Library faculty join students at JUMP for Invent Idaho event

Students from the Creative Technologies Association (CTA), Space Broncos, and the Boise State Microgravity Team were invited to be a part of Invent Idaho's SW Regional Competition event on Saturday, January 30th at Jack's Urban Meeting Place (JUMP). Creative Technologies Association faculty advisors, professors Deana Brown and Amy Vecchione from Albertsons Library, joined the group of Boise State students in engaging with over 1,000 inventors of all ages.

Professors Amy Vecchione and Deana Brown - CTA faculty advisors,
Scott Schmader - CTA President,  Ann Delaney - CTA member

Students showcased their skills by organizing and designing a variety of interactive emerging technology stations. Two of the stations utilized Makey Makeys, a technology available for check-out from the library that allows you to easily turn any conductive item into a button. Bananas, foil tape, and playdough were turned into piano keys run by the visual programming language, Scratch. The Makey Makeys were also used to run giant game controllers that students designed and made in Albertsons Library’s MakerLab. Other interactive stations sparked conversations about virtual reality, serious games, microcontrollers, 3D printing, music, circuits, outer space, engineering, and so much more! It was a great opportunity for Boise State students and faculty to show young inventors the opportunities they will have to invent and explore in college.

Attendee playing on the game controllers