The Nest Makerspace
ProjectS | 2019
GIY Bio Buddies
Anne Hu, Trisha Sathish, Emily Takara
GIY Bio Buddies is a kit for children that allows them to make and design toys with biomaterials. The goal is to move the toy industry away from non-biodegradable plastics through explorations with kombucha leather and mycelium.
https://giybiobuddies.weebly.com/
https://nestmakerspace.weebly.com/bio-challenge-team.html
Top 6 Team + Runner Up + Outstanding Field Research Prize Winner
Instructor
Corinne Okada Takara
Corinne Okada Takara is an artist and arts educator who designs innovative STEAM workshops for museums, libraries, and schools that encourage people to envision themselves as drivers of culture and technology. Her projects has been honored with national, state, and local awards. She has collaborated with the San José Tech Museum of Innovation, the San José Public Library, and the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College in a range of programming. Takara has also worked with San Jose transit agencies to develop art for transit corridors and pedestrian pathways. Since 2014, Takara has mentored girls in the NASA sponsored Future Engineers 3D printing design challenges.
Advisors
Tito Jankowski
Tito Jankowski is CEO and Co-Founder of Impossible Labs. He is an entrepreneur and has been other things: a biohacker, a hardware manufacturer, a medical device designer, a patent infringer, and a sailor. Prior to launching Impossible Labs, Tito co-founded the BioCurious hackerspace and wrangled startup+corporate partnerships at Runway Incubator. Tito holds a Sc.B in Biomedical Engineering from Brown University. https://impossiblelabs.io/
Anja Scholze
Anja Scholze is the Program Director, Biology + Design at The Tech Museum of Innovation. Anja brings an expertise in life sciences to The Tech’s Learning Team, where she leads the design and development of interactive exhibits and hands-on experiences to engage visitors creatively with biology and biotechnology. She was co-creator of the museum’s award-winning BioDesign Studio permanent exhibition and is Principal Investigator on a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) to establish and test an experimental new type of museum space at the intersection of biology, design, technology, and making. Prior to transitioning into informal education, Anja received a B.A in Neuroscience from Pomona College and a PhD in Developmental Biology from Stanford University where her research focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive brain development.
Kenneth Hawthorn
Kenneth Hawthorn is a Mechanical Engineer turned teacher. As a consulting engineer he worked on a wide range of designs from electric motorcycles to LSPR machines. He holds US Patent 7,713,154 for a Fixed Pitch Continuously Variable Transmission. Mr. Hawthorn was selected as the first Salzburg Scholar from the Connie L. Lurie College of Education at SJSU. Mr. Hawthorn founded an introduction to engineering after-school program that served at-risk students in 17 San Jose area school districts. He currently heads the Mechatronics program at St. Raymond school www.straymond.club (blog) and runs Professional development programs for technology teachers (www.MakerAwaker.com.)
Lisa Whitsitt
Lisa Whitsitt is a Product and Experience Designer focused on impactful experiences, creating new product categories, and driving innovation that takes people beyond the expected. She is skilled at seeing what could be, believing it is possible, giving it tangible form and creating momentum to full execution/production. She has launched several successful start-ups and was the 3rd female engineer/product designer at David Kelley Design/ IDEO, was an “Intrapreneur” working on future food concepts at Clif Bar, and currently leads futuristic projects at Capital One. In all her work, Lisa is skilled at bringing to life a seed of an idea and making the abstract tangible.