Made @ The Tech The Tech Museum of Innovation | San Jose, CA
Fall 2018
CELEBRATING
#MadeAtTheTech
YEARS OF THE TECH
Letter from the President
Letter from the Board Chair
As The Tech celebrates its 20th anniversary, we’re looking ahead and asking the question, ”Twenty years from now, how will the world be better because The Tech exists?”
Twenty years ago in tech news, IBM’s Deep Blue bested the world chess champion, Apple announced the iMac and Google launched. Silicon Valley has gone through a remarkable transformation since The Tech’s opening in 1998, and so has our institution.
For the past two decades, we’ve developed exhibits and programs that build kids’ creative confidence and help them learn to be the problem-solvers the world needs. Now, we want to deepen this work, in Silicon Valley and beyond. Our staff and volunteers are spending this school year developing our vision for the next 20 years, along with the strategies we’ll use to get there. We’d love your input, too. If you have an idea you think The Tech should explore, send us an email at next20@thetech.org. This is a challenge worthy of Silicon Valley, and it is one that motivates us every day. We look forward to sharing this vision with you next year.
We’ve developed exhibitions that encourage our community to explore cyber security, bioengineering, immersive technology and, most importantly, discover their own problem-solving power. We’ve evolved into a leading voice in Design Challenge Learning, expanding our reach exponentially by training teachers to incorporate a design and engineering mindset into every subject. Looking ahead, we’re setting our sights even higher for the next two decades. How far can we push the boundaries of student engagement with STEM and expand our experiences beyond these mango walls? We must live up to our Silicon Valley home’s legacy — the envy of the world thanks to a spirit of innovation that improves the way we work, live and learn.
Tim Ritchie President and CEO
Board of Directors Mala Anand SAP Emmanuel Barbara Silicon Valley Education Foundation Marimo Berk The Creekside School Ruba Borno, Ph.D. Cisco Systems Ann S. Bowers Past Board Chair Chris Boyd Kaiser Permanente Gloria Chen Adobe Systems, Inc. Hon. David D Cortese Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
2 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
James C. Deichen Suntrust Robinson Humphrey Christopher S. DiGiorgio Board Chair Accenture (ret.) Mohana Dissanayake Deloitte
Chris DiGiorgio Chair, Board of Directors
Dave House Joe Kava Google Randy Krenzin Wells Fargo Advisors R. L. Smith McKeithen
Aymeric Gisselbrecht STMicroeletronics, Inc.
Jami Dover Nachtsheim Intel (ret.)
John Giubileo Accenture
Omkaram (Om) Nalamasu, Ph.D. Applied Materials
Raquel Gonzalez Bank of America
Stuart Pann HP Inc.
William W. Heil
Daniel Perez Oncore Manufacturing Services (ret.)
John Heinlein, Ph.D. Arm Gerald D. Held, Ph.D. The Held Group
Frank P. Quattrone Past Board Chair Qatalyst Group
Roger J. Quinlan Board Secretary SAP America, Inc. Tim Ritchie, President and CEO The Tech Matthew Sapp Board Treasurer EY Chad Seiler KPMG Judy C. Swanson The Swanson Foundation Daniel J. Warmenhoven Board Vice Chair Warmenhoven Holdings, LLC Netapp (ret.) Steve Young HGGC
Made @ The Tech Editor-in-Chief Jeff Gire Senior Editor Marika Krause
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“This is like nothing you’ve ever seen”
Meet our makers
Coming soon to a theater right here, a worldfirst experience that combines laser projection, dynamic sound and a flawless four-story screen. This is IMAX like you've never seen before.
Where do we get our amazing ideas? It starts with some pretty amazing people. Meet four of the science, engineering and art magicians behind experiences our visitors love.
Graphic Designers Krista Thomas Eloisa Tan Contributors Lauren Cage Chris DiGiorgio Michelle Duncan Mark Emmons Sierra LaDuke Michelle Maranowski Katie Ozawa Tim Ritchie Photographers Advocate Creative Jennifer Bullock Don Feria Drew Altizer photography Sierra LaDuke Karen Santos Eloisa Tan
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The Tech turns 20!
Breaking the plastic habit
Water and wow
See all the highlights from our first two decades.
One of our exhibit developers looks at the steps we can all take to reduce plastic in our lives.
Two new science labs bring ecology and Body Worlds Decoded into the spotlight.
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The Tech Challenge
Inside The Tech Studio
From current students to tech execs, generations of engineers have been inspired.
Solve the Fall didn’t just drop into our laps, but we’re really happy with how it landed.
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6 Masterpieces in the making
Leadership Team Tim Ritchie President and CEO
The Tech+Arts Incubator is helping bring artists and tech companies together for groundbreaking partnerships.
Harvard Sung CFO
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Learning, laughs and giraffes!
Our favorite memories
Scene at The Tech
Unforgettable moments from the spirit of Silicon Valley.
SJ Sharkie! DJ Petri! Buddy the Llama! We’ve been having too much fun lately.
Bill Bailor Vice President, Operations Maria Pappas Vice President, Development Linda Tsai Vice President, Strategy Gretchen Walker Vice President, Learning Rachel Wilner Vice President, Media and Community
The newest experience at The Tech is an artistic and playful approach to AI.
30 Young and inspired
10 The Tech for Global Good
Teens bring a passion for science, tech and their community.
Five new inspirational stories debut this fall, and middle schoolers show that people of all ages can be social innovators.
32 Leading the way A Silicon Valley pioneer underscored a year of engaging Girls @ The Tech events.
40 Tech, Yeah! Take home The Tech Studio with this fun zipline activity, check out a spot the difference puzzle and see some of our fave tweets, posts and ‘grams.
Made @ The Tech is a magazine for members, supporters and friends of The Tech Museum of Innovation. If you have questions about this publication, contact Jeff Gire, Director of Media and Community, at jgire@thetech.org.
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Printer
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201 S. Market Street San Jose, CA 95113 1-408-294-8324 thetech.org
On the cover: Can you believe it’s been 20 years? You can see our dome in progress on the left and the complete structure that has been a San Jose landmark since 1998.
The Tech turns 20! 1998
2004
OPENING DAY
The Tech Museum of Innovation opens after operating out of a smaller space on West San Carlos Street for eight years
Genetics: Technology with a Twist and NetPlanet open
2007
Green By Design opens
Becomes one of the first places in the world with a public wet lab featuring an experiment with jellyfish DNA
2001 Hackworth IMAX Dome Theater opens
Hosts the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) international conference
The Tech Awards program is launched
Body Worlds 2 opens and brings in record crowds
Arnold Schwarzenegger visits while supporting Greater San Jose Inner City Games
President Bill Clinton visits for a meeting with Silicon Valley execs about a trade agreement with China
First new exhibition opens: Imagination Playground
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates speaks at The Tech
The Science of Sport exhibition opens
2000
Enters into a first-of-its-kind agreement in San Jose with SunPower and the City of San Jose to install solar panels from a private for-profit on a city building for the benefit of a nonprofit.
