If you didn’t get a chance to attend the Mapping Found Sounds workshop offered this past April, you can learn more from this Seven Days article. This spring workshop was a great kickoff for credited courses this summer.
For example, the U of Vermont Fab Lab will be up and running this summer for an awesome three-week course called Innovate, Iterate, Make: The Art + Engineering of Rapid-Prototype Design. The first part will explore how innovators in engineering, contemporary art and architecture solve problems and advance ideas. Part 2 will have students learning how to design using open source hardware and programming, handmade electronics and rapid-prototyping tools! A lot of the class time will be dedicated to “Open Lab,” and students will have access to a plethora of resources and tools- how cool is that?
High school juniors and seniors also have the opportunity to spend two weeks in the Fab Lab with our four-week Maker’s Academy (Vermont Fab Lab Workshop), part of UVM’s Summer Academy. Half the month of July will be spent on campus (housing is available) and the other half online; spend the whole month exploring how innovators in engineering, contemporary art, architecture, and the DIY maker movement solve problems and advance ideas. If engineering draft and design is of more interest to your pre-college student, be sure to check out CEMS’s Pre-Engineering Academy this summer, Engineering Design (Solid Works).
High-school students from around the state and US are getting ready to join us on campus for the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont Engineering Institute. From July 11-18, students will get their hands dirty with projects that explore basic and advanced engineering concepts with their peers and professional experts. At the same time, teachers will also be on campus, but as students! Learning about how to better integrate the Next Generation Science Standards into their classrooms and enhance STEM and STEAM education, teacher-learners will be participating in one of CEMS’s Vermont Engineering Initiative courses, Engineering Design Principles.
Donald Knaack (aka The Junkman™) is a classically trained percussionist and composer who has used recycled materials as his instruments of music since long before the eco-green movement was cool. He’s the Daddy of Eco-Beat!! He calls it Junk Music™ and it all began with his mentor and collaborator, John Cage encouraged the further development of his attraction to the sounds of found objects. He’s performed at Lincoln Center, The Van’s Warped Tour (with Eminem, Black Eyed Peas and Blink 182), The United Nations, The Kennedy Center, and more. He is currently developing and producing a children’s television show about music and the environment called Junk Music with The Junkman, and has a new, one man musical/visual/theatrical extravaganza entitled BEAT IT! with The Junkman.
Nate Herzog is the creator of StoryHack Media, whose mission is to reimagine storytelling using technology. SHM threw its first competition last October called StoryHackVT, a 24 hour, hackathon-styled cross media event involving 15 teams of 55 participants from Vermont, New York, and beyond. More information can be found at Storyhackmedia.com Outside of StoryHack, Nate is a writer, storyteller, and technology consultant. He lives with his wife and family in Burlington.
Joe Chase has been teaching physics and robotics for over 20 years. He is dedicated to making science and technology accessible to learners of all ages. He has received the MIT Inspirational Teacher Award and has twice received the Vermont Outstanding Teacher Award.
Beverly Ball is an enthusiastic teacher of art, welding, e-textiles, sewing, paper engineering, and mischief at Denver Academy and beyond. Kids love her. Parents can’t figure her out.
Lydia Y. Littwin has the great fortune to spend her days teaching and making art with children and adults at the Davis Studio in the South End of Burlington. An undergraduate degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Art Education fuel her belief that art-making is a useful and necessary tool for self-expression and exploration at any age. As a life-long New England resident, her own work is greatly inspired by the colors that come with the physical, emotional and environmental changes of each season. Lydia works namely with oil paint, but is also prone to creating with gouache, linoleum prints, pencil, and pastel.
Heather Morris is a mover and shaker in the world of Celtic dance, and is constantly finding innovative ways to expand and enhance traditional art forms. In addition to being a certified instructor of Scottish Highland and Irish dance, Heather is certified in Les Mills International BodyPump and BodyFlow, and has more than 15 years experience running summer camps.
Angela Sheehan is currently an Education Outreach Coordinator for SparkFun Electronics where she specializes in e-textile and craft technology projects and workshops. With a background in fine art, costuming, and animation she began working within the realm of wearable computing projects during her studies at Bennington College, producing a series of costumes augmented with electronics in collaboration with Rebecca Grabman (’08). In 2009 she launched a blog Soft Circuit Saturdays to host her continuing explorations in e-textiles and the maker movement and taught workshops throughout New England before relocating to Boulder Colorado to join the SparkFun team in 2013.
