Nanolumina
This Meeting’s Highlights
Program: Nanolumina Speaker: Ashish Basuray & Roman Kazantsev, Founders of Nanolumina Meeting for the week of February 13, 2017 to February 19, 2017
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time.Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you; read it while on public transit, waiting in line for coffee, or even at the park! Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
Message from President Mitty
New Officers for 2017-2018!
Are you a new visitor? Then I want to welcome you to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley's online meeting! Every week we curate inspiring and educational content in an online format like the one you're seeing here. As you continue reading, watching, and scrolling, our hope is that you'll leave feeling a little bit more inspired. As an online Rotary club, we have these asynchronous meetings online, but we also meet in-person in the Silicon Valley / San Francisco bay area for service projects and for social events. Keep reading on, and feel free to also join us for one of our in-person events if you can make it!Congratulations are in order to our newly elected President-nominee, Treasurer-elect, and Secretary-elect! All three of our new officers will be serving their terms in office beginning when the new Rotary year starts on July 1, 2017. Over the next few months, our current leadership team will begin training and be working with our newly elected officers to help make the transition as easy as possible once July starts. Those of you who are astute will probably ask "Wait, what about that open Director seat?" And then answer is that that race is still undecided due to a tie. Members, a revote will be occurring this week for that open Director seat! We also have an elected Director-elect now!I won't name the names of our newly elected leaders here, but they are listed later in the meeting under the Members Only Update segment. But before you continue looking for the names, I want to earnestly thank each and every member who stepped up to run for a position. Any democratic system requires participation -- all members to vote, but also some members to step up. Our club is no different. Yet simply agreeing to run for a position by being on an election ballot is a daunting task with itself, and something very few people are willing to do. Not only do you have to agree to be willing to take on the duties of the office should you be elected, you also have to agree to put yourself out there and be vulnerable.It's amazing when we can hold elections where there are so many qualified candidates running for different positions. When I saw the election ballot last week, I knew that no matter who was elected for which position, we would have a qualified leader in all of the positions. President-elect Stephen's team for his year is shaping up to look like an amazing group. Thank you to everyone who participates in our club, and even to our guests and prospective members out there for reading and for viewing our meetings.You are all awesome, thank you for visiting and enjoy the rest of the meeting!
Yours in service,
Mitty Chang,
President
Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
president@siliconvalleyrotary.com
Weekly Inspiration: The Man Who Painted the Universe
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change. This week we are featuring a video from Great Big Story on how a man built his own planetarium!
Frank Kovac always loved the stars. Not satisfied with simply watching the night sky, he built the world's largest mechanically-operated planetarium in his backyard. While most planetariums use projectors, Kovac painstakingly painted thousands of stars on the roof of the rotating building. This is a testament to one man's dedication and desire to get closer to the stars.
What have you dreamt of building (or making)? Share it with us in the comments! Or tell us about something you have built before that you are proud of!
Laughing Out Loud (L.O.L.) with our Lady of LOLs
We believe that laughing a little every day keeps you healthier. Every week we try to share with you something that will make you smile! This section is curated by Rotarian Yvonne Kwan, our club’s “Lady of LOLs.”
From Yvonne: "
Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! A few jokes to remind you to spread love this week and every week."
Do skunks celebrate Valentine's Day?
Sure, they're very scent-imental!
What did one pickle say to the other?
You mean a great dill to me.
Did you hear about the nearsighted porcupine?
He fell in love with a pincushion!
World of Rotary: Getting Creative with Science in Rural Taiwan
Rotary is a 1.2 million member organization, with clubs in over 170 different countries. In the Silicon Valley alone, there are over 50 Rotary clubs. Our club is one of many Rotary clubs out there, and this segment is dedicated to sharing stories about what's going on in the world of Rotary.
Getting Creative with Science in Rural Taiwan
Written by Pauline Leung, a member of the Rotary Club of Taipei Pei An, Taiwan, and past governor of District 3520. Originally published on the Rotary Blog.
"On a rainy day in Spring four years ago, I was talking to a few young teachers about the education system in Taiwan. The country was on the verge of extending free education to children through the age of 12, which I thought was a good policy to reduce illiteracy.
However, the teachers had concerns about the impact of the policy on schools in remote areas of Taiwan that have less resources and thereby have a harder time staying competitive. They explained to me that the children in these schools don’t get the extra curriculum trainings necessary to have opportunities to attend college or university.
