Genevieve Bell - School of Cybernetics - ANU

Dear Dr. Bell,

I am hopeful Fungible would be unequivocally the best fit for my background & project @ ANU. 💖🍄

This is the what/where/why/how I want to work with you and ANU Cybernetics, and also with CEAT and indirectly ARC Australian Research Council, CSIRO, and https://www.mseq.vc/ - in terms of desirability I wish to commence with the vetting and this is my best, but also first foot forward.

These organizations are really the ONLY suitable option -- unless I care to continue prototyping in my garage, the represent as I see the gatekeepers. I expatriated from the US recently (post-covid) and I did not arrive from the AU academic system and have no allegiances to any specific learning institution. Next year I will no longer be considered an international student and I am hoping to discuss joining the ANU cybernetics program.

I see my work on this project Fungible.farm as being potentially very valuable from a national strategic supplier of a variety of materials and I am keen to have it reviewed which is why I have prepared this in an open format.

(For what it's worth, I'm keen on matriculating into the AU institutions and never returning to the US. I'd be quite happy to remain in the AU indefinitely provided I can find a place to continue my work. In terms of funding, at some point I will need funding - that isn't immediate, however my wife would like me to get a more conventional 'day job' - probably as a fullstack dev, cloud architect, or cybersecurity expert which will distract me from what I see as very important and useful work in this field. Any sign of "👍" this is valuable from any of the afformentioned parties strenghtens my case)

I'm also going to assume nobody at CEAT knows much about the specialized field of semiconductor manufacturing, what is most important is that the deposition of materials must occur in-situ during myco-cultivation using robotic methods with accuraces measured initially in micrometers and ultimately perhaps in nanometers (for transitive effects, the distance and materials between two semiconductors influences the "band gap" or "energy gap" properties, dictates the properties of how electrons move through a material). Semi-conductor fabrication uses processes called photo lithography & laser-trimming to control layered material deposition -- I am capable (possessing the skillset) to produce robotics that I hope will ultimately mimic these methods within biological organisms. I do not expect CEAT to have this expertise, although I'll be surprised if CSIRO doesn't have at least a few people on staff who are more knowledgible than myself.

(My garage is a mess of robotics parts & biological contamination, so the answer is hopefully YES). Many reasons the garage aren't suitable, and I'm hesitant to try and "build" my own wet-lab facility, both for cost & time.

I spend most of my time finding an expert or answer in a particular field, consuming the entirety of their publications, and then (if needed) I can sometimes write/ask/pay for their time to pick their brain on how to setup novel experiments & eliminate, mitigate (or constrain) the potential causes of failure. No matter how much money I have for research, I can't buy 'time', there are no time-machines. The cost of a ruined experiment - the set back, especially when it is attributed to my own human error or ignorance is the most frustrating setback as an independent inventor & researcher.

Goal for CEAT collaboration -- to reduce the time & energy required to create a successful [desired] outcome which is ultimately an Entrepenurial pursuit. I hope to have experiments work - or to at least "know why they failed", so that one or more answers can be found in the first few rounds of attempts, and the effect(s) to be repeatable thereafter (that is the goal, produce repeatable & experiments that requisite to commercial "Entrepeneurial" viability).

My goal with the initial inquiry was to ascertain the domain of CEAT - the director & leadership all appear phytologically specialized in farming.
I'm coming to you with mycology and biological semiconductor fabrication, it's a big chasm to cross. I hope you can track with me.

CEAT internally will need to ask - is this Plantae bias an intentional & desirable specialization within the broader field of agriculture? I will not be offended by the exclusion of mycology (it's an overlooked field, full of eccentric researchers who like to walk in forests, not spend time in labs) -- and so if it's a quick "No" fast-fail from CEAT then that is better 👍 CEAT dismissing my project would have no reflection on my work, since I understand it may fall outside of your organizational charter. No worries, most people conflate Agriculture with Plantae and my heretical work crosses all sorts of domain specializations.

Assuming mycology is NOT a "hard Nope" from CEAT then I think it's important for me to explain to you the benefits of this research & approach, since I realize the inclusion of my projects would almost certainly be an outlier compared to what I assume are present-day CEAT's projects.

Hopefully I can make the subject interesting, but it's an entirely different "Queendom Fungora" vs the "Kingdom Plantae", both are agriculture (science of farming). I realize that practically speaking 99.9% of 'renewable resources' in modern economic venacular refer to the domain of phytology.
Most people can be forgiven for incorrectly conflating 'agriculture & farming' with 'plants'.