Camille A. Brown: A visual history of social dance in 25 moves

Lovely (only 4 minutes) TED Studio Talk with

Camille A. Brown, Choreographer and educator

Camille A. Brown leads her dance company through excavations of ancestral stories, both timeless and traditional, that connect history with contemporary culture. Full bio

Why do we dance? African-American social dances started as a way for enslaved Africans to keep cultural traditions alive and retain a sense of inner freedom. They remain an affirmation of identity and independence. In this electric demonstration, packed with live performances, choreographer, educator and TED Fellow Camille A. Brown explores what happens when communities let loose and express themselves by dancing together.

October 27, 2016October 23, 2016 by kbennes Categories: Arts, Culture, Dance, Humanity, Interdisciplinary, STEAMTags: african american culture, Camille A. Brown, dance, History, slavery, TED Leave a comment

University professor and students save lives with their inventions

2016 MacArthur Fellow, Rebecca Richards-Kortum is amazing.  The Rice University bioengineering professor has inspired her students to invent  new low cost medical technologies for the third world that are remarkable.

New medical technologies created by BTB students include an LED-based phototherapy light for treating jaundice in newborns that can be made for less than $100, and a bubble continuous positive airway pressure machine (bCPAP) for premature infants unable to breathe on their own. The bCPAP decreased mortality rates in a Malawi neonatal ward by 46 percent at a cost of nearly 38 times lower than the standard model.

Committed to improving access to quality health care for all the world’s people, Richards-Kortum is not only developing novel solutions but also training and inspiring the next generation of engineers and scientists to address our shared global challenges.

For more about the work of the good professor and her students at Rice University in Houston, see the following:

MacArthur Foundation:  https://www.macfound.org/fellows/970/

NPR Morning Edition segment:  ‘Genius Grant’ Winner Is A Genius At Inspiring Students

September 26, 2016 by kbennes Categories: Biology, Engineering, Humanity, Interdisciplinary, STEAMTags: Bioengineering, MacArthur Fellow, NPR Morning Edition, Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Rice University Leave a comment

James Turrell’s Sky Spaces

Installation artist James Turrell, at Roden Crater in northern Arizona in 2001.  Credit Florian Holzherr

I am always on the lookout for something or someone new and interdisciplinary to bring to the STEAM Hub. James Turrell,  an installation artist and son of an aeronautical engineer and Peace Corps doctor, seems to have that beautiful mix of aesthetic creativity partnered with science that is so interesting to me.   It came as no surprise that his undergraduate studies focused on psychology and mathematics; only later, in graduate school, did he pursue art, receiving an MFA from the Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California.

Here are a few of his Arizona projects to wet your whistle.  When it cools off just a little, I think a James Turrell art road trip is in order.

Roden Crater
The natural cinder cone crater is now home to a land art project and naked eye observatory thirty plus years in the making that will blow your mind.

Air Apparent
A Sky Space Art Installation by James Turrell and Will Bruder at the ASU Tempe campus.

Knight Rise
Another Turrell public sky space located at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.

 

 

 

 

July 8, 2016July 6, 2016 by kbennes Categories: Arizona, Arts, Astronomy, Culture, Engineering, Geology, Interdisciplinary, Mathematics, Sculpture, STEAMTags: heliocentric, Installation art, james Turrell, Roden Crater, Sky Spaces Leave a comment

“THE RECYCLED ORCHESTRA” EXHIBIT AT MIM

On exhibit now at the Musical Instrument Museum

Exhibit displays instruments from remarkable group

Amid a massive landfill in Cateura, Paraguay, children find hope by making music on instruments built from recycled trash. In a slum town where families survive by collecting and reselling garbage (and where a violin can cost more than a house), a visionary music teacher gathered a small team to plunder the landfill for materials and construct an ensemble of “recycled” instruments. In just a few years, their innovation has led to a thriving music school in Cateura and a youth orchestra that performs internationally. For members of the Recycled Orchestra, material poverty is not an obstacle to a life rich with music. They have each learned to value greatly how music impacts their lives, helping them express creativity, build self-confidence, and strengthen community.

The Musical Instrument Museum features the inspiring story and the innovative instruments of the Recycled Orchestra through a Latin America gallery exhibit and docent mini-tours. The Recycled Orchestra exhibit features eight recycled instruments from Paraguay as well as video and images of the youth orchestra and the environment of Cateura.

June 20, 2016June 18, 2016 by kbennes Categories: Arizona, Culture, DIY, Guitar, Humanity, Interdisciplinary, Music, Recycling, STEAM, SustainabilityTags: Cateura Paraguay, Exhibit, MIM, Musical Instrument Museum, Recycled Orchestra Leave a comment

New Gecko-Inspired Adhesive

From The Scientist:  http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/45741/title/New-Gecko-Inspired-Adhesive/

By Jef Akst | April 6, 2016

Flexible patches of silicone that stick to skin and conduct electricity could serve as the basis for a new, reusable electrode for medical applications.