In January 2014, a report titled “Child Welfare League Foundation” noted a considerable gap between urban and rural areas. The lack of resources in remote areas led to poorer performance by children, many of who were aborigines. Since these children could never catch up, roughly a quarter of them consider dropping out of elementary school. Improving basic education seemed to be extremely crucial in helping eliminate poverty in these areas.
We started to discuss what we as Rotarians could do to help. Our team of professional educators decided we should improve their understanding of basic science, their weakest area, and make it more interesting for them. It was important to do this during their elementary school years, so that they could continue on to senior school and pursue university studies.
In our research, we learned that the National Science Council of Taiwan was cooperating with the Zhong Hwa Institute of Creative Education, to use creative tools for science training which not only increased the learner’s creativity, but also made science lessons more interesting and practical. This was exactly what we needed.
To make our project sustainable, we will provide teachers specialized in this creative science approach not only to teach fourth through sixth graders, but also train the local teachers in order that they can carry on the training for future classes.
The Rotary Club of Taipei Pei An applied for a global grant in 2013. A few other Rotary clubs also joined as well as a district in Korea.
The big smiles on the children’s faces the first time we watched them get excited about learning and use their own hands to explore basic theories of science like simple machines, levers, wheels, axles, gears, pulleys, and energy confirmed that we were doing the right thing. We told ourselves this was just the beginning.
In three years, we used Rotary Foundation funds to reach 20 schools. This year, we are entering into our fourth year and reaching more schools. Thanks to District 3600 and 3700 who used their DDF to become our international partner these past three years, we have been able to carry on a great service program, and believe we will be able to help more remote schools and children into the future.
We are convinced that our contributions to The Rotary Foundation are certainly doing good in the world and serving future generation."
Learn how Rotary is supporting education
For Members: Updates
This segment of the meeting is dedicated to our club members. This section includes announcements and new initiatives. Guests, you are welcome to read this section or just skip it.
Elections Update
Members, it is my distinct pleasure to announce the winners of the positions of President, Treasurer, and Secretary for the 2017-2018 Rotary Year (starting July 1).
It was a very competitive and close race for both President-nominee and Treasurer positions! Below are the winners:
President-nominee: Andrew Taw
Treasurer: Heather Shaw
Secretary: Raquel D'Garay-Juncal
Director: Kenneth Oku
Many of you are probably wondering about the Director position! We had a very competitive and intense race between three candidates for the open Director position. Two of those candidates, Brian Liddicoat and Kenneth Oku, ended up with the same amount of votes. Therefore, we'll be doing a revote this week for just the position of Director between Brian Liddicoat and Kenneth Oku! Keep an eye out on your emails! Update on Monday 2/13/2017: Member Brian Liddicoat has conceded the special election to Ken. Member Kenneth Oku is now officially our new Director-elect! He will begin serving his three-year term as a director on our club's board of directors starting the new Rotary year on July 1, 2017.
Congratulations to Andrew, Heather, Raquel, and Kenneth!!
Thank you to all of the candidates for stepping up and running for a position!
Challenge Coins for Donations to The Rotary Foundation
From our Club Foundation Chair Andrew Taw: "To celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Rotary Foundation, District 5170 is currently offering beautiful challenge coins for donations to TRF during the 2016-2017 Rotary Year (which is from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017)! These coins have the 100th anniversary logo on one side and the 4-Way Test on the other."
Members who donate the following amounts will receive the following coins:
$1000 - Gold$500 - Silver$200 - Bronze
Donated enough to The Rotary Foundation since July 1, 2016 to qualify for a challenge coin already? Go ahead and request your Challenge Coin via the online form here then!Haven't donated enough to qualify for a coin yet? Then consider making those donations over the next few weeks!
February's Photo Theme
If you didn't see Kristi's message last week, here is the photo theme for February:
"To honor our current Rotary theme of “Rotary Serving Humanity” our February theme will
be:
HUMANITY.
The goal of this entire photo project is a way for all of us to get to see snapshots (literally!) of our respective corners of the world. A visual glimpse into each other’s lives, if you will. It isn’t a contest and is completely optional. In fact, if you want to submit a photo every week of the month showing us a picture you’ve taken of HUMANITY we’ll take that too! We’re still working out a few details about how we’re going to compile and share them, but will keep everyone updated as we move forward. Additionally, if you still want to take and submit a photo for January (theme: NEW), don’t hesitate to sneak that into this week’s comments too."
