Great! Thanks for putting this together.

In case of a tie, how about the proposal whose voters include the member with the earliest join date wins?

Haney, thanks much for pointing me this way. Dr Davis and class, congratulations on providing such an engaging bout of sharing and learning for your extended o.net classroom!

I have been telling other professors about this idea.

Great job!

Good luck teams.

Nice!

Slug BioDiesel (the "first winning team" selected by the panel of judges) also seems to be a wonderful idea!

:) nmw

Thanks, Haney and Mark. I am enjoying reading about these projects. Like Norbert, I think slug biodiesel is a great idea, and I also liked the EZ-ride, the Eco-friendly community ideas.

Well done.

For the biodiesel people, check out this great map of fueling sites across the country! http://www.biodiesel.org/buyingb iodiesel/retailfuelingsites/

Are you telling me http://biodiesel.org has good information about biodiesel?

You must be crazy, Lars -- welcome to the club!

;P nmw

sure, been watching and learning about it for a while! what's cool is that over the last 5 years it has actually become possible to choose one of many routes for a cross-country biodiesel trip. its actually become a viable direction for light interstate trucking. so who's crazy enough to set up the first biodiesel trucking company, taking the "movement" out of the basements of enthusiasts and into real-world economics?!

Yes, and it's also interesting that the NBB describes itself more as an "organization" then as a "nonprofit" venture -- and that includes banner ads for the commercial site you've linked to. This is what hyper linking ought to be about -- linking together shows relationships. However, over the past years, "cluster fools" have made it more of a "good luck" scheme: If I say I am related to everything, doesn't "related" become a meaningless term? The closest thing we can get to a "true" meta description is the language that is "out there" (in the "cloud") -- it's not something we can control, but it is something we can use (and just like Wittgenstein said: our use of the language shapes and defines it).

there are some government grants that are extremely relevant to this class/group projects/maybe even Slug Biodiesel! http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/op en/HHS-2007-ACF-OCS-EO-0054.html this is a link to a site offering a grant that specifically targets low-income individuals, which i think would be most college students. there are more on the site grants.gov.

here's another one! proposal's due Monday, though. http://www.epa.gov/p2/pubs/grant s/srap07.htm

"The Source Reduction Assistance Grants Program issues grants and cooperative agreements to support pollution prevention/source reduction and/or resource conservation projects that help to eliminate pollution at the source. The grant program does not support projects that rely on reducing pollution by using recycling and/or disposal methods. This Request for Proposals announces that eight of the EPA's Regional P2 Program offices expect to have up to $163,000, per region, to issue grants in FY 2007. Awards will be issued by the Regional P2 Program offices participating in this announcement.

Eligible Applicants. Eligible applicants include the fifty States, the District of Columbia, the United States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, any territory or possession of the United States, local governments, city or township governments, independent school districts, incorporated non-profit organizations (other than institutions of higher education), public or private institutions of higher education, community-based grassroots organizations, and Indian Tribes and intertribal consortia.

...

For purposes of this grant announcement, pollution prevention/source reduction is defined as any practice which:

• Reduces the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the environment (including fugitive emissions) prior to recycling, treatment or disposal;
• Reduces the hazards to public health and the environment associated with the release of such substances, pollutants, or contaminants; and
• Reduces or eliminates the creation of pollutants through: (i) increased efficiency in the use of raw materials, energy, water, or other resources; or (ii) protection of natural resources by conservation.

Examples of pollution prevention/source reduction projects or activities include: equipment or technology modifications, process or procedure modifications, reformulation or redesign of products, substitution of raw materials, and improvements in housekeeping, maintenance, training, or inventory control."

I guess Slug Biodiesel wouldn't count ('cause it's recycling, right?) But there's probably something on either CMPS 80J or Omidyar that uses raw materials more efficiently than current standards? Right?

gosh, now that CMPS80J is over, i've found the funding money tree! here's a link: http://www.studentsserve.org/pag e4.html to a website that is almost tailor made for the class: Eligibility Requirements

-Must be an undergraduate attending a college or university in the United States

(Graduating high school seniors of the class of 2007 may apply for a grant to be conducted once they are in college in the fall.)

-All majors are eligible to receive Students Serve grants -Must describe a self-designed service-learning project to be completed individually

or with a group of other students that you would like to initiate. (Service-learning is defined as applying academic knowledge from a class taken in school to solve a legitimate problem in your community.)

-The targeted community is within the United States -In addition to fully completing the application by the stated deadline, you must

submit 2 letters of recommendation from professors who may advise you on your project

-Applicants with all GPAs will be considered for a grant.

So... winners, you should go for it! Applications are due July 1st!

you go alexa!

The vote has ended and the winner is...

• Water Filters in Africa

Congratulations to team members: Samantha Riffle, Sarah Kahn and Tussanee Reedboon.

If the UCSC students are still reading this, you might be interested in

I've read this process with interest. I too was interested in the water filter project, but the reality is-- I am in ghana dealing with links that are't working- power off every other day and general disorientation since we just arrived! So, I missed the voting, but what a great idea for college classes.

Just wanted to leave an update :

The water filter group is traveling first half of summer. They were clear that they can't start this summer on their project page. They intend to start planning in Sept and be ready to do something by next summer.

The bio-diesel group is taking action already. They already ran one batch of bio-diesel. We're now working through the issues related to getting space on campus, health and safety, certification, pinning down customer, etc..

Is any of this depending on the community site being available? omidyar.net has just decided to have the community site hosted elsewhere (under a different name)