Spencer Klein/Courtesy

Right now, UC Berkeley graduate Zigmund Kermish should be preparing to launch a balloon-based telescope from Antarctica. This instrument, which would rise 120,000 feet into the atmosphere, collects data that might provide insight into the physics behind the Big Bang.

He would be on the ice by Nov. 1 if the U.S. government hadn’t shut down.

But without a spending bill to fund government operations, the National Science Foundation ran out of funds for the U.S. Antarctic Program about Monday, forcing a delay on Kermish’s work as well as that of other campus researchers. The shutdown comes at a crucial time for these scientists — the start of Antarctic summer, when many researchers head south to upgrade or begin projects.

Even if the federal government were to reopen tomorrow, Kermish said, researchers would not fully recover from the delay.

The base out of which these balloons are launched opens only for this period of about three months, during which weather further limits the time available for preparation and launch. Kermish, who is working on this project as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University, said this instrument has been developing since about 2008.

Now, they must wait another year to collect data.

In an Oct. 8 statement, the NSF said it will continue to staff research stations in Antarctica at the minimum level, called “caretaker status,” required to keep people and property safe. What constitutes caretaker status, however, is still unclear to researchers.

“The rule is only essential operations can continue,” said Elizabeth George, a UC Berkeley doctoral student working on another project, the South Pole Telescope. “So in principle, you can say, ‘My equipment’s going to freeze — that is essential,’ but the reality of the situation is those decisions about what’s essential are not really made by scientists.”

The South Pole Telescope detects remaining light from the Big Bang, according to George, which can be used to study the early universe. Regardless of what the NSF decides to do, she said, any delay can wreak logistical havoc on such a large enterprise.

“Anything you do in Antarctica is driven by logistics: You need food, you need fuel, you need transportation,” said Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory senior scientist Spencer Klein, who is involved with the Berkeley IceCube group, which also does work in Antarctica. “Things that are just minor details here are enormous down there.”

George fears that, because of the current delay, the fuel required by these research stations will not arrive in time to start them up for next year. In that case, South Pole Telescope researchers will lose a year of data.

Additionally, contract workers, who agree to work in Antarctica for a set period of time, will be out of a job if a lack of funding prevents their deployment.

Klein faces similar issues in his South Pole project. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory — one cubic kilometer in volume — detects subatomic particles called neutrinos, which possess incredibly high energies. Scientists hope they can see how the particles reached such high energies by tracking their direction.

Klein said the NSF is unlikely to risk damaging equipment, considering the organization has already invested $242 million in IceCube. According to Klein, the observatory needs at least two people at the South Pole to maintain the technology and collect data. If data collection continues but the shutdown prevents researchers from flying down to upgrade the hardware this Antarctic summer, he said, the sacrifice will be survivable but not ideal.

“I just feel pretty helpless about the situation,” Klein said. “Everybody’s kind of making this up as they go.”

Contact Melissa Wen at mwen@dailycal.org.

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Jamil Poonja/Staff

UC Berkeley launched a new crowd-funding platform called AlumniFunder Wednesday that will give Berkeley student entrepreneurs a chance to capitalize on alumni connections to fund their projects.

The idea for AlumniFunder, a crowd-funding platform that intends to connect students and alumni, emerged when Google Ventures denied Georgetown graduate and AlumniFunder creator Stephen Ryan Meyer the venture capital funds his startup needed. Meyer immediately began to look to crowd funding as an alternative, but instead of looking for a platform, Meyer began to make one.

“I realized that if something like AlumniFunder existed, I would use it myself,” Meyer said. “So I might as well just build my own solution.”

For Meyer, AlumniFunder is about making use of the healthy ecosystem of alumni-student connections to drive student innovation.

“We have these very real social networks — your alumni network — and there is a certain bias within that affinity group, so you may be more willing to invest in their projects,” Meyer said.

Students and alumni register on the site either as “doers,” those seeking capital for projects, or “alumni,” those who wish to contribute to new enterprises.  AlumniFunder has already rolled out beta launches in Georgetown and Princeton three weeks ago.

James Li, Georgetown senior and co-founder of student enterprise Encore, praised AlumniFunder for its unique advantage among crowd-funding platforms.

