I'm excited to share the news that the California Academy of Sciences has a acquired a state-of-the-art high resolution microscopic camera called the "Magnify2," created by the company GIGAMacro based in Napa, California. It looks, frankly, totally badass. The Magnify2 is billed as a "complete, high performance, precision robotic 3-axis linear motion control, image …
This morning I got up at 4am to catch the live broadcast by NASA of a spacewalk by astronauts Reid Wiseman and Barry Wilmore on the International Space Station. Their mission was to replace a malfunctioning "sequential shunt unit" that regulates electricity generated by one of the solar panels on the ISS. Sounds super boring, but …
Check out this beautiful tape art that has been cropping up around the staff-side of my museum, the California Academy of Sciences. We are beginning a staff-wide, month-long solicitation for "Big Ideas" for the future direction of the Academy. This is by far the most creative response to the call for inspiring ideas. But …
Today I finally got a chance to spend some quality time at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. Situated in a stately building that was originally an army barracks in the Presidio, the Disney Family Museum is dedicated to the life and legacy of Walt Disney. As a long-time Disneypark nerd — I’ve …
This is me at my job. Yeah, I'm a lucky duck. On Friday, I had the awesome opportunity to join our new head of research and sustainability Dr. Meg Lowman for some tree climbing in the Cal Academy's east garden. Dr. Lowman, also known as "Canopy Meg," is a champion for forest preservation and …
Are you a Bay Area teen who loves science, wants to geek out about technology, and is interested in making digital media with other teens? The Academy wants you! I’m excited to announce that Digital Learning at the California Academy of Sciences is launching a new program for high school-aged youth called the “TechTeens.” We’re …
To get this blog started, I wanted to provide some background on what the Digital Learning program at the California Academy of Sciences has been doing since it was launched about three years ago. Over that time, I’ve loved getting to design fun and engaging youth programs that combine my interest in tech and my …
Welcome to my new blog, RangerRik.com! This is where you will find my thoughts and activities from my work as a digital learning educator and program developer at the California Academy of Sciences. This is also where I am going to share out lots of the awesome work, tools, approaches, conversations and events happening …
On Thursday, the California Academy of Sciences hosted a fun coding workshop for middle schoolers that I helped facilitate. The occasion was the visit of five young programmers from Cork, Ireland to the Bay Area, along with the Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork, and various other dignitaries from Ireland. The sponsoring organization was called CoderDojo, …