2002 2006
Can you imagine San Jose without its big mango heart? It’s been two decades since a block party hosted by Buster opened the doors to The Tech, and in that time we’ve been honored to be so welcomed by our community. Millions of students and visitors have walked through our doors, and we hope you’ve all left feeling a bit more creative and fired up to solve big problems. In this special issue of Made @ The Tech, we’re looking back and celebrating all the fun we’ve had together. You’ll also find some bold predictions for a future that will be shaped by the risk takers and problem solvers who know that there’s only one correct response when asked, “Is that even possible?” TECH, YEAH! 4 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
Leonardo: 500 Years into the Future includes the installation of a 24-foot sculpture of the Sforza Horse at the corner of Park and Market and two paintings on loan from the Uffizi Gallery.
2008
2009 2017 Al Gore receives James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award at The Tech Awards
The Tech Challenge’s 30th anniversary
2011
"Star Trek" exhibition opens
Social Robots opens
vital
vital
Launch of Bowers Institute Cyber Detectives opens
BODY WORLDS
www.thetech.org | www.bodyworlds.com
Hosts Great ShakeOut earthquake preparedness event for first time
2013
Body Worlds Vital opens
The Tech for Global Good launches
2015
vital
E 0 J O S ber 2 SANs Novem Ritchie
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Tim n ope becomes President and CEO
The Tech Studio opens
Wins the 2015 National Medal for Museum and Library Service
Traveling exhibition Islamic Science Rediscovered opens
Mythbusters exhibition opens
Reboot Reality opens Hosts the international ASTC conference for the second time
Girl Scouts @ The Tech program launches
Genghis Khan exhibition opens
Body Worlds Decoded opens
REBOOT: Music opens
BioDesign Studio opens
Steve Wozniak celebrates his 60th birthday at The Tech
Body Metrics opens
2012
2010
s Innovations in Health Care opens
Opening of world's first IMAX Dome Theater with a laser projection system (Page 18) Animaker exhibit opens in Reboot Reality (Page 8) Celebrates 20th anniversary
“Star Wars” exhibition opens The Tech Academies program launches and begins building model programs for teaching STEM in Silicon Valley’s underserved communities
2014
StoryCorps visits and records oral histories of The Tech and its community
2018
2016 Fall 2018 | 5
Masterpieces in the making The Tech’s new playground for digital artists sketches a more creative world
Visitors build block animals in the new Animaker exhibit.
Behind a row of sculptured clay heads sporting VR headsets lies an office brimming with creativity that will soon skyrocket us into the future. The space in the Reboot Reality exhibition welcomes developers, artists and technologists embarking on one of The Tech’s most ambitious projects yet: bridging the gap between Silicon Valley technology and the global creative community. “Great art elevates and inspires us,” said Tim Ritchie, president and CEO of The Tech. “Our goal is to help artists and technology companies create digital pieces that are effective not only in The Tech, but also in other cultural institutions worldwide. “This is The Tech at its best: harnessing the intellectual capital of Silicon Valley to produce experiences that change lives.” The Tech+Arts Incubator anchors this new program. It’s an opportunity for digital artists to work with top tech companies to create new immersive experiences. The first proof-of-concept is Animaker. Artists from Austria, tech makers from the Bay Area and Israel, and The Tech staff worked together for months to create a robust activity for The Tech’s half-million visitors a year. Animaker involves physical building blocks, AI and 3D scanning technology, along with a beautiful digital world. (See more about Animaker on page 8.) Partners spent 6 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
long hours prototyping the experience in the Reboot Reality office — now, the hard work is paying off in smiles and laughter. “Animaker is quickly becoming a favorite at The Tech,” said Nadav Hochman, experience developer and program manager, art & technology. “We can’t overstate the value of supporting artists with new visions for how to use technology creatively and are lucky to have so many partners ready to help make these experiences a reality.” The Tech is in the process of selecting two artists who would both be eligible for up to $50,000 in grants for new art-technology exhibits, made possible by the Knight Foundation. The artists also will receive support from technology partners and The Tech team, including the opportunity to prototype with guests and refine designs before launching an installation on the museum floor in the spring. The Tech’s commitment to digital arts also includes thought-provoking limited-time exhibitions. Reality Redrawn, presented by Mozilla, challenged artists from around the world to create immersive art pieces inspired by misinformation. Expertise from Clarissa Buettner, an experience development specialist, and engineers at The Tech helped take the visions of these artists and adapt them to an interactive exhibition setting.
“Reality Redrawn” presented by Mozilla was a limited installation that featured the work of five artists who created pieces to start conversations about how news is sent and filtered.
The pop-up experience was open for two weeks and featured a 21st-century update to the game “telephone” and a wall-sized front page from The New York Times overlaid with augmented reality animations of tweets and video. More pop-up experiences will ask people to consider current economic, political or social issues in new ways. “We embrace the power of digital art to foster creativity, encourage critical thinking and develop a new sense of community and identity,” Buettner said. “Experiences like Reality Redrawn will cultivate change in the world.”
The Tech+Arts Incubator welcomed proposals for participatory digital art projects that will be produced in collaboration with some of the world’s most innovative tech companies.
The initiative is also breaking down museum walls to reach audiences around the globe. Animaker made its debut in May 2018 at AWE in Santa Clara, the largest AR/VR conference and expo in the world. Developers and tech junkies were some of the first to turn their building block creations into digital jungle dwellers. The exhibition, along with several parts of the Mozilla collaboration, also traveled to Ars Electronica in Austria in fall 2018. “These experiences aren’t just putting The Tech on the map. They’re helping us map a brighter, more creative world for everyone,” said Hochman.
Learn more at thetech.org/techarts
Fall 2018 | 7
Learning, laughs and giraffes! Animaker mixes AI and art for a fun, educational experience You can hear the giggles and excitement before you even step off the escalator. Visitors are hard at work and play exploring The Tech’s newest activity, Animaker.
Once Animaker has identified a new life form, visitors can add color and characteristics, then unleash their creation into a gorgeous digital jungle.
People of all ages have taken turns building an animal out of brightly colored plastic blocks of various shapes and sizes. Then, they set their creation on a rotating disc, where it is 3D-scanned.
Animaker gets a little bit smarter with each new scan. Since the activity’s May debut, more than 20,000 scans have been done — proof it keeps visitors engaged from open to close every day!
After the scan our Animaker — an artificial intelligence you’ll meet during the experience — takes a guess at what they built. The technology is the first experience of its kind where people can learn about artificial intelligence by training a machine to recognize different interpretations of real-world objects.
Define this: artificial intelligence Animaker is one very visual and very fun way people can understand and even contribute to an artificial intelligence. We asked Galia Rosen Schwartz from our partner Resonai about what makes the technology so exciting. “Computers could not really read images, video or the physical world before, and now, increasingly, that will be possible,” Rosen Schwartz said. “Visual perception is a domain of AI that is particularly exciting as it opens up new data types to analyze, new questions we will be able to ask and new ways for people and machines to communicate.”