“I love AlumniFunder because it’s the only place where current students and alumni can come together in a sustained community to trade ideas, experience and financial support,” Li said.

AlumniFunder’s beta launch in UC Berkeley has already attracted interest among various student groups. In fact, enthusiasm for the platform sped up the launch.

“We were not planning to launch at Berkeley this soon, but when they reached (out) and asked us to speak, I asked our developers to speed up our schedule,” Meyer said. “I think I just talked to them three weeks ago, so it was very quick turnaround.”

UC Berkeley junior Jeremy Fiance, president of UC Berkeley’s Kairos Society, expressed enthusiasm for the site’s potential in future growth for UC Berkeley entrepreneurs.

“A platform like AlumniFunder has the potential to truly leverage the UC Berkeley community to (collaboratively) drive forward startup innovation,” Fiance said.

AlumniFunder also plans to co-invest in promising AlumniFunder projects this summer in order to draw revenue for the nascent site, Meyer said.

The crowdfunding platform shows no signs of slowing down: AlumniFunder will hop across the Bay to Stanford next Thursday. As momentum for the platform grows with every launch, AlumniFunder plans to have launched in 70 American universities by the end of 2013.

Contact Eoghan Hughes at ehughes@dailycal.org.

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Benjamin Kimo Twichell/Courtesy

On Saturday night, eccentric and entertaining indie-pop bands Local Hero and Princeton lit up the stage at the world-renowned Great American Music Hall in San Francisco as a part of the official SF Pride event “It Gets Indie.” The show, put on by passionate 14-year-old Noah Hornik, helped raise money and awareness for It Gets Better and The Trevor Project, both of which focus on preventing LGBT youth suicides and bullying. “By combining (his) love of indie music and a cause (he) really cared about,” Hornik created the now annual concert, which last year raised upwards of $20,000. And after the huge turnout produced by Berkeley-based Local Hero and Princeton from Los Angeles, Hornik confirmed that “it’s looking like (they) may have met that mark again.”

After discovering Local Hero on the San Francisco-based music blog Indie Shuffle, Hornik quickly became a huge fan of the band’s indie, beachy tracks and their distinct Californian tone and invited them to play at the benefit. Local Hero jumped at the opportunity to perform at such an important event, and drummer and vocalist Leo Grossman explained that the members were truly “starstruck by the venue.”

But no such nerves were evident once the band took to the stage to open the show. Guitarist and lead vocalist Alex MacKay was quick to urge everyone out of their seats and onto the dance floor, and if the invitation wasn’t enough, the band’s fun and rhythmical music easily drew people to their feet to dance. The band mostly played songs off its recently recorded and currently unnamed and unreleased album, along with a few older songs from their record The Aldgate EP. Pianist and vocalist Maya Laner also showcased her gentle voice with a brief excerpt from her unique cover of “Oblivion” by Grimes. MacKay and Grossman dubbed their band as “a smoothie with fun and tight beats, man,” which they certainly lived up to as each member’s passionate energy was reflected in the excited audience. Had there been more time in the program, the audience’s calls for an encore surely would’ve been recognized, but due to the packed agenda, the band simply left the legendary stage to cheers and robust applause.

In between Local Hero and Princeton’s acts was the event producer’s 17-year-old brother Julian Hornik, whose fun and honest original songs kept the crowd smiling and served as a fluid transition between Local Hero’s upbeat tracks and Princeton’s more laidback style. After playing his cover of MIKA’s “Grace Kelly,” the young talent cleared the stage to decent applause and appreciation.

Next, Princeton was up to close the sensational event. After hearing the popular band on an Urban Outfitters playlist, Hornik jumped at the chance to book Princeton for the event, who have previously opened for indie legends Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot, among others. Matt Kivel, bass and vocalist, explained that the band lives by the idea that “if you don’t have friends in your band and you don’t believe in your band, then you don’t have a band at all.” This powerful motive, coupled with the band’s quirky stage presence produced a highly entertaining performance which included Kivel rolling around on the stage while playing bass and his twin brother, guitarist and vocalist Jesse Kivel inviting audience members onstage to play tambourines while dancing to their final song.

The event was a clear success. The stunning venue was packed. Local Hero, Julian Hornik, and Princeton entertained the crowd for hours with dancy jams and genuine personality, giving a strong performance for a cause of vital importance.

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