebas eat bacteria.
Awesomeness to the MAX.
No - really, its a laser tractor beam that prods amoebas. We’ve awarded January’s $1000 grant to Ben Dubin-Thaler’s Cell Motion BioBus.
We’ll be celebrating with Ben at the First AF-NY Award Ceremony on Monday February 8 at 8 pm, at the Apple Bar, Waverly at Greene. Come and join us for a beer, meet the NY Micro Trustees - and we’re working on getting the BioBus there too. Beyond Awesome.
More on the BioBus:
The BioBus is a mobile science laboratory. Students on board explore the world around them with research-grade microscopes, and make their own discoveries under the guidance of professional scientists. The BioBus has proven to be an innovative, effective, and attention getting vehicle for science education. Ben has been named “New Yorker of the Week” by New York One and have been recognized in regional, national, and international press for this innovative approach to bridging the “science achievement gap.” A laser tractor beam will be an awe-inspiring addition to the BioBus’ repertoire of excitement generating yet sophisticated tools and experiments.
We’ll let Ben do the talking, here’s his original proposal:
“How many projects are part lightsaber and part Magic School Bus combined into an awesome science adventure? First, I will build a laser tractor beam on board my BioBus. Then, during normal BioBus school visits, students and teachers from underfunded schools in the Bronx and across the country will perform their own experiments by poking, prodding, and perturbing cells using the tractor beam. I will document and publish the construction process in an open-source science education journal, allowing schools and science nerds around the world to build tractor beams of their own.
Every time someone uses the laser tractor beam to hold a bacterium still while they produce a movie of cell division, and then feeds those bacteria to a ravenous amoeba, they will have no other choice but to blurt out, “Awesome!” With extensive experience building laser tractor beams and as founder of the BioBus mobile science lab, I am the only person in the world prepared to do something this awesome.
I started the Cell Motion BioBus two years ago after finishing my Ph.D. at Columbia University. While at Columbia, I built two different laser tractor beam systems (a.k.a. laser tweezers) for my research on cell move, one of which is currently used in the undergraduate physics lab. After graduating with honors and building the BioBus, over 10,000 students at 50 schools across NYC and the country have come aboard our hands-on, high-tech, microscope lab and computer classroom. I’ve been told the introductory video on the BioBus website, http://www.biobus.org, is pretty awesome, so you might be interested in checking that out. Do-it-yourself experiments like building an economical laser tractor beam is possible because of breakthroughs in inexpensive, powerful diode lasers (e.g. skylasers.com).”
Ben will also publish his protocol for building a cheap laser tractor beam via the open-source PASTE project journal.
New York is GO!
Last night the NY micro-trustees got together - and here we are….
We’re completely excited to introduce our newest trustees:
Brandon Kessler
Dawn Barber
Steve Rosenbaum
The deadline for this month’s submissions is 11:59 PM Eastern on the 14th (tonight!)
Apply at http://awesomefoundation.org/
Awesome Foundation for Arts and Sciences and dorkbot-boston Present:
Lauren McCarthy: Tools for Improved Social Interacting
http://lauren-mccarthy.com/socialinteracting/
Talk and Reception
FREE EVENT
Fri, Jan 15, 7-9PM
sprout - 339R Summer St, Somerville
Directions:
Talk at sprout’s offices which are at 339R Summer Street just outside of Davis Square in Somerville, MA. It’s set back from the street, down the driveway to the right of 339 Summer Street; the “R” means “Rear.”
Map: http://thesprouts.org/contact
Reception to follow at The Spirit Bar (2046 Mass Ave, Cambridge) — Mass Ave and Creighton near Porter Square, just across the street from the Hess station.
http://thespiritbars.com
Lauren McCarthy will present her latest work of wearable devices at the next dorkbot-boston on January 15, 7PM at the offices of sprout at 339R Summer St, Somerville.
Funded in part by The Awesome Foundation, her Tools for Improved Social Interacting are items of clothing that use sensors and electronics to train the wearer to better adapt to expected social behaviors.
Guests are encouraged to bring their own projects to participate in OpenDork after her talk, a show-and-tell of people doing strange things with electricity - art and technology projects at all stages (sketchbook to polished) and of all levels of complexity are welcomed.
A reception will follow The Spirit Bar (2046 Mass Ave, Cambridge) where guests can try out Lauren’s devices.
Lauren McCarthy’s Tools for Improved Social Interacting are a “Series of wearable devices that use sensors to condition the behavior of the wearer to better adapt to expected social behaviors.”
The Happiness Hat http://lauren-mccarthy.com/happinesshat/ trains the wearer to smile more. An enclosed bend sensor attaches to the cheek and measures smile size, a servo motor moves a metal spike into the head inversely proportional to the degree of smile. The smile size data is logged on a microSD memory card for download at the end of each use period.
