The Fellows Summer Experience: Tigers Game and July Fourth Parade

One of the most attractive things about a BYB Summer Fellowship is the chance to spend a summer in colorful Ann Arbor. We changed the program name from an internship to a fellowship because of the lasting connections made throughout the summer, and these connections are made possible by the things we all do together! Before we get to some project updates, here’s a little bit about our summer together so far.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

Last summer, we sponsored a student whose visa required participation in a “cultural appreciation” event, so we piled into a bus and headed over to Comerica Park for some of America’s favorite sport, baseball. It was such a hit, we went again this year! Luckily, Backyard Brains signature color  (orange!) matches pretty well with the Tigers brand 😉

Fourth of July Parade

Another celebrated BYB Summer Fellowship pastime is the Jaycee’s Fourth of July Parade! Each year, the fellows design and build a costume representing their summer research and wear it as BYB walks in the annual parade! Check out some of the looks from this year:

Meet the Fellows, See the Projects

Catch up with our Fellows! Since our Fellowship started, each fellow has been hard at work on their summer research. Check out these posts introducing each Fellowship research track:

• Jess – No Nose, No Mouth, No Problems: the Silkmoth Story
• Jessica – Introducing Pavlov’s…Plants?
• Yifan – Know Your Birds
• Ilya – Neurorobot Vision
• Aaron – Nothing In Life Is Free
• Dan – Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em…Shrimps?!
• Anusha – Creating Professor X
• Molly – Bee-search: How Do Bees See
• Maria – Electric Relaxation
• Anastasiya – Secret Life of Jellyfish
• Ben – Python

First Progress Reports:

If you’ve been dying for an update on what we’ve been researching, fret no more! Feast your eyes on our first batch of updates!

• Jess – Becoming a #MothMom
• Jessica – Plant Nanny: If at first you don’t succeed, Try, try, try again
• Yifan – Human, Quiet, Crow: Teaching Computers to Distinguish Birdsong
• Ilya – Neurorobot on Wheels
• Dan – Mantis Shrimp: I Want You To Do Me A Favor. I Want You To Hit Me As Hard As You Can
• Molly – Bee-lieve You Can and You’re Halfway There: The Prototyping Process
• Aaron – Is It Actually My Choice To Not Title This Post?
• Anusha – In Search of the Mu Rhythm 
• Anastasiya – Jellies, and GUIs, and Costumes, Oh My!
• Maria – Meditation Data or Bust

Second Progress Reports:

Science marches ever onward! The Fellows have kept plugging away on their research in between all the fun and games, and here are their newest updates!

• Jess – Silk Moths, Enter The Arena: Binary Choice Paradigm
• Jessica – A Peagrim’s Progress, or, “Let’s get down to pea-zness”
• Ilya – Neurorobot Video Transmission In Progress
• Yifan – Volume Threshold for Songbird Audio
• Dan – Houston, we have a datum
• Molly – Beauty is in the eye of the Bee-holder: studies with a hive begin!
• Aaron– We don’t have free will. Change my mind.
• Anastasiya – On Set in the New Jellyfish Mobile Recording Chamber
• Anusha – …And I Almost Read His Mind!
• Maria – Fresh, organic, locally sourced meditation research

Conclusions:

The summer is winding down, and with it our Fellowship. While scientific exploration is never really finished, here are some wrap-ups from our Fellows on the projects they have devoted their inquiry to over the past weeks.

• Jess – Finishing the Silkmoth Story
• Jessica – New kid on the block
• Ilya – Quicker and Smarter: Neurorobot on the Hunt
• Yifan – Take a Step Back and look into the future
• Dan – Shrimp! Heaven! Now!
• Molly – From bee-fuddled to a bee-stower of knowledge: the end of my bee journey
• Anusha – Movement Mind Reader: Hopefully not the end…
• Ben – Summer Summary
• Anastasiya – The End of My Jellyfish Summer (Or Is It?)