Members, didn't see your service report in the blotter? Then fill out the service survey!
Members, want to get your service update into the next service blotter? Please share what you’ve been up to, as it allows us to get to know each other better in the process! Just click on the link below to let us know!
For Members Only: Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
Our Events & Projects
We hold our meetings online, but we hold regular service projects and social events in the Silicon Valley every month! This section is updated every week with our upcoming events. We welcome guests to all of our events and service projects listed here.
Also be sure to join our Meetup Group for automatic calendar updates and to RSVP for our events! These are open to all guests as well!
https://www.meetup.com/siliconvalleyrotary/
Upcoming Events:
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)February to April events coming soon! Here are some of the major May and June events to look forward to!
Charity Chili Cook Off for Justin's House - Sunday, April 23, 2017
For the past two years, our club has been volunteering at Justin's House. The mission of Justin’s House is to provide a variety of services that inspire youth to live beyond abuse and addiction. Our club is looking for members and guests who are interested in volunteering this year on Sunday, April 23, 2017 for their annual Chili Cookoff in Santa Clara, California. Interested members or guests, please contact our event chair, Rushton Hurley at rushton@gmail.com - thank you!
Our club's event chair: Rushton Hurley
Rotary District 5170 Conference - May 5-7, 2017 in Santa Cruz, California
Join hundreds of Rotarians from throughout our Rotary district for our annual Rotary District Conference! This year's conference will take place in Santa Cruz, California at the Boardwalk! This family-friendly event will be open to all guests and family members to attend. We hope to see more of our eClub members join us this year!
Our club's event chair: Yvonne Kwan
Rotary International Convention - June 10-14, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Join over 35,000 Rotarians from around the world at the annual Rotary convention! This year's convention will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and features the centennial celebration of The Rotary Foundation! The Rotary International Convention is the largest regular gathering of Rotarians, and is also one of the best networking opportunities anyone can ever experience. Our Rotary eClub will have member events and experiences in Atlanta! Come join us in Atlanta!
Our club's event chair: Mitty Chang
Happy Dollars: Support Our Club
Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.
Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it's appropriate!)
Last week's happy dollars went towards sponsoring our second Interactor, Chris, to attend the annual Interact President's Winter Retreat! Here are messages from last week's happy dollars:
Thank you to member Rory Olsen for his $15 donation, to be donated to The Rotary Foundation's PolioPlus Fund! Rory had this to say:"Please apply my donation to Polio Plus. I live in Houston, so we are all in a good mood, having hosted the greatest Super Bowl ever."
Thank you to member Brian Liddicoat for his generous $15 donation! Brian had this to say:"Loving all this rain we're getting: as long as the power stays on..."
Thank you to member Monique Ziesenhenne for her generous $15 donation to The Rotary Foundation's Annual Fund! Monique had this to say:"Hi - Annual Fund, please!"
Thank you all for your donations last week! The money, unless otherwise specified, from the donations last week went towards our club operations!
This week's donations will go towards supporting club operations such as our Min-E Service Grants.
Happy dollars is also a great opportunity to share with the group about something good that has happened to you.
So what are you happy about? Share with us below, and help support one of our future leaders!
Selected Six
Every week at the bottom of our meetings, there is a comments section for members and guests to tell us what they enjoyed about the meeting or to ask questions to the speaker. We select six comments every week from last week’s meeting to be featured during this week’s meeting.
Here are six comments selected from last week's meeting about Sproutel - Inventing the Future of Kids's Health:
Member Roger Plested (B.C., Canada) had this to say:"Thank you for the warm welcome to the club. Yvonne - your jokes always make me smile. Arron, thank you for your interesting presentation and your website. May I make a suggestion: there should be some emphasis on the prevention of complications from Type 1 diabetes - exercise, sunshine and proper selection of foods to eat. I did notice that the most recent Jerry the Bear is not so stuffed."
Member Brett Sham (Sydney, Australia) had this to say:"Roger, welcome to the club! Jerry reminds me of the Teddy Ruxpin bear I had when I was a kid, which was one of my favourite toys, but way more awesome! What an amazing 'toy' and seeing the photos of the kids enjoying life and interacting with theirs was great. Seems so great that children having to manage these complex medical conditions can do so whilst having a bit of fun and have a 'friend' through the process with them."
Member Mark Dohn (USA) had this to say:"Roger, welcome to the Club! Hey Richard Knaggs, thank you! Aaron. Wow. What an amazing program you have started. I work in learning and technology with schools, and you exemplify what many of us see as the future of learning. Can't wait to share what I've just seen."
