January – 2010 – The Awesome Foundation

Archive for January, 2010

New York Makes First Award: A BIG LASER!

Friday, January 29th, 2010

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.

Posted by Catherine White at 10:44 am Comments

New York is GO!

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

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/

Posted by Catherine White at 1:08 pm Comments

December Fellow Talk (Boston): “Tools for Improved Social Interacting”

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Awesome Foundation for Arts and Sciences and dorkbot-boston Present:
Lauren McCarthy: Tools for Improved Social Interacting

DATE:
Fri, Jan 15, 7-9PM (Free and Open to the Public)

VENUES:
The talk will be at sprout’s offices (339R Summer Street, Somerville, MA – just outside of Davis Square T). It’s set back from the street, down the driveway to the right of 339 Summer Street (the “R” stands for “Rear”).

Reception to follow at The Spirit Bar (2046 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA – near Porter Square T) on Mass Ave and Creighton across the street from the Hess station.

TOPIC:
Lauren McCarthy will present her latest work of wearable devices. 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. The 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.”

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.

The Happiness Hat 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.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Lauren is a designer, artist, and programmer, and currently an MFA student in the UCLA Design | Media Arts program. She received a BS in Computer Science ad a BS in Art and Design from MIT and has also worked at Continuum and the MIT Media Lab. Her portfolio includes on client projects for the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art on behalf of ‘Small Design Firm’. Her work explores the structures and systems of social interactions, identity, and self-representation and uses whatever medium (video, performance, software, internet art, interactive objects and environments, and media installations) best tells the story at hand. Her interest in the slightly uncomfortable moments when patterns are shifted, expectations are broken, and participants become aware of the system sparked this project.

EVENT SPONSORS:

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 strings attached, no definite criteria, and no limitations beyond the necessity for being awesome. Grants are paid out in cash, check, or gold doubloons. Get on over to our website for information on how to apply!
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.
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!

Posted by Tim Hwang at 2:19 pm Comments

Providence Chapter Makes Music With Inaugural Award

Monday, January 4th, 2010

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.”

Posted by Melissa Withers at 12:54 pm Comments

Hello, New York!

Friday, January 1st, 2010

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.

Posted by Tim Hwang at 9:00 am Comments