Machine learning This is a subset of AI that often uses data to give computers the ability to “learn” without being explicitly programmed. Animaker is an example of this. The computer learns from the data it collects, in this case 3D scans of block animals.
Animaker is a unique international collaboration between artists, technologists and educators:
Technology Resonai created the powerful search engine and database that is the brain of Animaker, allowing the robot to remember 3D scans and then compare those to the precise geometry and structure of visitors’ creations. Over time, Animaker should improve its guessing accuracy as this library of scans grows. Occipital provided its Structure Sensor 3D Scanner, which allows Animaker to see a visitor’s creation in less than a minute.
Art Vienna-based art studio OMAi is responsible for Animaker’s interactive user experience and animated artwork.
Learning The Tech managed these partnerships and crafted the user experience to bring the Animaker exhibit together. We continue to use feedback from visitors to improve the learning experience. The activity is our first proofof-concept project for The Tech+Arts Incubator, which brings together tech companies and artists to create one-of-a-kind experiences.
Artificial neural networks
Supervised learning
Unsupervised learning
These are computing systems inspired by the biological neural networks that help people and animals think. Such systems learn to perform tasks by considering examples. A computer could learn to identify images that contain cats by analyzing sample images manually labeled ‘cat’ or ‘no cat.’
This is when a computer learns from labeled data. The cat example is a form of supervised learning, as the images were manually tagged in advance as ‘cat’ or ‘no cat.’
This works without manual tags. The most common method is cluster analysis, which finds hidden patterns in data. A computer could analyze unlabeled images of cats and dogs by grouping them into two clusters based on similar features, like size or shape. Fall 2018 | 9
Environmental changemakers Honoring five organizations that lead the way in sustainable innovation Starting in November, when you enter the Upper Level of The Tech, you just might be transported to a Peruvian rainforest. Or duck into a shipping container that has been transformed into a sustainable farm. Or hear the developer of a revolutionary CO2 capture technology.
10 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
The Tech for Global Good will be telling the stories of five organizations that have created innovative technology benefiting our environment and battling the threat of climate change. These are stories of hope and ingenuity, and we’ve traveled the world to bring them to The Tech.
Freight Farms Founded in 2010 Mission Grow food anywhere
Opus 12 Founded in 2015 Mission A profitable solution to carbon emissions
Proterra Founded in 2004 Mission Safe, clean transportation
Rainforest Connection Founded in 2012 Mission Saving rainforests to stop climate change
SmartParks Founded in 2013 Mission Use technology to improve conservation
What they do: Build the Leafy Green Machine. That’s a recycled shipping container that has been transformed to a vertical, hydroponic farming system. The space can grow between two and four tons of produce a year for less than five gallons of water a day, in climates ranging from -40 to 120°F.
What they do: Opus 12 invented a device that recycles CO2 into chemicals and fuels using only water and electricity. This could provide an incentive to reduce overall carbon emissions for heavy polluters in the form of a new revenue stream. A classic win-win for all of us!
What they do: Make electric buses for the U.S. If you travel to Yosemite in the near future, you may see their revolutionary Catalyst bus at work! The buses are high-performing, durable and 100% electric.
What they do: Provide real-time monitoring and data to partners to protect rainforests. Using a network of recycled cell phones, Rainforest Connection listens in to the canopy of at-risk rainforests. If unusual activity (like a chainsaw) is heard, an alert is sent to authorities.
What they do: Create solutions for parks that protect endangered species. For example, they made highly durable, solar-powered sensors that track rhinos in a park in Rwanda. The devices work indefinitely and can’t be detected by poachers, allowing parks to keep tabs on their most at-risk animals.
Fall 2018 | 11
Young minds tackle big problems The launch of The Tech for Global Good created new education programs for young social innovators
Middle school students from Sacred Heart Nativity School participate in a half-day design challenge for vaccine distribution.
Understand a global issue. Work with other students from around the Bay Area. Delve into a design problem over the course of about five hours. Shemsa Morkoch read the details of The Tech for Global Good design challenge and was an immediate yes. “I’m always looking for hands-on and unique experiences for my students,” said Morkoch, a 7th grade teacher at Aspire East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy. “We don’t get a lot of field trips or opportunities to collaborate with peers outside of our school community.” Marjorie Bennett, a middle-school science teacher from San Jose’s Sacred Heart Nativity School, had a similar reaction when The Tech reached out to her class in November. She made sure to bring her 8th-graders back in the spring to participate in one of the four half-day challenges The Tech facilitated throughout the year. Both Aspire and Sacred Heart are schools in lowincome communities that participated in the first year of The Tech for Global Good design challenge program. 12 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
Inspired by the work of global nonprofit PATH, the challenge had students role play as leaders in a health nonprofit and grapple with the conundrum of vaccine distribution in one of four cities around the world. Working in groups, they accounted for treacherous supply chains, unpredictable weather and skeptical cultures among populations in desperate need of medicine. “I really appreciate how The Tech integrated the social studies aspect — where are these countries, what kind of resources do they have, what kind of problems do they face,” Bennett said. “I tell my students all the time, scientists don’t work all by themselves.” For the 2018-19 school year, students will tackle a new design challenge focusing on animal conservation, and Girl Scouts will begin taking our new badge program on social innovation. We're also developing new ways to help educators bring the Tech for Global Good into their own classrooms through online resources.
Breaking the plastic habit Our next exhibition is still under wraps, but it’s part of a mission to empower our community to live sustainably By Michelle Maranowski Plastics pollute our oceans, land and air, and plastic bags can take anywhere from 10 to 1,000 years to decompose. A plastic bottle can take up to 750 years to decompose. Although plastic makes life easy, and we use it for so many things, it contributes to pollution and to greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling helps the problem, but much of our recycling waste was going to China, which has recently stopped accepting recycling trash such as plastics and paper. Plastic also has become more expensive to recycle, and a number of businesses don’t want to take on the extra cost. We need to rethink our dependence on plastic.
Tech solutions Many companies are experimenting with biology to help break down or create bio-friendly plastics. Full Cycle is creating bioplastics made by bacteria that feed on organic material like wood and plant waste. The bioplastics are compostable and marine degradable, which means they won’t float around in our oceans forever. fullcyclebioplastics.com Mango Materials is creating bio-based, biodegradable plastics. The company feeds methane (a type of greenhouse gas) to a bacteria that transforms it into a bioplastic that can be made into products (like clothes!) and easily recycled in a closed-loop process. mangomaterials.com BioCellection took a passion to save the environment and created a chemical process that breaks down hardto-recycle plastics into precursors that are used to make nylon resins and yarns. biocellection.com
What you can do STOP using plastic! That may be difficult for many of us, but think about where plastic is a part of your life and choose alternatives. Bring your own water bottle and coffee mug to work or school. Avoid straws. Swap plastic wrap for glass mason jars or one of the many new eco-friendly wraps utilizing beeswax. And this is just a start — we bet you can think of a ton of other plastic products you can drop from your life. Sometimes climate change feels like such an overwhelming problem that we feel helpless to stop it. But our small actions grow into large impacts. Take a look at the plastic straw bans happening in cities across the world, and how that’s encouraging companies to think of alternatives and lawmakers to consider other policies to fight climate change. We’re hopeful, and we think you should be too!
