Hello everyone,
Plans are underway for the next Wayne County Mini Maker Faire on Saturday, May 19th. Be sure to mark your calendar to attend and especially to participate as a “maker”. The Daily Record said it best: “Dubbed the ‘Greatest Show and Tell on Earth’, over 1,300 people flocked to the inaugural faire at the University of Akron Wayne College last year.
What is the Wayne County Mini Maker Faire? It’s a mix of new technology, inventions, interesting people, traditional (and not so traditional) hobbies. From yarn spinning to spinning robots, it’s all part of Maker Faire. If you haven’t been a Maker Faire anywhere in the world, it’s an unforgettable experience, now here in Wayne County. These videos, taken during the 2017 faire, sum it up perfectly.
The 2017 faire hosted 70 makers from all corners of the community, many of whom are coming back for the faire this May! Click here to see all of the interesting and friendly folks who participated last year. There truly is something for everyone. If you attended the faire last year and want to contact one of the makers for more information, you can do so here.
Check out the group La Machine, a group of folks who build massive animated sculptures, such as the elephant below. La Machine was part of the Nantes France Maker Faire.
We are proud to showcase Ohio makers who participated in the Wayne County Mini Maker Faire. One such person is Adam Smith from the University of Akron, born in Texas. Adam was an undergraduate at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and then earned a PhD from MIT. After graduating in 2008, Adam moved to UC Berkeley to do postdoctoral work with Jay T Groves. There his research applied fluorescence spectroscopy methods to problems in cell biology. In 2012, he started his own lab at the University of Akron, where he is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry.
At the 2017 faire, his group brought materials for people to build a cardboard spectrometers that they took home. Visible absorption spectroscopy has a wide range of applications in chemistry labs, biomedical research, and clinical diagnostics. His lab also developed the SpecPhone: a spectrophotometer that can be made with a 3D printer, some inexpensive parts, and a smartphone. The device can make analytically accurate measurements of concentration and can be used for education and DIY scientists. Adam showed the SpecPhone and advertised various citizen science projects that can be done with it.
Rounding out our makers who participated are Barry Romich and Robin Wisner. Their booth last year promoted the notion of making in schools to support STEM education. It displayed various maker activities and featured a maker cart of parts to support activities. The featured item is the Maker Cart, a kit of 15,000 parts including gears, pulleys, shafts, motors, and much more. Visitors built various items using components from the Maker Cart, such as the WiggleBot in which kids created a visual image on paper that they can take with them.
The Maker Movement is expanding into schools. Teaching Touches is a small retail store in Erie, Pennsylvania oriented toward parents and teachers of children pre-K through grade 6. Traditional classroom products are now being supplemented with maker resources. Teaching Touches offers resources to support making in the educational setting and beyond.
Check out the video above; plans are underway for the 2018 Wayne County Mini Maker Faire! Mark your calendar for Saturday, May 19, 2018 for an unforgettable experience. The event is free to attend and participate. To be a maker at the faire, be sure to signup here. We’d love to have you and participation is free. The signup deadline is April 1st; reserve your space today! Thanks and we look forward to you joining us in 2018!
Until next week,
Tom