GE Garages provides  a semi-permanent location that allows students, citizens, and community members to be educated, innovate, and create while gaining an understanding of current manufacturing processes. Visitors will learn about the invention and manufacturing process through guided work with industry experts, training on the high-tech prototyping equipment and guest speakers to provide inspiration for developing pride for manufacturing. GE Garages will also hold daily classes on Bringing your Product Idea to Life, Wireless Networked Projects, Computer Aided Design, and Arduinos. The partners in this project are some of the leaders in the new wave of personal manufacturing: Techshop, Inventables, Skillshare, Quirky, Make, Makerbot.

Speaking as an instructor of engineering design and prototyping, breaking down the barriers between the idea as a concept and the idea as a product is often the limiting factor for a successful student engineering project. With little to no room in the curricula to teach manufacturing skills we as instructors are constantly conceiving of ways to give our students hands-on prototyping experience out-of-class. We should be seeking opportunities for students (and the public) to learn prototyping and the design process outside-of-the-university. The GE Garages project is a perfect setting for this and a milestone in our culture’s renewed interest in the tactile interaction with objects and a romance with craftsmanship.

This opportunity is perfect for k-12 STEM groups, Boy/Girl Scouts, or crafty people. It’s also free and open to the public. GE Garages will be open from 12-6pm every day from April 23rd through May 3rd.

For more information, including directions, check the GE Garages page.

I didn’t realize how tired I was until I took a recent trip to Chicago for my sister’s wedding and finally got some space to think and talk it out. To talk about where I’d been and what I’d done over the course of the year with those not seen in a couple years as well as relatives. And as I talked about Caroline and science and arts and music I remembered something. When I set out to accomplish some of the goals that have been completed this year, I didn’t fully believe in the potential to finish them. But along the way with much support and coaching from the community surrounding me, in retrospect, there’s no question that I could accomplish them. Thank you to all who have supported me in the past and continue to believe in me, you are a driving force. And so I was finally able to catch my breath.

This site has been set up to talk about things that are resident in my head or have been kicking around lately. Some of the issues I wish to discuss have been learned through building community and running Caroline Collective over the past four months, and some of them call upon years of experience in one sphere or another.  Topically, I’ve separated the site into three parts: Academic, Music/Arts, and Portfolio. The portfolio will be a continued display of the design projects completed by myself or with my design partner Ned Dodington. In the Academic portion I’ll be presenting studies from my own and other compelling research, contextualized for general consumption, distilling the obtuse jargon that scientists are known to use. Special focus will be given to rapid prototyping as it transforms the manufacturing industry and our lives. Finally, in the Music/Arts/Culture section I’ll discuss local and national music communities, community building for arts and music, and provide a commentary to my voracious media consumption.

Like anything else, this is a work in progress (obviously there are still some formatting issues being worked out), any and all comments, suggestions, you’re wrongs, you’re rights, you suck, I agrees are welcome and encouraged. Thanks.