We're going up at Valley Settlement House In West Orange, New Jersey!

The first Geeks FSO Campus is "officially" in the works. We're setting up at Valley Settlement House (VSH) in West Orange, New Jersey, where members of the core team have been involved with VSH's successful summer science program for several years. Hilding "Gus" Lindquist was the "founding" coordinator and passed the baton to Luis Grados who has filled the coordinator's role since 2011.

Jackie Fox, VSH's Executive Director, has given the green light to the Geeks' "proof of concept" testbed project. Dr. Barnet Schmidt, PhD  SM IEEE, managing partner in Kaplan/Schmidt Associates, LLC, West Orange, NJ, consulting communications engineers, is the project engineer and will do a site survey in the next few days.  He prepared the presentation for the proof of concept testbed for the Springfield Avenue Business District in Maplewood. (See http://geeksfso.blogspot.com/2013/12/introducing-geeks-fso-proof-of-concept.html) It will essentially remain the same except for a couple of pluses. VSH already has a computer lab and the buildings are all together in one area, so the logistics required will be that much more manageable for a testbed.

Here's the concept and team members behind the project:

The core team is dedicated to developing another significant program for educational outreach to target populations who are defined by (1.)being underrepresented in the STEM fields; and (2.)disadvantaged relative to customary access to modern educational resources. This program is significant because it fits President Barack Obama’s recently announced $200 million initiative, “My Brother’s Keeper,” that targets disadvantaged black and Latino young men[i].

We propose developing a “Geeks FSO Campus” (Free Space Optics) as a self-sustaining entrepreneurial incubator at Valley Settlement House[ii] (VSH) in West Orange, NJ, to provide the education, training, and mentoring for youth from the target populations in creating apps (applications) for smart phones, tablets, and other mobile computing devices plus content for the internet. The FSO component is to give the participants access to a high speed, high bandwidth development system without the high cost of fiber optics. In addition, the surrounding neighborhood is part of the Valley Arts District[iii] into which we could in all likelihood extend our FSO-based Campus Area Network

If you are at all familiar with the rapidly expanding market for apps for smart phones and tablets and the revenue generated by that market, you will need no explanation of our claim to becoming financially self-sustaining over the course of a three year startup program as well as become a replicable model for communities with similar demographics that includes the target populations .  Part of the proposal is to partner with a “for profit” business to market the apps and content and provide funding for the program.

We have assembled a superior team of key participants for creating the Proof of Concept testbed at VSH using a FSO communications link and are now taking the initial step of preparing a proposal to seek funding. We have the commitment of the team members and are going ahead with the project at VSH recognizing that the funding requirements are minimal to develop the proof of concept test bed there. We anticipate that the “return on investment” will be significant both in financial returns through the entrepreneurial component and the broader recognition relative to conforming to President Obama’s  “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative.

The team includes:

Site Management
Marcina “Jackie” Fox

Executive Director

Valley Settlement House

West Orange, NJ

Please note: Jackie has been involved with worked with core team members in the educational outreach program at VHS since 2007. She is an experienced program manager/administrator and is committed to the project. VSH has the facilities and computer lab to jump start the program on Saturdays and evenings at minimum cost.

Education and training (including intern mentoring program)
Nadia Lvov
Assistant Professor/ECC LSAMP Project Director
Division of Mathematics and Physics
Essex County College
Newark, NJ
Please note: Nadia has been a the lead person from Essex County College in the Essex Stevens Model program since 2007. It has expanded under her leadership to several other area universities with research labs and provides a base for recruiting interns for mentoring the program participants.

Luis Grados

BS, Computer  Science, NJIT

Please note: Luis started in the Essex County College research experience program with Stevens in 2009 when he also began assisting Hilding Lindquist with the Summer Science Program at VHS , becoming the coordinator for the program in 2011. He is young Latino who connects well with the target populations and is expected to take a leadership role in developing the entrepreneurial aspects of the program that will make it self-sustaining.

Technical oversight:

Dr. Barnet Schmidt, PhD, SM IEEE
Managing Partner
Kaplan/Schmidt Associates, LLC
Consulting Communication Engineers
West Orange, NJ,
Please note: Barnet doctorate defense was on FSO at PEP (Stevens) on November 19, 2013. He is an experienced communication engineer and prepared the presentation for theMaplewood proof of concept testbed which transfers directly to the VSH site with modifications for placement of the initial FSO link.

Participating Observers, Maplewood, NJ:  

Clarence Williams, III and Dione Williams, M.D.
Small business and professional services
Springfield Avenue Business District
Maplewood, NJ
Interested in replicating the program in the Springfield Avenue Business District of Maplewood, NJ.
Please note: Their proposed site is used in Barnet’s presentation re: Campus Area Network Project, 12/18/2013, included below. Clarence and Dione and have helped to guide the development of the program from its initial discussions over the past two years regarding educational outreach to local residents underrepresented in STEM.

 Participating Observers, Plainfield, NJ:  

Deborah Joyce Dowe
Community Activist
Plainfield, NJ
Interested in replicating the program in Plainfield, NJ
Please note: Ms. Dowe has been and advisor through Hilding Lindquist to LLLab’s educational  outreach program since it’s its earliest beginning in 2000 at Plainfield High School and brings with her the knowledge and experience to help replicate this program in Plainfield, whose residents are predominately underrepresented in STEM.

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[i] http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304071004579407992832670628

President Wields 'Soft Power' to Help Minority Youth

Program Would Give Economic, Educational Opportunities to Disadvantaged Young Black, Latino Men

[ii] http://www.valleysettlementhouse.org/

[iii] http://www.valleyartsnj.com/