Scholarship Program (Retired)

A Scholarship (previously known by another name) is 3 months worth of i3 membership dues awarded to an individual in the Detroit area. There is also the possibility of a project stipend, pending legal approval. We recognize that potential makers with limited financial resources often are unable to afford any membership rates- no matter what the discount might be. Our scholarship program seeks to eliminate these financial hurdles and get makers making!

We award our makerships based on demonstrated track record and commitment to the DIY community. The projects you work on at i3 could be anything from an electronic gadget, to an open source software project, to a citizen science project, to a fire-breathing robotic pony, or (hopefully) a project we haven’t imagined. i3 makerships are open to anyone who could benefit from our community and resources to make something great. The Scholarship Committee previously consisted of Jamie Burdeski, Asheley Lesser, and Nate Bezanson.

Summer 2015 Term: June 1st- August 31st, 2015

Application Deadline for Summer 2015: May 31st, 2015

Summer 2015 term: Recipients report at the third-Tuesday meetings (June 16, July 21, August 18).

i3Detroit Scholarship Program (Retired) Application

How to Makeaship (optional)

Scholarship Program (Retired) Award

• 3 months of membership credit (cash equivalent value to $147 USD) at award start date. Member rights include:
  • An RFID key for 24 hour access to i3
  • Access to all i3 equipment, tools, & community resources
  • Space at i3 to store a reasonable amount of equipment and materials.
  • Eligibility to vote on i3 membership votes, such as equipment purchases.
• Mentor to help you brainstorm, troubleshoot, find community resources and advance past project roadblocks
• Letter of reference from mentor or i3 officer upon successful term completion and upon request.

Scholarship Program (Retired) Responsibilities & Deliverables

Adjustments to the below requirements can be granted at the mentor's discretion.

• Attend new member orientation & pursue training on all relevant equipment
• Attend all regular member meetings and give project updates.
• Come in to the space twice/week, flexible as arranged with your mentor
• Meet regularly with mentor and fellow scholarship recipients to discuss progress
• Attend a potlock in your term or complete equivalent community service as guided by your mentor
• Document progress as you go with blog posts, social posts, meeting presentations, etc.
• Complete project write-up at the end of the scholarship term (even if your project was unsuccessful/unfinished)
• Present and/or demonstrate project at the last member meeting in scholarship term
• Represent i3 at off-site events as requested by mentor or i3 leadership team
• Ask i3 community for help when you get stuck!

Monthly Updates

What we want the monthly updates to accomplish:

1. Show that the program is active. So many projects/committees/SIGs at i3 are conceived, and then not followed up on, so the membership forgets if they are existing or not.
2. Give the program more presence, like it is an established part of i3, by having regularity of updates (once a month)
3. Attach specific names and faces to the scholarship program by having all scholarship recipients report something (or having a proxy report for them, if they cannot make it)
4. Make the membership feel good about having the program-both that it is helping individuals and helping the i3 community.
5. Stimulate the recipients to think about the projects they are doing and/or how they are helping the i3 community, because honestly it's hard to remember sometimes all the little things you're working on.

Guidelines for Individual updates:

• Updates are NOT supposed to be the scholarship recipients proving their worth to the rest of the membership. We are not interested in the perceived caliber of your projects-just that you are getting some benefit from the space, and hopefully contributing back to the community.
• Updates are NOT supposed to be a manifesto. One or two bullet points per person is quite sufficient.
• It is NOT necessary that you are there in person to give your update. Just write in the minutes and someone will read it for you.
• One good model to follow would be: 1 thing you're doing or have done for the community, and 1 project you're working on or have finished in the last month.

Examples of individual updates

• Max: Continues to serve as membership coordinator, is using the craft room to prepare for craft classes at the YMCA, and is making James & the Giant Peach Figures
• Nikki- helped with Yuri's night, made a wooden die roller thingie using the laser cutter, wood shop, and craft room.

Application Process

Applicants should fill out the Scholarship Program (Retired) application before the due date. Applicants may be asked to come in for an informal interview and tour of the space before the final decision is made. Up to 3 applicants will be accepted each quarter, but runners-up are encouraged to re-apply the next term or just come in as a guest.

To help guide applicants in their crafting of their application, review criteria and evaluation questions for judges are posted below. We expect to get applications that vary widely (and we encourage diversity in project topics and exploration!), so please don’t feel that your application has to be strong across all criteria to be judged favorably. Judges will score proposals according to these criteria to determine which makerships are awarded.

Application Components & Criteria

Background & Experience * What past experiences will help you to complete this project?

• What unique point of view can you bring to the i3 community?
• What kind of experiences have you had with learning new equipment, techniques, etc?

Prior Work

• Please provide links to as much of your published work as you'd like us to review.
• Choose pieces which exemplify your creativity, attention to detail, and eagerness to share your knowledge. These can be videos, instructables, or any other sort of documentation, but they must be accessible to anyone -- publications in subscription-only journals or otherwise behind "paywalls" will not be considered.
• Collaborations may be listed here but your name must appear among the authors/credits, and at least one solo work should be included.
• At least one piece should show your teaching skill. The Instructables format is ideal, alternately submit a video or materials (slides, handouts, notes) from a class you've taught.

Project Proposal (This part is optional. We'd like to hear about interesting projects that you have in mind, but it will not affect your application's prospects.)

• How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields?
• To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative, original, or potentially transformative concepts?
• Is it cool??

Project Timeline

• How well conceived and organized is the proposed activity?
• Will the project fit into the Scholarship Program (Retired) term?
• If not, is there a specific milestone that can?
• Does each step/component have a reasonably estimated budget?

Financial Impact

• How significant a financial impact does the i3 Scholarship Program (Retired) have on this applicant? Consider both personal financial need and budget of long-term project (if more than scholarship term)

Community Impact

• Does this project improve the world?
• Will the results be open and shared to enhance scientific and technological understanding?
• Does the project promote sharing, openness, decentralization and world improvement (as prescribed by Stephen Levy in The Hacker Ethic)?

i3Detroit Scholarship Program (Retired) Application

Past Scholarship Program (Retired) Recipients

March 2015-May 2015

• Nicole Weltman
• Joseph Bauman
• Karianne Gottschalk
• Maxwell Gonyea-Alexander

November 2014-February 2015

• Nicole Weltman
• Joseph Bauman
• Karianne Gottschalk

Most source material from LVL1