The San Francisco–based art collective FoldHaus enlisted tech help from then-undergrad Bomani McClendon ’17 when it was building Shrumen Lumen for Burning Man 2016. McClendon, now a software engineer for Facebook, worked as a programmer on the 12- to 18-foot tall mushrooms, which are now on display at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. With Kalan Kircher ’11, the digital lead for the project, McClendon programmed the giant glowing mushrooms to move and light up when observers step on a weight-sensitive pressure pad. The origami-based interactive art installation is part of the Renwick Gallery’s exhibition No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, which runs until January.
Hotel Alma Mater
In 2014 Ben Weprin ’10 MBA launched Graduate Hotels, a hotel collection providing affordable lodging in college towns for families, alumni, prospective students and other visitors. Weprin conceived the Graduate Hotels project while he was a student at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. By the end of 2020, he had launched 28 hotels in 28 cities across the U.S., including 10 towns that are home to Big Ten institutions.
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