Michelle Maranowski is a curator and exhibit developer working on The Tech’s next exhibition, about living sustainably on earth. She also helped develop Cyber Detectives and Social Robots. She has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and a passion for asking smart questions and consulting the world’s leading voices in sustainability. Fall 2018 | 13
Launch pad For thousands of Bay Area students, The Tech Challenge has sparked a lifelong passion for science and technology It’s been 26 years, but Kevin Vivian still breaks out laughing when he remembers winning the Most Spectacular Failure Award.
It was the 1992 Tech Challenge, which required teams to move a golf ball “from one end of a platform, over two, non-parallel speed bumps and into a hole at the other end of the platform in the fastest time,” Vivian recalled. Along with his friends, whom he still keeps up with on Facebook, he created a device featuring a miniature golfer holding a putter powered by a rat trap. Vivian controlled the device on the big day. He piloted it to the golf ball, released the trap and sent the ball flying — right on target. The crowd’s excitement swelled and then quickly deflated as the ball zipped by the hole and off the platform. “We were ecstatic to have received this award (or any award), as there were a lot of competitors and so few awards at that time,” Vivian wrote over email. “And our ‘failure’ was indeed spectacular!” 14 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
When Tech Challenge founder Greg Brown (pictured below with Kevin Vivian) heard Vivian’s story at this year’s event, he could only shake his head. “It’s incredible, when you think about it,” Brown said. “How many things do you really remember from your childhood?”
Some things have changed about The Tech Challenge. For the 2018 showcase, participants came from as far away as Chicago. But that moment of anticipation when a beloved device is put to the test — that remains a constant. Vivian is now the director of intellectual property at Marvell Semiconductor: He studied electrical engineering at UC Berkeley, worked as an engineer and went to law school. Vivian was a volunteer at this year’s Tech Challenge showcase, and he wasn’t the only alum on the other side of the rig.
Joyce Huang (above) is a recent college grad who has worked as a scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific since 2016. Before all that, she was an awardwinning innovator, along with three of her friends, who took on the 2003 Tech Challenge to create a rope-climbing device. Her team, The Chimpanzees, took home the Best Use of Eco-Friendly Materials award for crafting their device from used CDs.
Huang (above) says the skills she learned during The Tech Challenge were valuable in college and beyond, such as “the process of coming up with an idea, building it, dealing with failure and making adjustments.”
The thrill of engineering She returned to The Tech as a volunteer and helped judge this year’s challenge. “The Tech embodies the message of innovation really well,” Huang said. Museum member Jinny Henke credits The Tech Challenge as an important stepping stone along her son’s career path from young science and tech enthusiast to architect. His close friend and Tech Challenge teammate became an engineer (their device below).
“I am so grateful for the extracurricular activities they were able to participate in. And I’m so grateful for The Tech and all you provide to families, schools and neighboring communities,” Henke said. For the thousands of participants in this year’s challenge, the moments of anticipation leading up to testing their device are something they’ll always remember. But for those who’ve watched this event grow and its impact deepen over the years, the question isn’t so much what will the device do on the day of the challenge, but rather what amazing things will these creators do in the future?
Ruba Borno, Ph.D., vice president and general manager, Cisco managed services, spoke at the awards ceremony and wrote about her Tech Challenge experience This year, students in Grades 4 to 12 were tasked with engineering a solution to Drop & Dash — dropping a device 10 feet and moving a payload of materials up a ramp without the use of batteries or electricity. I was reminded of the importance of The Tech’s mission as I watched future engineers of America in action. As an engineer myself, I was eager to tell participants that they were all born engineers with limitless potential.
The Tech Challenge amplifies the three hallmark attributes of an engineer: Curiosity. When these students first started the challenge, they questioned, they asked how and why, and they wondered. It’s curiosity that helps us learn how we can improve. Creativity. When it came to their challenges, students found hundreds of ways that didn’t work, and dozens of ways that did — and it bolstered their creativity. Collaboration. We know that individuals alone who are curious and creative can bring together amazing innovation. But it is actually teams of people who are curious and creative who come together and solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Fall 2018 | 15
Thank you to our generous 2018 supporters
By the numbers 2,523
Presenting: Dell Innovator: SAP
“Teamwork can help make something that we might not think is possible.”
Principal: Accenture, Adobe, Cadence, eBay, EY, Genentech, Gilead, Barbara and Bill Heil, Konica Minolta, Mayfield, ON Semiconductor, Samsung, Seagate, Wells Fargo Bank
“I learned that engineering is not just about building, but planning, discussing and working together, too.”
“I learned how to express my ideas and to listen to other’s ideas. Also, I learned how engineering can solve real-life problems.”
Investing: AMD, Box, First Tech Federal Credit Union, GoDaddy, IBM, David H. Liu Foundation, Maxim Integrated, McKinsey & Company, Microchip Techology, Inc., Monolithic Power Systems, NIO, Sita Foundation, Star One Credit Union Team: San Jose Water Company, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Swenson Entrepreneurial: BAE Systems, Julie and Peter Donnelly, Atsuko and Tim Jenks, Plantronics, Susan and Richard Roche 16 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
43%
What did our participants learn?
Founding: Arm, Bank of America, Cisco, Ford Motor Company, Intel, Thermo Fisher Scientific
Underwriting: AT&T, Cavium, Goldman Sachs & Co., Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co., Hitachi Vantara, IDT, Junior League of Palo Alto-Mid Peninsula, Juniper Networks, KLA-Tencor Foundation, Lockheed Martin, Marvell Semiconductor, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Nutanix, Palo Alto Networks, STMicroelectronics, Tech CU, Toeniskoetter Construction, United Airlines, Workday, Xilinx, Zoom
1,138
Registered Low-income Female team schools participants members participants
“We learned that mistakes aren’t bad. Instead they can help us understand the problem and fix it.”
Hovercraft float on a cushion of air, allowing them to go places boats, cars, trains and other vehicles can’t. They don't need roads or rails and can move tons of stuff over land or water.
The challenge: Design and build a hovercraft that can navigate different terrains.
Who
Registration
What
Contact us
Why
Follow us for updates
Students in Grades 4-12
A team engineering design challenge in which participants build a device and document their process
To develop creative solutions to a real-world problem
Opens in October
1-408-795-6133 challenge@thetech.org thetech.org/techchallenge
Showcase
Saturday, March 30 | Grades 4-5 • Grade 6 Sunday, March 31 | Grades 9-12 • Grades 7-8 Fall 2018 | 17
This Is Like Nothing You′ve Ever Seen′ It might be the most immersive theater experience on the planet, and you’ll find it here first
18 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
Imagine you are... In space, floating next to an astronaut working on the Hubble Space Telescope, staring into a void of utter blackness. Or underwater as a great white shark silently glides through the depths. Or face-to-face with a giant panda as it emerges from a bamboo forest. Now, what if these moments felt so real that you could almost reach out and touch the astronaut, shark or panda? The Hackworth IMAX Dome Theater is introducing audiences to a game-changing immersive experience as it lifts the curtain on a total dome makeover. In November, The Tech will become home to the world’s first “IMAX with Laser” projector system designed specifically for the dome environment. “The implementation of this brand new system is like inventing the wheel, which is very exciting and very appropriate because we are the place for technology innovation,” said Michelle Duncan, The Tech’s IMAX theater operations director. “We’re helping create a truly new and unique experience not only for us but for the world. This is like nothing you’ve ever seen.”
