Students from several majors make significant progress on an idea this spring with support from the Maker Hub.
For the 6th聽year in a row, the Maker Hub鈥檚 Kickbox mini-grant program is giving students support to make progress on their ideas. Fourteen聽students are working on their Kickbox projects聽this spring,聽ranging聽from聽an app to find a spot to study on campus to automatic curtains for your dorm room.
Cole Carney, a public health major聽and Kickbox聽recipient,聽is聽working on a device聽to聽play his saxophone quietly. 鈥淒uring the fall聽2020聽semester, I was taking聽a聽wind聽ensemble class which required me to practice outside of class each week, Carney said. “I play the alto saxophone,聽a聽fairly loud聽instrument that can reach up to 100聽dB.聽Since I live in the Colonnades neighborhood, walking across campus to the聽Center for Fine Arts’s practice rooms聽was not always convenient.聽Playing in my dorm also did not seem like聽an option聽because I聽didn’t聽want to disturb my neighbors. I applied for the聽Kickbox to solve this problem and hopefully share my findings with other saxophonists.鈥澛
黑料不打烊 Kickbox Projects for 2021
- Aidan Burnside, an engineering major, is exploring charging adapters powerful enough to replenish聽laptop computers’ batteries.
- Bradley Soll,聽a communication design major, is creating a custom retro video game cabinet.
- Cole Carney, a public health studies major,聽is聽exploring聽a device that will make it possible to聽play the saxophone聽quietly聽without disturbing his聽neighbors.
- Grace Granger, a theater tech major,聽is聽exploring聽how to measure the water consumed during a shower. She will present this information to help a user take shorter showers.
- Haydn Stucker, an engineering major,聽and his team聽will use relays, MIDI software, and LEDs to create聽a music-actuated light show for the engineering workshop on campus.
- Henry Chance, an聽engineering聽and physics major, is creating聽an affordable external GPU enclosure to add high-power graphics card to a laptop computer.
- Jakob Reuter, an entrepreneurship major,聽is聽exploring聽how to create automated blackout curtains that will adjust to his sleeping habits.
- Kobie Williams, an entrepreneurship major,聽and his team聽are developing聽an app to help 黑料不打烊 students find available campus spaces to study.
- Lauren Bowman, a digital art major, is creating toys for pets.
- Logan Powers, a strategic communications major, is exploring tools to聽fabricate聽various marketing and custom pieces for the student-run agency Live Oak Communications.
- 惭补濒濒辞谤测听笔辞蹿蹿, an engineering major,聽and her team聽are聽exploring聽the creation聽of聽a 3-pronged聽grabber tool to help people with limited hand and grip strength pick up items like keys, papers, and writing utensils.
- Mikayla Ford, a communication design major, is working with her team to create a board game to encourage young girls to pursue STEM careers.
- Nicholas Muller, a computerengineering major,聽is聽exploring聽the creation of an electronics hub that will control lights and other devices. He will rely on surface-mount soldering with PCB boards.
- Trinity Swepson, an international business major,聽is聽exploring聽the creation of custom gifts using聽the laser engraver. She envisions making these gifts for real estate agents to give to their clients upon closing a deal.
Learn more about these projects by viewing their Kickbox Story – a webpage that combines videos, photos, and text that documents each student’s process. Kickbox Stories will launch on April 28 to kick off Maker Takeover week –聽a week of workshops and student-created projects.