Member John Lozano (California, USA) had this to say:"Wow! Aaron, thank you for sharing your story and sharing Jerry the Bear with us. As a teacher, I see students with childhood diabetes at my school and hear their stories about the difficulties of managing their blood sugar. You have provided a great solution to start a conversation or using simple "play" to engage kids and talk about diabetes. Thanks Yvonne for bringing us the speaker."
Member Monique Ziesenhenne (California, USA) had this to say:"Roger, welcome to the club! Nice to meet you. Like you, I've been in Rotary for many years and find this format to be very satisfying. Great to have you here. Aaron - really interesting. As a Type 1 diabetic and the mother of a Type 1 diabetic, I'm always interested in ways that people are making advances in managing and eradicating this health condition. Jerry the Bear sounds like something that would have been great with my son! Do you foresee any VR applications with Jerry? And, have you studied the outcomes of blood sugar control on children with Jerry vs. children without? (Though I hate to think that any Type 1 child wouldn't have a Jerry!"
Member Keith Marsh (California, USA) had this to say:"My Humanity photo #2 is attached. It was taken in Cuba last April on a Rotary service project. Aaron, thank you for the program. Roger, welcome to the club. It sounds like we have a lot in common (30 yrs of Rotary, photography, food, and being old)." (Keith's photo is to the right here. Click on it to view the full photo.)
Be sure to leave a comment at the end of this week’s meeting after you watch the program below, and perhaps you’ll see your comment featured next week!Tip: If you participate in the monthly photo contest via the comments, you're much more likely to be featured in the next week's meeting! Guests can participate too! Read our Members segment of our meeting to learn more about the theme for this month.
Program: Nanolumina
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, education, technology, and humanitarian service. This week our guest speakers are Ashish Basuray and Roman Kazantsev, the Founders of Nanolumina.
Ashish Basuray currently serves as Chief Scientist and Co-founder of PreScouter, a Scientific Innovation consultancy he co-developed in 2010 while he was working on his PhD. Previously, Ashish worked as a management consultant at BearingPoint Inc., as well as having served in Nepal with the US Peace Corps. Ashish earned his Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University. He completed his PhD in Organic Chemistry at Northwestern University, focusing his research on designing molecular electronics, molecular memory and organic solar materials. In addition, Ashish applies his research to entrepreneurial and philanthropic engagements, including his project to bring fresh water to developing nations, that won Grand Prize in Dow's Sustainability Innovation Challenge in 2012. In 2014, he founded Nanolumina, an educational startup with a vision of creating a personalized learning experience for STEM education for K-12 students.Roman Kazantsev is a scientist and entrepreneur that has dedicated himself to improving his community through research and outreach. Roman received his B.S. in chemistry from UC Davis in 2009 and his Ph.D. in chemistry in 2015 from Northwestern University. He is currently a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Lawrence Berkeley National Lab working on materials for the conversion of carbon dioxide to transportation fuels. During his post-doctoral fellowship, Roman became a co-founder Nanolumina, an educational technology start-up company aimed at creating immersive STEM education experiences for K-12 students. The company enables him to pursue his passions of science education and graphic design.
Members and guests, please join me in welcoming Ashish and Roman!
Special thanks to member Stephen Zhou for introducing Ashish and Roman to our club!
Want to Connect with Ashish and Roman?
We have asked Ashish and Roman to periodically check back on this meeting page during the week of this program, February 13, 2017 through February 19, 2017, and respond to comments as necessary. Feel free to leave a comment and direct it to Ashish or Roman at the bottom of this page. You can also reach them at info@nanolumina.comTheir project website is nanolumina.com
Upcoming Program Schedule
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 to 45 minutes long and are subject to change without notice. (Sometimes speakers cancel on us!)
Upcoming Recordings:
Wednesday, February 22, 2017 at 8 PM Pacific Time - Recording with Jeff Heil, educational speaker
Want to be one of our upcoming program speakers? Email president@siliconvalleyrotary.com with information about what you would like to speak about!
If you would like to join us for any of the live recordings, please email president@siliconvalleyrotary.com with your request. Requests will be checked up until 5 minutes prior to the recording time. Please note the timezone is all California, USA time.
You’re Almost Done! One last thing: The Attendance Survey...
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done. First, we have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeups.Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.More importantly, for all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment below in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!
