Jeff Solin of Lane Tech High School

Jeff Solin will share the motivations and processes used to create the Digital City of Chicago 3D Map. The map, influenced by the Chicago Flag Mosaic Project, originally installed at Navy Pier and at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry since 2018, is an 8' x 6' 3D map of 77 community areas that make up the city of Chicago created by the LTMaker Lab.

This culminating project was made by roughly 150 students across 5 sections of Jeff and his colleague Amy Wozniak's course titled Innovation and Creation Lab at Lane Tech High School. Lane Tech, a Chicago Public High School, has produced more PhD’s than any other high school in the nation.

Jeff will talk about the digital design and digital fabrication tools used by each pair of students in the LTMaker Lab to create their part of the map. The talk will include how the various software applications, 3D printers, laser cutters, digital cutters, and CNC mills used by where used by each part of the team to represent each community area of Chicago.

Biography:

Jeff Solin is a Computer Science & Making teacher at Lane Tech High School. He left a career in the tech industry 17 years ago on what he describes as “a quest to help change Computer Science education.”

He is the winner of the 2018 National Center for Women in Information Technology (NCWIT) National Educator Award. He also co-founded the Chicago Chapter of the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) and helped bring the Exploring CS curriculum to Chicago Public Schools.

With the Illinois PPE Network (illinoisppe.org) he designed the Solin Flatpack Faceshield (solinfaceshield.com). The Faceshield is a flatpack, single-material face shield that is being mass-manufactured and donated to those that need it.

His work has been featured in MAKE: Magazine, MAKE: Books, Element14, the ACM, Chicago Architecture Foundation, Depth and Light, 3D Universe and Inventables.

About the Lab (ltmakers.org):
Jeff designed and built Lane's 4000 sq. ft. makerspace LTMaker Lab to bring MakerEd into schools. The lab has had curriculum, professional development, and project collaborations with partners including Argonne National Labs, the School of the Art Institute, the Chicago Cubs, the National Science Foundation and others.

Media Appearances include:
Chicago Tribune

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/blue-sky/chi-lane-tech-innovation-creation-lab-bsi-20150406-story.html

https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-lane-tech-teacher-designs-face-shield-20200603-c53yuewlknd45phkiijyfhiili-story.html

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-lane-tech-wrigley-field-sensors-20180518-story.html (Array of Things work with Wrigley / Cubs )

WGN
https://wgntv.com/news/coronavirus/cps-teacher-creates-new-face-shield-to-help-health-care-workers-during-covid-19-fight/

NPR
https://www.wbez.org/stories/a-depaul-professor-uses-3d-printers-to-make-face-shields-for-first-responders/e15361ee-a87b-447c-b540-a0a8c1ec7c75
https://www.wbez.org/stories/chicago-high-school-teacher-marries-couple-from-his-porch-in-the-time-of-covid-19/3a30a07b-2a1d-4e5d-835b-7764554a0c07

MAKE: https://dev.makezine.com/2020/04/20/plan-c-chicago-shield-part-2-the-solin-flat-pack-face-shield/

NCWIT 2018 National Award: https://www.aspirations.org/blog/2018-ncwit-national-aic-educator-award-winner-jeff-solin

National CS For All Office: https://medium.com/csforall-stories/voices-from-the-field-jeff-solin-teacher-maker-advocate-d826d36ea0e5

Medium: https://medium.com/@jeffsolin/chicago-flag-mosaic-project-9ec1b68eb0d8
Chicago Magazine: https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/June-2017/Chicago-Flag-Mosaic/