IT Services for Lansing Businesses

Public Art Installation at Marketplace on the Green

Proposal Response

What is your organization’s mission statement and impact in the community?

• To popularize Science, Technology, Engineering, Math through Arts, Sports, and Cultural activities;
• To build low-cost Science Centers, built mostly by school students;
• To make science centers as popular as public libraries.

More details at www.STEM4ALL.net

Does your organization have federal tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code? Yes!

Origin of STEM For All

Uma Umakanth, the founder of STEM For All, was destined to be a scientist. This was obvious to him, his family, teachers, professors, and everyone around him. But life’s unexpected turns forced him to start a business Symbiosis International. With no background and inclination in business, it was with help from his mentor Chris Holman, Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, and his clients that he lifted the company to be one of 50 Companies to Watch in Michigan. This award resulted in CEO training at Edward Lowe Foundation. During a discussion among his peers on who would first transform their company from second stage to third stage, (above 50 million dollars in revenue), Uma decided that his goal would be to touch 50 million people in a positive way. After several years of trying many ideas, Uma founded STEM For All in 2016 and has put his heart and soul into inspiring young students and letting those students inspire their families and friends.

Our Commitment

Primary commitment STEM For All makes for this Public Art Installation project is the heart and soul of Uma Umakanth. For the art part of this project, STEM For All will partner with Ivan Iler Studios.

(https://www.ivanilerstudios.com/ )

Ivan has agreed to coach students with artistic components that can be incorporated in the kinetic sculpture we are proposing. We will also hire professionals for the construction, fabrication, and installation. STEM For All students consisting of local school students will do the design and will be safely away from construction and installation. Financially, STEM For All will absorb reasonable cost overrun, up to $2,000 beyond the budget of $10,000.

Kinetic Sculpture (Meridian Making Waves)

The sculpture we propose is Meridian Making Waves popularly known as the Wave Pendulum. There are many variations in design but the physics behind this is very simple. STEM For All students in elementary school have discovered the principle behind this on their own. (Letting the students learn on their own is a primary focus of STEM For All.)  Wave pendulum consists of several bobs (pendulum weights) hung by strings of differing lengths. Shorter pendulum swings more frequently than a longer pendulum. When pendulums are arranged in gradually increasing lengths, they seem to swing in waves. We can calculate specific lengths to produce mesmerizing patterns. We will coach students to calculate these lengths.

One of the simplest versions is like swing sets in play yards – two A-frames supporting a horizontal beam. Instead of the swings we will have pendulums. In the version below, the bobs are aligned in an incline.

Another version has the top beam inclined so that the bobs are aligned horizontally.

Our proposal is to have one A-frame on one side of the water retention area (hereafter called pond) and the other A-frame on the opposite side of the pond. This arrangement occupies very little people-space (usable space) and leaves the designated area for other exhibits/sculptures. We propose using the designated area for displaying information about the kinetic sculpture, its history, names of students who designed it (if parents permit), and QRiosity codes (also known as QR codes) that lead to Meridian Township website where we can have a lot more information including videos of students explaining various aspects of the kinetic sculpture.

(See Asteroid Mission as an example: https://www.gosymbiosis.com/asteroid-missions  )

Visitors (children and their families) will be able to activate the waves mechanically from a safe distance. It is possible to electrically activate the waves, on demand or automatically every few minutes, but this feature may be constrained by budget.

Bobs can be balls or disks. Disks will be less expensive and easy to paint with ordinary paint and/or glow-in-the-dark paint. A-frames and the beam can also be painted colorfully. Ivan Iler Studios will give us the artistic guidelines.

Bobs will be several feet above the ground, away from easy reach and visible to road traffic.

Even though bobs made of heavy disks will withstand extreme winds, we will have a mechanism to arrest the bobs during extreme weather. Bobs can be easily replaced by STEM For All or township staff. Two stainless steel cables will be used to hang each bob. This is to make the bobs swing in a single plane and to avoid the pendulums from entangling with neighboring ones.

Community Ownership

While STEM For All is the primary bidder, this project will be mostly done by school students of our community. STEM For All will coach batches of students each week on one weekday evening during summer break at Marketplace on the Green and at other parks. STEM For All will help students to learn on their own about what Galileo discovered about the pendulum. Students will learn the principles and calculate the length of each pendulum to obtain the desired wave (snaking) motion. Each batch will make a prototype. We hope there will be at least four batches of students and their parents, producing prototypes of same or different designs. Ivan Iler Studios will also coach students on the artistic components that can be incorporated in the bobs and supporting structure. We propose that a certificate be provided to students when the sculpture is inaugurated. This will give a sense of community ownership. In addition to our marketing, we request your help in spreading the word about the community participation.

Incentivizing STEAM Pursuit

Township can announce that the local school that achieves the best in STEM/STEAM areas (Robotics, Science Olympiad, Math Olympiad, Destination Imagination, etc.) will have the right to design/decorate the bobs for one full academic year. School logo/mascot can be painted on one or more bobs for that year. In fact, the entire set of bobs can be replaced with newly designed bobs every year by the winning school. STEM For All will be happy to fund the replacement costs. We can have a winner board in a prominent place.

Budget

Uma Umakanth’s time and effort is pro bono.

Coaching for STEM For All students is included in STEM For All membership and it implies that there is no cost to the township.

At cost for coaching by partners such as Ivan Iler Studios.

At cost for external entities (construction company/architects/fabricators/etc), materials, and travel expenses.

We have not obtained any firm cost estimates from fabricators/construction companies, but our engineering friends have warned that the material cost itself will be significantly close to or even above the budget. Steel and wood prices have gone up.  We commit ourselves to staying within the budget and to absorb any reasonable budget overrun, up to $2,000 beyond the budget of $10,000. Right sizing the project to arrive at reasonable features and corresponding budget will involve brainstorming with Meridian Township experts which Uma Umakanth will be happy to do. After all, it is our vision to spread STEM education and make it accessible and affordable to people of all socio-economic backgrounds. In the unlikely scenario of having left over amount, we will be happy to add more kinetic sculptures, as approved by Meridian Township. (Galileo’s Feather, Interactive Statistics Sculpture, Neutron Star Merger, and Levitation are examples of other exhibits.)

Timeline

• First two weeks: Preparatory tasks.
• Next four weeks: Coaching students; Design and construction plan.
• Last four weeks: Construction; Inauguration. (Current labor shortage may affect timeline for construction)

Letters of Support

Attached

Testimonials