Jay Saul Silver is an electrical engineer and toy inventor from Cocoa Beach, Florida. Silver is the Founder and CEO of JoyLabz and MaKey MaKey and was the first-ever Maker Research Scientist at Intel.Making: A Movement Gaining Momentum Worldwide, Intel Backgrounder (May 15, 2014)
Academic background and early career
Silver earned his BA in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech, where he was named Engineer of the Year, and was awarded a Gates Scholarship to pursue his Master's from Cambridge University in Internet Technology. Funded by a National Science Foundation Fellowship,Can Anyone Become a Hacker?, Ted Radio Hour, NPR (December 6, 2013) Silver earned a Master's from MIT's Media Lab, and went on to earn his PhD from MIT's Media Lab Lifelong Kindergarten.MIT Media Lab Life Long Kindergarten Research Projects: Makey Makey For his PhD on the topic of “World as Construction Kit,” Silver was awarded the Lemelson Prize for Inventiveness
Following his academic career, Silver invented Drawdio ,Drawido: A Pencil That Lets You Draw Music, Wired.com (April 30, 2009) which was named one of TIME Magazine's “Top 15 Toys for Young Geniuses” in 2011.Q&A With Makey Makey CEO Jay Silver, EdTech Magazine (August 12, 2014)
Makey Makey
In 2012, Silver founded Makey Makey: An Invention Kit for Everyone – a toy that allows users to connect everyday objects (e.g. fruit, silverware) to computer programs – through a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $500,000.Toybacker Launches Take on Kickstarter Indiegogo, New York Business Journal (February 17, 2015) Following its initial funding on Kickstarter, MaKey Makey was written about in Mashable, Wired, and New Scientist, among others, and was named one of Popular Science's 2014 “Best of Toy Fair.”10 Best Toys 2014 Toy Fair, Popular Science (February 19th, 2014)
Charitable works and boards
Silver sits on the board of directors of Maker Ed,Maker Education Initiative Board Member List One Day on Earth, and the Transformative Tech Lab. Silver also works with teens at places like Not Back to School Camp.
Awards and speakerships
(2011), TIME Magazine's “Top 15 Toys for Young Geniuses” for Drawdio (2012) Lemelson Prize for Inventiveness$30,000 Lemelson-MIT Collegiate Student Prizes Awarded to Inventive Students at Three Leading Universities, BusinessWire (March, 2012) (2012) Top 100 Inspirational World Changer by DELLKicking Off Inspired Gifting this Holiday Season, Dell Announces the #Inspire 100 (November 20, 2012) (2014) Popular Science's "Best of Toy Fair" for Makey Makey Silver has spoken at numerous TED eventsHack a Banana Make a Keyboard?, TED Talk Archive (April, 2013)
References