Thanks to Our S.T.E.A.M. Supporters

Last Saturday our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium hosted S.T.E.A.M. Machines on the Pier—a day of fun and tinkering, art and innovation—all anchored by a Rube Goldberg machine contest. Thanks so much to our presenting sponsor, Time Warner Cable’s Connect A Million Minds Initiative, along with sponsor Bricks 4 Kidz. Thanks too to the Santa Monica Pier Corporation for their partnership in presenting this second annual event.

Congratulations to all the teams that participated in the Rube Goldberg machine contest: Santiago Canyon College; Cal Poly Pomona; Ánimo Venice Charter High School; Malibu High School; King Drew Magnet; Santa Monica High School; and Canyon High School.  Kudos to the four judges who donated their time and expertise to judge and offer feedback to the teams, including: designer Hector Alvarez; Adam Lichtl, director of research for Space Exploration Technologies; artist Brett Doar; and Betty Fekete of Time Warner Cable.

Thanks also to the vendors who spent the day demonstrating their amazing devices and giving visitors the opportunity to create, tinker and build: Dr. Sharp’s Steampunk Gear; Exploratory; iFly; Pacific Park; Peddler’s Creamery; reDiscover Center; Santa Monica High’s Team Marine; STEM Center USA; Steve Craig; ToyBuilder Labs; Trash 4 Teaching; TreePeople; and Vocademy the Makerspace.

And a special shout out to DJ Agent Blak, for keeping the stage lively and lyrical, along with Aquarium volunteer Jaclyn Friedlander and her team for building their own Rube Goldberg Machine to deliver a clean water message—and for demonstrating the contraption throughout the day. Check out the making of Friedlander’s machine!