For two decades, The Tech’s dome theater has awed audiences with its four-story, 180-degree view. Still, the IMAX 70mm film projector technology, developed about 40 years ago, could present subtle, intrusive reminders that you were in a theater. A slight shaking of images. Flickers of random light. Occasional dust on the film. A blurring of colors. In recent years, IMAX began rolling out a new 4K laser projection system that eliminated those small imperfections in movies shown on the standard screens found at multiplex cinemas. But now that laser technology – thanks to some innovative tweaks – will be raising the bar for theater realism as it’s adapted to the like-you’re-in-the-movie environment of the dome. The improved visuals are a marvel of optical engineering. When combined with upgrades in the IMAX sound system and a new dome wall surface, the experience is even more mesmerizing. The audience is transported on a journey to distant places as the sense of sitting in a theater melts away.
Michelle Duncan, IMAX theater operations director, oversees construction at The Tech’s IMAX Dome Theater. Fall 2018 | 19
“It really is awesome because we’ve updated everything,” said Brian J. Bonnick, chief technology officer and executive vice president of IMAX. “We’ve created a radically different projector that doesn’t have the limitations of other systems. It produces brighter and sharper images with substantially higher contrasts. A ruby red is a deep, powerful true ruby that you can’t get anywhere else. The images are much more in line with what the human eye was designed to see.” Duncan discovered that for herself earlier this year when the IMAX team gave a demonstration of the new dome laser system. While watching a clip from the film “Hubble,” she was amazed at how the black of space was absent any color — unlike IMAX film, which always contains a slight shade of gray. She remembers lightly punching the arm of her boss, Vice President of Operations Bill Bailor, in excitement. Then there was a scene from one of the most popular films shown at The Tech, “Pandas.” “You could see the individual black hairs of the panda next to the individual white hairs,” Duncan recalled. “It’s like you’re 10 feet away from a full-grown panda and seeing everything. I don’t even know if there’s a word to describe it. That was the moment when I thought, ‘I can’t wait to have this.’ ” 20 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
The Tech is the first to adopt the laser system for domes in part because of its close, 20-year working relationship with IMAX. The Tech, Bonnick said, just “gets” technology and understood why this is such a leap forward. For her part, Duncan added that the upgrades also give The Tech much greater flexibility with programming — from showing more feature films, staging community and corporate presentations, and even enabling San José State University students to show their films in the dome. But the main reason for all the excitement is that the digital system is a natural fit for The Tech’s core mission — sparking the imagination of young people to the possibilities of technology. “I always tell teachers, ‘Let me help you take your kids on field trips to outer space, or to Panda Base,’ ” Duncan said. “The theater is about taking kids, especially those in underserved communities, out of the classroom, suspending their disbelief and helping them see other options for where to go in life.” The IMAX Dome Theater is about to take them to places they never imagined.
Reinventing the dome Bringing a laser projector into a dome theater meant rebuilding the film experience from the ground up Visual
Sound
IMAX executive Brian J. Bonnick loves to talk about the laser projector technology that has revolutionized the cinema experience in recent years. But just wait, he said, until you’re in the The Tech dome and the image fills your entire peripheral vision.
The new, six-channel sound system is custom-designed for the dome experience by IMAX. The speakers sit behind the dome wall and use a software program to make sure they are appropriately aimed so that each person in all 280 seats has an identical audio experience. And it’s pure, dynamic sound that you feel in your bones, Bonnick said.
“That’s a completely different movie experience,” Bonnick added. What theater-goers will see is much more realistic thanks to a radically different laser projector system. IMAX took on a massive engineering challenge by completely revamping the core light engine architecture and technology for standard curved theater screens, then adapting it to the dome environment. The reconfiguration includes replacing the dual projectors IMAX deploys at regular theaters with a single-unit system. Because the geometry of the dome is so different, IMAX also had to custom-design a highresolution “fish-eye lens” as well as create new imageprocessing software. “We’re creating one-off systems for each theater where we’re almost hot-rodding every facet of the system to make it work better,” Bonnick said.
“We’ve learned that audio is just as important as the visuals,” he added. “So when a rocket ship takes off, you certainly hear it, but you also physically feel it. Your body palpitates. That’s the kind of realism we’re creating.”
Panels Before the renovation, you could see the overlapping aluminum panels of the IMAX dome surface — which could be mildly distracting. But not anymore. Using NanoSeam technology created by a company called Spitz that’s designed for domes, the new 469 panels are flush and create a uniform screen without visible seams or rivets. “The dome environment suspends disbelief and from the theater chair you feel like you’re under the water with fish on a coral reef or out in space with an astronaut,” said The Tech’s IMAX Theater Operations Director Michelle Duncan. “The last thing we want is for a dome panel to change that experience for our audience.”
Coming in November! We’re launching the IMAX with Laser dome experience with a groundbreaking documentary. “Oceans: Our Blue Planet” takes us on a global odyssey to discover the largest and least explored habitat on earth. New ocean technology has allowed us to delve further into the unknown than ever before. Showtimes and tickets: thetech.org/imax Fall 2018 | 21
20 year gatefold
20 year gatefold
Meet Our
24 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
Makers
From Animaker to Solve the Fall, meet the people behind some of our most creative and fun experiences In just a few years, The Tech has been transformed. We’ve added biotech experiences, engrossing engineering challenges and world-first experiences with AI, VR and AR. Helping power this transformation are four inquisitive minds behind some of the most fun and clever science and engineering activities you will find anywhere.
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Prinda Wanakule Director of Experience Development & Prototyping Expertise: Prototyping, maker education, creative confidence and problem solving
Maker milestone: “I made a Hello Kitty web page in third or fourth grade. It sparked my interest in programming and engineering. By high school, I made a fan site for a band that was so popular the producers of the movie ‘Scream’ asked if they could include a link in their promotional campaign.” Tech in 20: From mind to matter “Digital fabrication is undergoing dramatic changes. I predict that in 20 years we’ll have the ability to make anything we can see in our minds a reality. It used to
26 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
Wanakule leads a creative, multidisciplinary team of experience developers in The Tech’s three learning labs (The Tech Studio, BioTinkering Lab and Reboot Reality). She’s been a key player at The Tech for nearly five years. Wanakule earned her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering and has more than 10 years of experience in making and engineering design in informal learning environments.
take a decade of schooling and work experience to master computer-aided design for production. The tools to bring something from the digital world into the physical world are getting simpler every day. One day, a kid will be able to think about designing a treatdispensing harness for her dog, and the tools to create it will be right at her fingertips. She could 3D-scan her dog or even just trace the puppy in AR or VR and draw the harness in augmented reality. Send those specs to a 3D printer and Fido will have treats in no time!”
