Re: [HSL] Intel Seed Grants - Project Ideas and HSL Member Interest

[Zachary Giles]

I wonder if we can reapply the 1000 cranes Japanese light project for the African light project. What do ya think? Jose?

On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 10:27 AM, St Leger, Jim <jim.st...@intel.com> wrote:

Not sure if anyone has any great ideas or ambitions, but see below on an Intel Involved Matching Seed Grant that has a looming April 1^st deadline.

 

I have two suggestions and am trying to see if there is enough interest from the HSL membership:

1. Low cost lighting project for rural African community students:

One of my work colleagues has been working with a small community in Africa, building a school, etc. They now need some way to provide lighting for the students to do their homework at home at night.  The current method is largely by firelight, causing eye problems due to smoke. 

The project would involve designing a light with a minimum illumination capability and also with cost minimization in mind.

If possible we’d take the design and the bulk of the grant and build as many lights as we could.

I wonder if we could try to use a 3D printer as part of the creation process and try to also recruit the broader 3D printer community to make parts for the project.  That could provide some tremendous scale if successful.

Ideally it would have some renewable/rechargeable energy source.  There are options such as a built in solar panel and battery, or just a battery and use some central recharging facility (e.g. a few larger solar panels on the school roof so the students can re-charge their lights during the day time when they’re at school.)

 

2. Teaching kids:

If there were enough interest we could try to put something together like teaching kids electronics, how to solder, basics of programming, etc.  I’m thinking along the lines of what was done at Urban Stew, but perhaps with a targeted audience, e.g. maybe some school, maybe a hands-on course for the next Desert Code Camp Junior (too late for the April 2 event), etc.

 

The projects don’t need to be very complicated. The best ones I’ve seen (and selected) tend to be pretty conservative in scope and focused on making a tangible impact to an org or community.

 

The next steps are to fill out an on-line form (within Intel’s firewall I think so I’d have to do it.)

There are some minimum requirements such as at least 100 volunteer hours (the more people involved the quicker the hours can add up.)

 

Thoughts/Ideas?

Anyone interested?

 

Thanks,

Jim

 

 

 

Act now for your chance to change lives

Applications for volunteer project Seed Grants are due April 1

Only two weeks remain to apply for an Intel Involved Matching Seed Grant (IIMSG) and receive up to $5,000 (USD) to underwrite your volunteer efforts. The application deadline for Round 1 of the Intel Foundation’s twice-yearly funding cycle is April 1 for grants to be awarded in May.

Seed grants provide an opportunity for employees to receive up-front funding for volunteer projects that use their skills working with a school or nonprofit/nongovernmental organization.

Last year’s grant-winning projects are already changing lives in local communities. Among the 20 employee-developed projects that Intel funded were these:

• In India, employees helped set up a thrift shop at the Bangalore Hospital—enabling the hospital to raise more money for patient care.
• In Costa Rica, employees helped spruce up the Centeno Guell School for children with special needs—tackling maintenance repairs, painting, and gardening.
• In Arizona, employees helped launch South Phoenix’s first transitional housing facility—which is now working to get abused or homeless women back on their feet.
• In Nizhny Novgorod, employees helped set up and install equipment in a new science lab for local school kids—who can now study biology, ecology, chemistry, and physics.
• In Shanghai, employees worked with local school teachers to teach robotics programming to 7-10 year olds—which culminated in a regional math and physics competition for 500 students.

 

 

 

--
Zach Giles
zgi...@gmail.com

[Jose A Diaz]

Sounds possible. Depends on the scale required by the seed grant. 

Jim, it sounds like we do those activities already. Would we require dedicated programs to apply for the grant?

Jose

[St Leger, Jim]

[jjrosent]

PING! Its 5k to do what we love!

As for #1 I really like the idea of utilizing the scale of 3d
printing.

As for #2, teaching is our 501c3 mission so I like that too. Plus
we're going to do teaching either way..

Does anyone else want to get involved with either one of these?