For years, researchers have recreated the microscopic hair-like pillars on gecko feet that, through atomic forces known as van der Waals’ interactions, allow the animals to scurry up walls and across ceilings. Such gecko-inspired adhesives could have a variety of applications, including medical bandages, but materials scientist Seokwoo Jeon at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and colleagues wanted to apply these materials to create a novel wearable electrode.

Read more of Jef’s article in The Scientist here:

 

May 20, 2016May 19, 2016 by kbennes Categories: Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Environment, Humanity, Interdisciplinary, Research, Science, TechnologyTags: biomimicry, electrophysiology, Gecko, Science, wearable electrodes Leave a comment

Mercury Transit Music Video

A Mercury Transit Music Video from Solar Dynamics Observatory
Video Credit: NASA‘s Goddard Space Flight Center, Genna Duberstein; Music: Encompass by Mark PetrieExplanation: What’s that small black dot moving across the Sun? Mercury. Possibly the clearest view of Mercury crossing in front of the Sun earlier this week was from Earth orbit. The Solar Dynamics Observatory obtained an uninterrupted vista recording it not only in optical light but also in bands of ultraviolet light. Featured here is a composite movie of the crossing set to music. Although the event might prove successful scientifically for better determining components of Mercury’ ultra-thin atmosphere, the event surely proved successful culturally by involving people throughout the world in observing a rare astronomical phenomenon. Many spectacular images of this Mercury transit from around (and above) the globe are being proudly displayed.

 

May 11, 2016 by kbennes Categories: Astronomy, Interdisciplinary, Music, Photography, Science, STEAMTags: Encompass, Genna Duberstein, Goddard Space Flight Center, Mark Petrie, Mercury Transit, Music, NASA, Photography, Science, Solar Dynamics Observatory, STEAM Leave a comment

Imagine Science Films

Imagine Science Films is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in existence since 2008 committed to promoting a high-level dialogue between scientists and filmmakers.

Their mission is to bridge the gap between art and science through film, thereby transforming the way science is communicated to the public and encouraging collaboration across disciplines.

Together, scientists, who dedicate their lives to studying the world in which we live, and filmmakers, who interpret and expose this knowledge, can make science accessible and stimulating to the broadest possible audience. Imagine Science Films is committed to drawing attention to the sciences, whether it is through art or our community outreach efforts.

Read more about Imagine Science Films here:  http://imaginesciencefilms.org

May 7, 2016May 7, 2016 by kbennes Categories: Digital Culture, Film, Interdisciplinary, ScienceTags: dialogue between scientists and filmmakers, Film, Imagine Science Films, Science, STEAM Leave a comment

Always practise safe text: the German traffic light for smartphone zombies

A ‘mobile phone lane’ on a street in a theme park in Chongqing, China. Photograph: Imaginechina/Rex

The word “smombie” is one of the most recent additions to the German language. Last November, the term – a mashup of “smartphone” and “zombie”, referring to oblivious smartphone users staggering around cities like the undead – was voted Youth Word of the Year in Germany.

The disease is virulent. A recent study of 14,000 pedestrians in Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Paris, Rome and Stockholm found that 17% of people used their smartphone while walking. The heaviest users were 25 to 35-year-olds: almost a quarter of them exhibited smombie-esque behaviour.

Now Augsburg, a municipality outside Munich, has braced itself for this new public peril. After several smombies caused accidents by carelessly crossing tram tracks, city officials decided to install new traffic lights – at ground level.

At Haunstetterstraße station, one of two locations for the experiment, 16 red LEDs, each about the size of a beer mat, are embedded in the pavement next to a tram crossing.

Passengers are divided on their merits. Katja Lechner commutes here daily to university. “OK, you really do see the lights blinking when the tram approaches,” she says. “But that doesn’t stop anybody from crossing, as people rush to catch their trains.” She thinks the €10,000 should have been invested in education.

Arzu Araz, a hairdresser who lives nearby with her seven-year old daughter, disagrees. “The lights are ideal for kids, who notice them immediately,” she says.

Augsburg is not the first city to react. Cologne has equipped three tram crossings with similar lights, prompting the creation of yet another portmanteau: “Bompeln”, an abbreviation of “Boden-Ampeln” (ground traffic lights).

In Munich, where a 15-year-old girl wearing headphones was recently killed by a tram, certain particularly dangerous crossings were fitted with special beacons that send warnings to smartphones enabled with a corresponding app, called Watch Out!

In the US, meanwhile, cities such as Portland, Seattle and Cleveland have experimented with talking buses that alert pedestrians during turns. Rexburg, Idaho has even imposed fines of $50 for texting while walking.

And a theme park in the Chinese city of Chongqing has experimented with a special “phone lane” for pedestrians, itself based on an earlier experiment in Washington, DC.

After a trial period, Augsburg officials will interview tram drivers and passengers before deciding whether to roll the lights out to other stations.

“This is not just about smartphones. The crossing here is so busy and dangerous that we are used to the screeching noise of the tram’s emergency breaks,” says Sebastian Hrabak, owner of the restaurant Schwarze Kiste at Haunstetterstraße station. “But since the lights were installed last week, there hasn’t been a single dangerous incident.”