Anja Scholze Experience Developer and Program Manager, Biotech & Health Expertise: Bioengineering, biotinkering, science communication
Scholze brings an expertise in life sciences to The Tech. She leads the creation of interactive exhibits and hands-on experiences to engage visitors creatively with biotechnology. She earned a B.A. in neuroscience from Pomona College and a Ph.D. in developmental biology from Stanford University, where she researched the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive neural development.
Maker milestone: “I grew up just steps from wild beaches on an island in Alaska and spent hours tidepooling to collect rocks, shells, seaweeds and creatures of all kinds. I created a miniature, temporary aquarium for them in my bucket, with a carefully curated landscape and different communities of organisms — always at least one hermit crab! I loved investigating the variety and inherent complexity of the biological things I collected. In particular, the variety of ways that shells could be fabricated in nature and the diversity of seaweed shape and structure that you could attribute to different functions. This fascination fueled my passion to study biology and how we can build things with living systems.” Tech in 20: Living clothing “Biofabrication is the harnessing of living organisms to grow materials, and the field is currently using nature’s own tiny factories — living cells — to create everything from construction supplies to medical devices to furniture. “In 20 years, I predict we will have smart and programmable bioclothing, integrating actual living organisms to create clothing that is alive and responsive to bodies and environments. Imagine that your newest track suit is constructed from an engineered biotextile that combines glow-in-the-dark spider silk and sweat-absorbing algae fibers. It is embedded with engineered living bacteria that sense chemicals released by your own microbiome and regulate your skin biology. Now, think about going for a night run — your legs will light your path and make you visible in the dark; the spider silk is as strong as a bulletproof vest, protecting your knees if you fall; your sweat is automatically wicked away and consumed by your clothing; and the living bacteria in your suit talk to your skin microbiome in real time to neutralize odor.” Fall 2018 | 27
Nadav Hochman Experience Developer and Program Manager, Art & Technology Expertise: The intersection of art and technology, immersive media, AI
Maker milestone: “My mother sent me to basketball camp, and after a ball hit me in the face, I realized sports weren’t for me. Shortly after at a different camp, I made my first macrame plant holder, which I am still very proud of. It actually sparked my love of art (and flowers) and ended up being the focus of my Ph.D. I worked on creating an algorithm that makes sense of big visual data, turning millions of Instagram photos into a flower mosaic.” Tech in 20: Creative AI “Artificial Intelligence isn’t just imitating the work of previous artists. It is also amplifying creativity in new
28 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
Hochman leads The Tech+Arts Incubator and manages its R&D gallery, Reboot Reality. He facilitates creative collaborations between artists, industry partners and research institutions. Prior to joining The Tech, Hochman led acclaimed projects in the tech industry, academia and the art world. He holds a doctorate in art history, focusing on the analysis of massive visual data sets.
ways. For example, one of the most interesting aspects of creativity is the ability to combine ideas or create together. If you are painting, AI could help analyze and suggest directions to take your artistic output — is it similar to the works of Picasso? Should you include more blue? Do you need more practice painting shadows? In 20 years, what if you took a class with one of the top painters in the world, and wore a haptic suit that self-corrected your arms as the teacher moves. AI could adapt to your learning style and automatically help you with techniques you’re working to master, predicting where you might need a little help before you even need it!”
Katie Ozawa Experience Developer and Program Manager, Engineering Design Expertise: Engineering design, maker education, equity and accessibility in learning
Ozawa creates engineering design challenges for The Tech Studio for more than three years. Her team’s goal is to design fun and unique ways for our guests to interact with real engineering concepts. She has an engineering degree from Swarthmore. Before coming to The Tech, Ozawa taught in a one-room, four-grade classroom overseas and also spent some time teaching robotics and coding to kids in low-income schools.
Maker milestone: “We moved a lot when I was a kid, and that always resulted in a ton of boxes. My sister and I were not very helpful with the actual moving part, but we would build room-scale sets out of all of the cardboard and packing supplies. The Space Station once took up our entire guest room, complete with tunnels you floated/crawled through. It’s great to see how much cardboard building has reappeared in my job now, since it’s the basis for all of our prototypes!” Tech in 20: Education with AI “I am hopeful that artificial intelligence will help us bridge important accessibility and educational gaps in the next few decades. Teachers can focus more on the human side of learning and inspiring kids, and AI will be there to support their efforts. Some of the biggest challenges teachers face are catering to a classroom of 30 students who are all learning at different speeds. It’s especially hard in communities where families can’t afford tutoring. What if teachers could instantly adapt textbooks and lessons to students’ learning needs? For example, offering up word problems customized to a student’s favorite sports team or movie, or moving away from word problems altogether to another style of learning. Kids will learn from each other, but at their own speed without shame, and teachers will have more time to connect with each student.”
Keep up with the makers on Twitter: Prinda Wanakule @prinda Anja Scholze @biophilebytes Nadav Hochman @nadavho Katie Ozawa @krmozawa
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Young and inspired Young people are at the heart of The Tech, and we don’t just mean our visitors. These teens are immersed in everything we do
Allison Cartee is 17 and has her sights set on medical school. So it’s no surprise how quickly she became enamored by the Anatomage table in our exhibition Body Worlds Decoded. The digital screen that virtualizes a cadaver has helped her study for anatomy and physiology classes. As a volunteer at The Tech, she can’t believe she gets credit for sharing her passion for science with guests. Allison also finds social value in her hours spent volunteering. “For me, it’s really hard to get out of my bubble — I go to school every day, then I come home and do my homework,” she said, adding that she doesn’t typically interact with people outside her own age group. “The Tech is great because it doesn’t allow you to choose who you interact with.” A love for science and people are common motivations among our Generation Z crowd.
The Arctic Explorers (Lilly Loghmani, Emily Choi, Michael Ziegler, and Rumi Loghmani) are a high school team who participated in the 2018 Tech Challenge, presented by Dell. Opportunities like The Tech Challenge are why Michael feels fortunate to live in Silicon Valley. “Not only do we exchange cultures with people who have different ethnicities and backgrounds, but we also exchange brilliant ideas and perspectives that we never thought of before,” he said. This collaborative mindset is echoed by the rest of the Arctic Explorers. “I think our team worked so well together because we all had different strengths and weaknesses, yet were all willing to help each other,” said Emily. Rumi added, “All of us are innovators and creators.”
Want to volunteer at The Tech? We would love to have you! Learn more at thetech.org/volunteers.
30 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
The youth of the Bay Area recognize the importance of diversity in age, culture and ideas. Among the many things they’ve taught us at The Tech is that they may be young, but their ability to recognize the potential in others makes them unstoppable.
