FrIDeATe + Laptop Orchestra + Pushing Air + Job, Research, Internship Opportunities

FrIDeATe!

The final FrIDeATe of the year is coming up! Do you like eating? Do you like wearing shirts? Do you like being in the same room as other students? Then come to FrIDeATe next Friday, May 3rd at 4:30 p.m. in the IDeATe Fabrication Lab (HL A5). We'll be giving out the last batch of this year's t-shirt, designed by ARC/IDeATe student Ghalya Alsanea, so if you haven't gotten yours yet, be sure to stop in and grab one! Event info also available at facebook.com/CMUIDeATe.

Laptop Orchestra Performance

On Sunday, April 28th at 3 p.m. Prof Roger Dannenberg's class, 15-323 Computer Music Systems and Information Processing, is presenting a concert in the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, CFA 111. The concert will include projected computer animation adapted from student work in 15-104 Principles of Computing for Creative Practice, and features Guest (semi)Conductor Brian Riordan, award-winning composer and Ph.D. candidate, University of Pittsburgh. This event is free and open to the public.

Pushing Air

Saturday, May 4th at 8 p.m., the students of the IDeATe classes Inflatables and Soft Sculpture, Kinetic Fabrics, and Exploded Ensemble will present Pushing Air, an evening of music, soft-sculpture, and textile robotics. In Kresge Hall, the musicians of Exploded Ensemble will be joined onstage by robotic performative sculptures designed by the students of Kinetic Fabrics to explore concepts of oscillation, polyrhythm, and complex pattern-making., Later, in Alumni Concert Hall, the musicians of Exploded Ensemble will be surrounded by architectural scale artworks designed by the students of Inflatables and Soft Sculpture to create an immersive space for the audience to explore and interact with. This event is free and open to the public.

Prototype PGH Fundraiser

Prototype PGH, the local feminist makerspace co-founded School of Design grad student and IDeATe instructor Louise Larson, is hosting a 21+ fundraiser on Sunday, April 28th from 12 PM to 3 PM at The Frame Gallery on CMU's campus. For just a $15 donation, enjoy an afternoon of food, drinks, art and readings from the Prototype community. You can purchase tickets or find more information about the event at this link. Hope to see you there!

IDeATe Showcase at Meeting of the Minds

Mark your calendars! IDeATe will have a showcase space at Meeting of the Minds on Wednesday, May 8th! Students from classes like Game Design, Prototyping, and Production, 360 Story and Sound, Responsive Mobile Environments, Inflatables and Soft Sculpture and many more will be displaying the work that they've produced over the spring semester. Come check us out in the Studio Theatre in the Cohon University Center, 12:00-2:00 p.m.

Level Designer Wanted at PlayQ

PlayQ, a rapidly growing mobile game studio in Santa Monica, is looking for an outstanding Level Designer (contract) to create compelling match-3 puzzle content for our world-class hit mobile game "Charm King". This position will work remotely, using a proprietary suite of tools to craft and test game levels that are fun, challenging, and appealing to a broad range of players. For more information and to apply, visit boards.greenhouse.io/playq.

Internships at Black Tech Nation

Black Tech Nation (BTN) is the first and only social good organization dedicated to growing a black tech ecosystem within Pittsburgh’s rapidly growing tech economy. BTN is currently hiring interns for the following areas: WordPress Web Dev, Data Analyst, Digital Design, Event Planner, Videographer. If you are interested in any of these positions, please email contact@blacktechnation.com.

Fall Research Opportunity: Design Based Learning Research, IoT Smart Documentation, Maker Learning

Multiple positions are open for undergraduate research assistants on an NSF-funded project Smart Spaces for Making: Networked Physical Tools to Support Process Documentation and Learning. This NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) fellowship is for a part time position (up to 20 hours/week). Candidates are sought for two roles: Design Research (skills: observation + ethnography, co-design, interview, sketching, data collection and management, qualitative research analysis) and Technical Prototype Development (skills: hardware prototyping, fabrication, server-side programming).

Project Details: The Learning Media Design Center is looking for undergraduate research assistants to help design and develop smart documentation tools to support learning practices in creative, maker-based studio environments. They will work with an interdisciplinary team of design researchers, technology developers and learning scientists from CMU’s HCII, School of Architecture and Integrated Innovation Institute (III), the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) and the Children’s Museum. Students will participate in design research and technology development activities working with project site partners including Quaker Valley High School, CMU’s IDeATe program, and AlphaLab Gear’s Startable youth program at the Community College of Allegheny County.

Students should have a genuine interest in inclusive education and the design of learning technologies.

The prospective candidate will work with project team members to:

• Design Research: synthesize generative design research, facilitate visioning activities, and develop concepts and iterative prototypes. We are seeking strong skills in communication and interaction design, a background developing excellent user experiences, and a ready set of innovative design inquiry methods—including participatory and usability testing techniques—to understand the problem space and collaboratively refine solutions with the project team and users.
• Technical Prototyping: prepare working prototypes of smart systems for deployment to real-world educational spaces. We are seeking strong skills in hardware and software development towards an integrated platform for context-aware documentation tools. Ideal candidates should have also exposure to human-centered design methods and experience in collaboratively developing, testing and refining solutions within an interdisciplinary team.

The Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) faculty mentor and Principal Investigator, Marti Louw, Director of the Learning Media Design Center, will serve as project lead and advisor with co-principal investigator, Daragh Byrne, School of Architecture.

To apply: Upload your Resume and a link to your portfolio to the following Box Folder: http://bit.ly/2zKGsZk. Note: Undergraduate students supported with NSF funds must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or its possession.

Allen Chi Gaming Scholarship

The 2019 Allen Chi Gaming Scholarship will award 25 scholarships in amounts ranging from $1000 to $5000 to students studying toward a career in gaming. Information and the online application is available at allenchi.org. Deadline to apply is April 30th, 2019.