On Mar 22, 10:31 am, Zachary Giles <zgi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I wonder if we can reapply the 1000 cranes Japanese light project for the
> African light project. What do ya think? Jose?
>

> On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 10:27 AM, St Leger, Jim <jim.st.le...@intel.com>wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >  Not sure if anyone has any great ideas or ambitions, but see below on an
> > Intel Involved Matching Seed Grant that has a looming April 1st deadline.
>
> > I have two suggestions and am trying to see if there is enough interest
> > from the HSL membership:
>

> >     1. *Low cost lighting project for r**ural African community students:
> >    *

>
> > One of my work colleagues has been working with a small community in
> > Africa, building a school, etc. They now need some way to provide lighting
> > for the students to do their homework at home at night.  The current method
> > is largely by firelight, causing eye problems due to smoke.
> > The project would involve designing a light with a minimum illumination
> > capability and also with cost minimization in mind.
> > If possible we’d take the design and the bulk of the grant and build as
> > many lights as we could.
> > I wonder if we could try to use a 3D printer as part of the creation
> > process and try to also recruit the broader 3D printer community to make
> > parts for the project.  That could provide some tremendous scale if
> > successful.
> > Ideally it would have some renewable/rechargeable energy source.  There are
> > options such as a built in solar panel and battery, or just a battery and
> > use some central recharging facility (e.g. a few larger solar panels on the
> > school roof so the students can re-charge their lights during the day time
> > when they’re at school.)
>

> >     1. *Teaching kids:*

>
> > If there were enough interest we could try to put something together like
> > teaching kids electronics, how to solder, basics of programming, etc.  I’m
> > thinking along the lines of what was done at Urban Stew, but perhaps with a
> > targeted audience, e.g. maybe some school, maybe a hands-on course for the
> > next Desert Code Camp Junior (too late for the April 2 event), etc.
>
> > The projects don’t need to be very complicated. The best ones I’ve seen
> > (and selected) tend to be pretty conservative in scope and focused on making
> > a tangible impact to an org or community.
>
> > The next steps are to fill out an on-line form (within Intel’s firewall I
> > think so I’d have to do it.)
> > There are some minimum requirements such as at least 100 volunteer hours
> > (the more people involved the quicker the hours can add up.)
>
> > Thoughts/Ideas?
> > Anyone interested?
>
> > Thanks,
> > Jim
>

> > *Act now for your chance to change lives*
> > *Applications for volunteer project Seed Grants are due April 1*

> > Only two weeks remain to apply for an Intel Involved Matching Seed Grant
> > (IIMSG) and receive up to $5,000 (USD) to underwrite your volunteer efforts.
> > The application deadline for Round 1 of the Intel Foundation’s twice-yearly
> > funding cycle is April 1 for grants to be awarded in May.
> > Seed grants provide an opportunity for employees to receive up-front
> > funding for volunteer projects that use their skills working with a school
> > or nonprofit/nongovernmental organization.
> > Last year’s grant-winning projects are already changing lives in local
> > communities. Among the 20 employee-developed projects that Intel funded were
> > these:
>

> >     - In India, employees helped set up a thrift shop at the Bangalore

> >    Hospital—enabling the hospital to raise more money for patient care.

> >    - In Costa Rica, employees helped spruce up the Centeno Guell School

> >    for children with special needs—tackling maintenance repairs, painting, and
> >    gardening.

> >    - In Arizona, employees helped launch South Phoenix’s first

> >    transitional housing facility—which is now working to get abused or homeless
> >    women back on their feet.

> >    - In Nizhny Novgorod, employees helped set up and install equipment in

> >    a new science lab for local school kids—who can now study biology, ecology,
> >    chemistry, and physics.

> >    - In Shanghai, employees worked with local school teachers to teach

[David Huerta]

I'm curious about point 2.  The Hackety Hack project (http://hackety-hack.com/) has been picking up a lot of steam lately, and its goal is to create a means of teaching kids the basics of coding using Ruby.  I'd be interested in running a workshop[s?] to do exactly that using Hackety Hack.  Would this sort of project fit for an Intel Seed Grant, or does it have to be hardware-centric?

--
david [.dh] huerta
heatsynclabs.org

[Jose A Diaz]

Jim, 

I'm definitely game for #2. I am curious though, would there be restrictions on how many K12 attended a workshop? Does the workshop have to be strictly geared for kids?

Jose