Meet the high school students planning a summit organized entirely by youth to address climate change
Haris Hosseini sits in a room of high school students discussing summer vacation and college applications on a Sunday morning. Once the clock strikes 10 a.m., he strategically steers the conversation in a different direction. The three-hour board meeting for November’s Youth Climate Action Summit at The Tech has commenced and he’s the board president. We spoke with him about what motivates him to lead at such a young age. Made @ The Tech: Why do you think it’s important for young people to engage with their community? Haris: So much of human history has been shaped and molded by courageous young people. The Little Rock Nine. Malala Yousafzai. Now, the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla. I believe that we are, as a human race, collectively better when we amplify and elevate the voices of youth. The youth of our world hold in their hands an unflinching optimism and an indomitable courage to transform. We have a unique ability to translate today’s dreams into tomorrow’s reality. M@TT: What about The Tech interested you? Why do you continue to be involved?
Haris: The Tech was a staple of my childhood, as it has been for so many children. Its commitment to innovation, to progress and to ingenuity made it such an exciting institution to partner with in this endeavor of founding and leading the student board. Most of all, in a world that often silences or ignores youth, I am deeply inspired by The Tech’s willingness to lend its voice to us. M@TT: What or who inspires you to make an impact? Haris: In truth, my generation inspires me most: all my peers around the world who fight tirelessly every day for our collective future. As young people — specifically in this country — we are often labeled as a lazy and unmotivated bunch, painted with a broad and pessimistic brush. But I believe so deeply in my generation’s potential and drive. The #NeverAgain movement from Parkland, was, if anything, a warning to lawmakers (and adults everywhere) that we are truly a force to be reckoned with. Join us on Saturday, Nov. 10! The Tech, National Geographic and our student board are teaming up to bring the first Youth Climate Action Summit to the Bay Area. If you are or know a high school student that might be interested in a day of incredible speakers, an Impossible Foods lunch and one-on-one time with social innovators visit thetech.org/youthsummit. Fall 2018 | 31
Leading the way “Stay curious. I enjoyed
The Tech is walking the walk when it comes to its mission to inspire the innovator in everyone, and our Girls @ The Tech initiative is but one example. The initiative hosts Girls @ The Tech days every year, encouraging girls and their families to explore STEM careers, meet role models and enjoy hands-on engineering activities. The annual Girls @ The Tech Luncheon brings together middle and high school students, community members and Silicon Valley leaders to talk candidly about opportunities and challenges for women in tech. Featured speakers have included former Autodesk and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and founder of Cowboy Ventures Aileen Lee.
working in tech because it’s complex. You think through different questions every day. If you keep curious, you’ll keep learning.” Carol Bartz gives advice to teens at the second annual Girls @ The Tech Luncheon.
The initiative is bridging important divides and helping major players come together to build a pipeline of opportunities for girls that nurture their interest, boost their skills and solidify their confidence in STEM.
Thanks to our Girls @ The Tech supporters Platinum: Gilead, Intel, Milligan Family Foundation, NetApp “I often underestimate myself, so my favorite piece of advice today (at the Girls @ The Tech Luncheon) was that it’s OK to be yourself and not assimilate to other people’s opinions.” Jennifer Delgado started studying computer science at UC Irvine this fall.
Gold: BNY Mellon, eBay, Gregory P. Luth & Associates, Inc., KLA-Tencor, Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner Silver: Arm, Bank of America, EY, Mauria Finley & Greg Yap, First Tech Federal Credit Union, Hitachi Vantara, Mike Jacobson & Trine Sorensen, Mayfield, Tim Haley & Ethna McGourty, in appreciation of Charmaine & Dan Warmenhoven, PayPal, Peter & Renuka Relan, SAP, Seagate Bronze: Cooley, IBM, PwC, Zoom
For information on how you can get involved, send an email to Karen Toste, senior director, major gifts at ktoste@thetech.org.
32 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
Water and wow Two new science labs bring robust green design and chemistry experiences to field trips
Science Labs at The Tech are 90-minute experiences that school groups can reserve for field trips. Two new experiences for the 2018–19 school year offer engaging design, engineering and chemistry experiments.
Chemistry of Plastination: Investigate the chemical processes behind the unique plastination preservation of Body Worlds Decoded
Down the Drain: Protect the Bay Area’s water systems by designing and building a better storm drain
Something interesting happened when Body Worlds Decoded opened in October 2017. The Tech started attracting an older crowd, especially among high school students and their teachers, who saw an incredible opportunity to bring biology and anatomy lessons to life.
As essential as water is to our daily lives, how much time do we really spend thinking about where it comes from — or where it goes when we’re done with it?
Now, a lab experience just for high school students will break down the plastination process that preserves the human bodies in Body Worlds. “My main goal is to show that Body Worlds is not just about anatomy, but there are so many advanced science and engineering concepts that go into making that great anatomy visualization,” said Kristen Martin, The Tech’s director of facilitated experiences. “Not just the chemical processes, but the engineering is kind of mind boggling, actually.” Students will go through a three-step process exploring the plastination breakthrough that made Body Worlds possible. This includes using acetone to remove watersoluble fats from tissue, experimenting with vacuums and applying resin or another polymer to form a preserving seal on a surface.
Understanding the Bay Area’s watershed and innovating ways to protect it is the topic of a new lab experience for school groups. Students will first learn components of a water system and then create a storm drain that blocks trash and other pollutants. They’ll even get to test out their drain with a live demo. So yes, this is in fact a wet lab. “We wanted to design a lab that would be about a problem in the student’s control and where they can do something to help,” said Gretchen Kirkpatrick, who develops content for school group visitors. “No matter where you live, this is how watersheds work uniformly across the world — and there are little things we can do to prevent pollution in our watershed.” Want to learn more about field trips? Head over to thetech.org/fieldtrips. Fall 2018 | 33
Inside The Tech Studio A peek at the design process for one of our favorite activities in The Tech’s maker space
SOLVE
34 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
Most of our guests have done an egg-drop challenge before. But cracked eggs only allow for complete success or complete failure (and make a huge mess). The egg-drop concept inspired The Tech Studio activity Solve the Fall, but we wanted to add more possibilities for iteration — the process of tinkering, retrying and improving. Could we build a better egg for the egg-drop challenge?
The three-part evolution to Solve the Fall
1
2
3
Initial prototype: Light-up ball
First iteration: Cell phone
Current iteration: Accelerometer
The first prototype of this program used light-up balls as payloads. The goal was to prevent the ball from lighting up by using drag, cushioning and suspension. We curated materials that were translucent or perforated to make the ball easier to see.
That’s right, real phones! We measured the impact of a given fall using an app that activates the cell phone’s onboard accelerometer, a device that measures axis-based motion, or (you guessed it) acceleration. This is how your phone knows its orientation so it can switch between portrait and landscape mode.
We developed our own accelerometers and housed them in cubes with slots that matched our new universal-fit building materials. Upon impact, a screen on the wall displayed a graph along with the largest g-force sensed by the accelerometer.
Pros: The light provided us with an easily recognizable result. Cons: We were only able to give guests a binary result; the ball either lit up or didn’t. It was also too tempting to start a light show by bouncing the balls. As a result, the batteries died often.