Have you been a “smombie” yourself ?

Read the full article @ Always practise safe text: the German traffic light for smartphone zombies

May 4, 2016 by steamgcc Categories: Culture, Environment, Interdisciplinary, STEAM, TechnologyTags: Glendale Community College, STEAM Leave a comment

Several Events Taking Place @ GCC

 

Are as follows….

FORENSICS TEAM CAMPUS SHOWCASE

Wednesday May 4th 3:30-5:30

MU2-151                                     

This event will feature team performances and will be open to the campus and community to attend.

STUDY FEAST

Wednesday May 4th 6-10pm

SU-104

Free food, school supplies and tutoring to aid in a smooth end to the semester

PERCUSSION CONCERT

Wednesday, May 4, 2016, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.

Performing Arts Center

Performances by the GCC Percussion Ensemble. Directed by Dr. D. Nottingham.

Free & open to the public.

PIANO CONCERT

Thursday, May 5, 2016, 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Performing Arts Center

Performances by the GCC piano studio.

Directed by Dr. Christina Eide

Free & open to the public

GAUCHO AWARDS FOR THEATRE EXCELLENCE

Friday, May 6, 2016, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m

Performing Arts Center

The Glendale Community College Delta Psi Omega Drama Club recognizes the quality of excellence in the areas of performance, design, and technical achievements during the current theatrical season. Productions that will be in contention for recognition include The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, The 39 Steps, Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, and The Glass Menagerie. A scene from each play, as well as other acts, will be performed.  New students will be inducted into the national chapter of Delta Psi Omega, scholarships will be awarded, and the new Drama club officers will be announced. Light refreshments will follow the GATE ceremony.  Come share in the celebration!

Admission is free and is open to the public.

Light refreshments will be served following the ceremony.

DJ PERFORMANCE

Friday, May 6, 2016, 7 – 10:30 p.m.

MU2-151

Performance by the MUC 135 Student D.J.s.

GCC GUITAR ENSEMBLES

Friday, May 6, 2016, 7:30 – 9 p.m.

Performing Arts Center

GCC Guitar Ensembles 

GCC’s award-winning classical guitar program presents an evening of guitar ensemble music featuring the Glendale Guitar Quartet, Glendale Guitar Sextet, and Guitar Orchestra. Always an exciting program, the ensembles have featured composer spotlight programs and a multitude of world premieres. Come hear what the fret buzz is all about at GCC! For more information contact Chuck Hulihan at charles.hulihan@gccaz.edu or 623.834.3715.

Friday May 6, 7:30pm

Free & open to the public

GCC Performing Arts Center

GCC CHOIRS: 42ND ST – BROADWAY CLASSICS

Saturday, May 7, 2016, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.

Performing Arts Center

GCC Choirs present: 42nd St – Broadway Classics

 May 7, 7:30 p.m. GCC Performing Arts Center            

Free & open to the public

Join the GCC Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, Community Choir, and Vocal Jazz as they take a trip to 42nd St. and sing some of your favorite Broadway Musical Classics.

 

 

 

 

May 4, 2016May 4, 2016 by steamgcc Categories: Arizona, Arts, Culture, Dance, Event, GCC, Interdisciplinary, STEAM, TheatreTags: Glendale Community College, Performing Arts Center Leave a comment

Volunteer Orientation

Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona

Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona is the only nonprofit organization in Arizona delivering creative and therapeutic arts programs to abused and homeless children, ages 3 to 21 years.  Established in 1993, Free Arts offers four distinct programs and serves more than 8,000 children annually. We partner with 32 child welfare agencies, spanning 100 + sites throughout Maricopa County, including group homes, crisis shelters, residential treatment facilities, and unaccompanied minor programs.  Since our inception we have provided creative healing services to more than 95,000 youth. The dedicated adult volunteers and employees of Free Arts are proud of our twenty-one year history of consistently and compassionately providing quality programs that result in changed lives for vulnerable and neglected children in our community.

Become a caring, adult role model and Free Arts volunteer today!

Volunteer Opportunities Include:

• Mentoring a group of children at a group home, shelter, or treatment center for one hour a week through artistic expression

• Supporting children for one day art events at places like the Phoenix Art Museum, Desert Botanical Gardens, and Arizona Opera

• Assisting children to create, heal, learn and grow during our Summer Camp Series!

All volunteers start by attending a Volunteer Orientation.

These one hour, no obligation orientations are held each month at our office located at 103 West Highland Avenue Suite 200 in Phoenix. Join us to learn how you can give your time to Free Arts and make a difference in the lives of our community’s most vulnerable children.

Click here to learn more about Free Arts.

* Due to facility restrictions volunteers must be 18+

Official Link Provided: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/volunteer-orientation-registration-9469829515?aff=FBAPR

April 25, 2016April 25, 2016 by steamgcc Categories: Arizona, Arts, Culture, Event, Interdisciplinary, STEAMTags: Arizona, Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona, Glendale Community College, Phoenix, STEAM, Volunteer Leave a comment