The Anti-Daydreaming Scarf contains a heat radiation sensor that detects if the wearer is engaged in conversation with another person. While he is, the scarf vibrates periodically to remind the wearer to pay attention and stop daydreaming.
The Body Contact Training Suit requires the wearer to maintain frequent body contact with another person in order to hear normally. If the wearer stops touching someone for too long, static noise begins to play through headphones sewn into hood. A capacitance sensing circuit measures skin to skin body contact via a metal bracelet sewn into the sleeve.
Lauren was most recently working at Small Design Firm on projects for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has also worked at Continuum and the MIT Media Lab.
Founded in June 2009, The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences awards $1,000 grants monthly to projects that advance the interest of Awesomeness in our universe. There are no requirements for applying, no definite criteria for deciding the winner, and no limitations beyond the necessity for being awesome. Winners receive the money in cash, check, or gold doubloons, no strings attached. To learn more or apply, get on over to http://awesomefoundation.org
dorkbot-boston is a monthly meeting of artists (sound/image/movement/whatever), designers, engineers, students, scientists, and other interested parties from the boston area who are involved in the creative use of electricity. dorkbot meetings are free and open to the public. http://dorkbotboston.com
sprout is a group of learners and teachers working to inspire the practice of everyday experimentalism by running science programs that are embedded in the community—drawing inspiration and resources from the people, places, and things that surround us everyday! http://thesprouts.org
The Providence Chapter of the Awesome Foundation for Arts and Sciences is psyched to announce that Otto D’Ambrosio of D’Ambrosio Guitars has received the chapter’s first award.
D’Ambrosio will take his $1,000 and complete a functional, four-foot replica of the renowned hollow body guitars the Rhode Island-based craftsman builds for musicians across the U.S. This time, the rare wood and antique finish D’Ambrosio uses on his one-of-a-kind instruments will be replaced with durable fiberglass, kid-inspired colors and simple electronics to create a giant, playable guitar for music-hungry kids across Providence.
D’Ambrosio will begin work to complete the guitar in January, with an eye towards debuting an initial installation of the mobile unit in early spring.
D’Ambrosio’s proposal was selected from more than two dozen applicants, many of who have been encouraged to re-apply in the coming months (the Providence chapter of the Awesome Foundation makes one $1,000 award each month).
“I’ve had the framework for the guitar kicking around my shop for more than a year—the mock up was initially used in a magazine shoot,” says D’Ambrosio. “The frame, an oversized replica of a guitar I built for a customer, was too bizarre to throw away after the shoot. I’ve had several ideas for how to put it to use in a way, but it never happened,” says D’Ambrosio.
The Awesome Foundation offered just the “kick in the pants” D’Ambrosio needed to dust off the frame and refine his vision for the giant guitar.
“The discovery of music can be a life-changing experience—an experience that many kids never know,” says D’Ambrosio. “Performing music helps kids build confidence and patience. I think music is a natural and familiar way to introduce these important skills to kids. My idea is to bring some fun into what a child thinks musical performance is. I hope that the finished guitar, as it moves around the city, will give kids a chance to fall in love with music and musical performance.”
Construction of the guitar will be durable but simple, made and decorated to inspire creative musical play. The structure will be wood and fiberglass and fitted with a battery to amplify both the guitar sound and a microphone built to encourage kids to speak or sing. D’Ambrosio will incorporate a digital sampling device that will also make repeating rhythms from kids recorded music and vocals.
For D’Ambrosio, this work is a departure from the typical work in the studio, which often demands painstaking attention to small details and nerve racking work with rare—and outrageously expensive—materials. D’Ambrosio, who’s been on his own since 1997, has created guitars played by musicians like Prince, John Mayer and The Edge. Why would a craftsman who has studied with some of the best in the world—D’Ambrosio was only 13 when he took his first gig at the acclaimed Mandolin Brothers studio in New York City—take time out to build a giant guitar for kids? Because he believes in the power of awesome.
“My experience making guitars tells me that this idea will work. But it’s my experience as a father that makes me positive that the kids will really love it. When my kids perform, I can literally see them growing as people. Many kids are naturally drawn to music and performing. If we encourage it, even just a little, we can help them develop some pretty important life skills,” says D’Ambrosio.
“I build guitars every day. I know that I am a lucky bastard. Being able to share a small piece of my work with the community would be, well, awesome.”
Happy New Year! The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences is thrilled today to kick off 2010 by announcing that we are officially launching a new chapter of the Foundation in New York City.