Pros: The app allowed our droppers to build data literacy through graphs. Cons: We had to take apart our guests’ carefully built devices in order to see the data each time, which did not encourage iteration. Also, guests were naturally afraid of dropping the cell phones!
Pros: Instantaneous readouts with clear data makes it easy to connect the behavior of a device during the fall to the results. A non-binary readout encourages more iteration — even devices that performed well could improve next time! Cons: Still a little messy when devices explode on impact, but easier to clean than raw yolk. Fall 2018 | 35
Animaker Preview June 14
High-fives all around for our new fan favorite Animaker. Partners from around the world joined us to launch the activity in Reboot Reality, including a guest from OPEN Austria and Resonai. See more on page 8.
Students from Third Street Community Center made our latest activity with the Sharks Foundation and SAP look like a breeze! San Jose Sharks player Dylan DeMelo and Sharkie blew us away with their engineering skills.
Innovation on Ice: ZamboniÂŽ Design Challenge Feb. 28
Scene @ The Tech
Make Music San Jose June 21
We harmonized with people across the city for this fun celebration of music. You helped DJ Petri dish out some science-ified beats, played a giant conductive mural of downtown and created sweet tunes in VR! 36 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
Community Day June 24
We celebrate our community every day, but with an extra special thank you every summer when we open our museum doors for free! It’s our way of expressing gratitude for inspiring us to inspire the innovator in everyone.
Girls Day @ The Tech March 17 and May 12
If the future is female, we’re in good hands! Girls picked up new STEM skills, inspired each other with awesome tech know-how and had the chance to meet role models during these events.
28th Annual Volunteer Recognition Dinner April 20 We love you a llama! So many surprises at our celebration of the hundreds of volunteers that make our work possible every day. Our Anything is Possible event included Elvis, tons of randomness and pictures with our new llama BFF, Buddy.
Fall 2018 | 37
Save the Dates Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018 Geektoberfest thetech.org/geektoberfest Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018 The Tech Challenge registration opens thetech.org/thetechchallenge Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018 Info clinics, team workshops and adviser trainings begin for The Tech Challenge thetech.org/thetechchallenge Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018 The Tech for Global Good celebration thetechforglobalgood.org Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018 The Tech for Global Good Youth Climate Action Summit thetech.org/youthsummit Sunday, Nov. 11 IMAX Dome Theater reopening thetech.org/imax
Feb. 9, 2019 Test trials begin for The Tech Challenge thetech.org/thetechchallenge Feb. 18, 2019 Girls Day @ The Tech thetech.org/girlsday Friday, March 1, 2019 Member Party thetech.org/members Saturday, March 30 and Sunday, March 31. 2019 The Tech Challenge thetech.org/thetechchallenge Friday, April 12, 2019 Volunteer Appreciation Dinner thetech.org/volunteer May 3, 2019 Girls @ The Tech Luncheon thetech.org/girlsatthetech Sunday, June 30, 2019 Community Day Free admission to all!
Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 Everybody Makes Day
For more info and a list of everything happening at The Tech, visit thetech.org/calendar 38 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
Volunteer with us!
Our perks • Free admission to the museum for you and a guest • Free educational IMAX films (and popcorn!) • Ongoing training and support for a rewarding volunteer experience • Flexible hours • Free downtown parking while you volunteer • Discounts in The Tech Store and The Tech Cafe Questions? Call 1-408-795-6190 or email volunteer@thetech.org. Fall 2018 | 39
Do try this at home! Who says all the fun has to happen at The Tech? This DIY engineering activity can be put together with inexpensive store-bought materials or objects you find around the house
Zipline Subject: Engineering design challenge Ages: 6-12 Key concepts: Balance, weight distribution, friction
Introduction In this classic design challenge, you will be creating a vehicle to transport a passenger, such as a small toy, from one end of a zipline to the other. These activities are versatile, making them a favorite design challenge at The Tech. Zipline vehicles make a great activity for ages 6+ and work well for small and large groups alike.
Materials Zipline contraptions can be built from all types of materials. Explore your junk drawer or garage to find unique items. Use the table on the next page as a guide to help you pick out the best tools and materials for your version of the activity. Keep in mind that vehicles may fall from a height during testing, so make sure to use things that are durable or disposable. 40 | Celebrating 20 years of The Tech
Things you can use Don’t limit yourself to the items on this list. Use whatever you have on hand — be creative! For attaching to the zipline • Plastic laundry hooks • Paper clips • Binder clips • Straws • Hair clips and accessories • Spools • Chopsticks • Silverware
Easy-to-remove attachment pieces • Pipe cleaners • Rubber bands • Clothespins • Plastic clips • Twist ties
For your passenger to sit in • Cups and bowls • Empty food containers (yogurt, hummus, etc.) • Cardboard • Fabric • Coffee filters
Tools and peripherals • Your passenger: small toy or other item • Scissors • Hole puncher • Smooth string for zipline (such as fishing line or clothesline) • Masking tape (optional) • Standing fan with multiple speeds (optional)
Setup One of the reasons we love this activity is it’s so flexible! Friction is always part of the zipline exploration, but your setup can expand the learning goals of the activity. If you’re interested in exploring balance, use two parallel lines. Gravity? Set up descent lines at different angles. Harnessing power? Set up horizontal lines and a fan, then use the wind to travel. We use steel cable at The Tech, but all you need is sturdy string or nylon cord and something to tie it to. It’s also important for your testing zone to be large and open, and for lines to be marked clearly to ensure testing is as safe as possible. Next, think about how you would like to set up the building materials. Setting out the materials on a table buffet-style, with no step-by-step directions on how to assemble the vehicle, gives builders a chance to explore and experiment while they build.
Building and testing How do you build a zipline contraption? There are a million ways to engineer a successful device. As you begin to build, consider your load. Will the vehicle be carrying a light plastic figure or a heavy toy? Is it tiny or large? Is your load inanimate, or does it represent a living thing that needs to be comfortable during its ride? Remember that whatever your device is carrying needs to be safe as it travels down the zipline. Balance, weight and friction are also used differently depending upon how the testing area was set up. Once you have engineered your contraption, it’s time to test it out! Place the load inside the vehicle, position it on the zipline and observe what happens. Was the ride bumpy or smooth? Did the vehicle reach its destination or did it get stuck on the line? How does the weight distribution affect the ride? Use what you observed to make changes to your design, then keep testing, observing and reiterating.
Extra Credit Consider adding an interesting narrative twist, like challenging the builders to develop a car for an amusement park ride or zipline a piano through a window of a multi-story building. Adding a story or scenario does not just add fun to a design challenge, it can also add empathy. Scenarios can help builders focus their goal and think about who they are engineering the vehicle for. Ask them to think about their load, and if they would have liked to have been the passenger. If there are several people participating, try inviting each builder to design a unique contraption so the group can compare designs. For an added layer of fun and complexity, use challenge cards limiting participants to certain quantities or types of materials.
Fall 2018 | 41
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Opening Day | Oct. 31, 1998