Projects - Inventions - Research - Business
This was essentially my life for 13 years, and I don't regret a minute of it (except possibly a kid or two biting me). I started in the Science is Everywhere summer camp at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History as a camper, then started volunteering, became a paid counselor, part-time instructor, and then got some title that meant I essentially ran the program. 200 week long camps, over 1000 campers, and a whole lot of rockets and robots!
The goal of the program was to create a fun way to teach hands-on science and engineering. We used a mix of teaching approaches, with enough hardware to keep it all going. This is the room we had for hardware construction and debugging.
Shooting off rockets is always the best part of... well...anything. On that note, I will end this segment with a bang!
This was essentially my life for 13 years, and I don't regret a minute of it (except possibly a kid or two biting me). I started in the Science is Everywhere summer camp at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History as a camper, then started volunteering, became a paid counselor, part-time instructor, and then got some title that meant I essentially ran the program. 200 week long camps, over 1000 campers, and a whole lot of rockets and robots!
This started with a lesson from my high school maker-fair. I thought it was lame and had a background in teaching engineering courses. One thing about my high school, they were smart. Their solution to my insufferable rants was to get me to teach a one day course in composites and make it less "lame." They shot my whole rant down cold on that one, but not with a bad outcome!
In order to teach the class, I had to come up with some good simple fiberglass layup examples. I figured out I could use plastic bowls as molds for saucers, which made for a cheap, easy, and effective example. There was also a section of the course that was lecture-based, demonstrating a number of different composite materials, resins, and manufacturing methods.
Year 2 of the course brought the notorious pencil holder. Not as much customization here, but it was all based on a nice simple, and cheap plastic cup mold.
This started with a lesson from my high school maker-fair. I thought it was lame and had a background in teaching engineering courses. One thing about my high school, they were smart. Their solution to my insufferable rants was to get me to teach a one day course in composites and make it less "lame." They shot my whole rant down cold on that one, but not with a bad outcome!
I started volunteering for the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science at a fairly young age. I started by presenting the "Sun Spotter." This device projects an image of the sun onto a piece of paper to track sun spots (cooler holes on the sun). I just explained this, and some basics of sun spots, but it got me going.
From the Sun Spotter, I moved to talking about one of the only full size model Mars Exploration Rovers in existence. I went through a basic overview of the sensor systems, mechanics, and communications systems of the device. This was when I started to get my first practice with technical public speaking.
The other element of the exhibit was designed to show the development of a sodium chloride crystal lattice. The 3D printed parts clicked together with permanent magnets to show how crystals self-assemble. Using a flashlight, I could then demonstrate recognizable patterns in crystal structures.
I started volunteering for the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science at a fairly young age. I started by presenting the "Sun Spotter." This device projects an image of the sun onto a piece of paper to track sun spots (cooler holes on the sun). I just explained this, and some basics of sun spots, but it got me going.