Additionally, we’re honored and seriously pumped to be welcoming a simply stellar cast of micro-trustees steering this project and forwarding the interest of awesome in the universe, including:
* And, AF-NYC’s Dean of Awesome, the Honorable Lee-Sean Huang
Since it’s January 1st, this means that applications are open once again on the main grant submission page. And if you’re in New York City, this means that it’s officially open season to grab a chance to become the city’s very first Fellow! Grants close once again promptly on January 15th, so it’s worth not delaying and submitting your project ideas as soon as you can.
You might notice that we’re short a few of our micro-trustees (the usual board is ten, to create our $1,000 grant). We’re still sorting out the details with the remaining slots, and we’ll be announcing them as they confirm in January! Stay tuned, dear readers.
Based in Boston and want to be involved the Awesome Foundation?
Want to participate as a micro-trustee to the Awesome Foundation but don’t have the money?
Want to serve the interest of promoting and protecting Awesomeness in the universe?
Well, now you can! I’m glad to announce today that the Boston Awesome Foundation is seeking a Dean of Awesome to team up with our existing Boston board of 10 micro-trustees.
The Dean will participate with the rest of the trustees in reading/voting/choosing a winner each month (and will undertake the same Oath of Service), but will be completely freed from the usual obligations of being a micro-trustee in contributing $100 a month to our monthly fellowship award.
Instead, the Dean will take on the responsibility of managing and creatively expanding our monthly award event logistics, the chapter’s online presence (blog/twitter/etc), community building with our past fellows, and other scheduling for Awesome Foundation Boston.
If you’re interested in participating as the Dean, please drop a message describing your interest and what awesome things you’re involved in to tim@awesomefoundation.org by January 8th. We’ll be doing interviews then. Let us know if you have any questions!
I’m happy to announce that Awesome Foundation Boston has chosen its December Fellow! This month’s grant goes to Lauren McCarthy, who specializes in the development of Tools for Improved Social Interacting.
What does that imply? Lauren writes, she’s working on a series of “various wearable devices that use simple technologies to condition the behavior of the wearer to fit better with expected social behaviors” These include:
A Happiness Hat (built) - which drives a metal spike into the head at a pressure inversely proportional to how much you’re smiling (seeing it in action is out of control - check out the video)
An Anti-Daydreaming Device (to be built) - a scarf that contains a heat radiation sensor that detects if the wearer is engaged in conversation with another person. While the wearer is engaged in conversation, the scarf will vibrate periodically to remind the wearer to pay attention and stop daydreaming.
And A Body Contact Training Suit (to be built) - a suit that requires the wearer to maintain frequent body contact with another person in order to hear the world around her. If the wearer stops touching someone for too long, all the surrounding sound will fade to static.
We’re glad to announce that she’ll be coming from L.A. out to Boston in January to debut her work and run a workshop/interactive event on social interaction technology. Stay tuned for details!
In the meanwhile, Lauren will be documenting and logging her progress online here. There’s also more details on how this stuff will work technically and more sketches available there as well.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Excited (and thankful for the emerging awesomeness): The Boston Awesome Foundation has just got word from Lee Altman, our November Fellow, that she’s made an initial experimental pilot launch of the pollution-cleaning phytoremediation pod in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
As with most experiments, still some details to be worked out, but things are coming along. The tentative date (they’re still waiting on approval from the city parks dept) for the next prototype launch, if you’re interested in attending and meeting Lee, will be on Sunday, December 6th. For updates and details on this Sunday, Lee’s set up a Facebook invite so you can keep posted on what’s going on. If you’re in town, definitely drop by!
You can follow the continuing updates on the Eco-Pod Armada project (and check out more images as the project comes together) on the handy dandy website that Lee has set up here.
Sorry for the delay, this month’s granting process ended up taking slightly longer than originally expected, but, for reasons that will become obvious in a few weeks, we’ve been swamped, cooking up some upcoming things that will hopefully do well by forwarding the interest of Awesome in the universe. It’s gonna be great. Stay tuned.
Today, Awesome Foundation Boston is tremendously excited today to announce that they are awarding their November Awesome Fellowship to Lee Altman, an architect and urban designer working out of New York City.
With a team of scientists, Lee has plans to assemble a complete armada of remote-controlled pods, and set them loose with a series of pilots into the notoriously polluted East River of New York City. The pods will carry a net of plants to trail behind them in the water, specially selected to perform phytoremediation — naturally filtering water through the root mass and the absorbing the toxins from the water. Her hope is to build these launches into a regular community event with plans available online that will allow anyone to build one themselves (the designs are great and lightweight: initial calculation suggests that each ship can be made for $110) Our funding will go to making the initial fleet, of eight ships, possible. We’re thrilled to have her on board as a fellow — congratulations to Lee!
Friends in Providence will be announcing their grant award this month pretty soon as well. And, as per usual, we’ve got our awards ceremony coming up next week. Watch this space as the details come on out.
Lee’s complete grant and description, after the jump:
