IT Services for Lansing Businesses

Public Art Installation at Marketplace on the Green

Proposal Response

Kinetic Sculpture Name: Launchpad –Launching Rocket Scientists

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 commit to keeping the cost within the budget of $10,000. True to our mission of building low-cost science centers, we will try to utilize materials and processes to reduce the total cost.

Kinetic Sculpture (Launchpad)

The sculpture we propose is Launchpad. In this sculpture, a scale model of modern rocket will pass through a seemingly impossible curved slot. Popular terms are Hyperbolic Hole and Straight Rod through a Curved Slot.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

But videos are even better. Please see the links below for examples.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1nT8uw6fBY
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxn39B0DbF4
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeMnhMiy59Y

Our design replaces the straight rod with a rocket. Examples are Falcon 9 from SpaceX and Terran R from Relativity Space.

Falcon 9

Terran R

Background sheet with the curved hole will be in round shape and painted or printed with the image of the Sun on one side and the Moon on the other side. It will be at least six feet in diameter.

Entire sculpture will be raised to 4 to 6 feet above the ground for better visibility from the road. It is possible to operate this automatically using a small windmill attached. It can also be operated manually or with electricity from the grid or from a solar panel.

One of the variations is to keep the rocket stationary and rotate the background sheet (Sun and the moon).

Additional variations in the design can be incorporated with guidance from Ivan Iles Studios.

This sculpture will easily fit within the area designated by the township. There will be several more displays created by STEM For All students surrounding this main sculpture. These will have 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)

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 the science and math behind this sculpture. Students will learn to design their own shapes of the rod and slot. 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. 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 sculpture for one full academic year. School logo/mascot can be painted on the background sheet for that year. 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 billable at minimum wage.

Payments to STEM For All’s student interns is billable at cost.

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 we believe this project can be completed reasonably within the budget of $10,000. We commit ourselves to staying within the budget. 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. If we have 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.

Letters of Support

Attached

Testimonials