The Gosman Sports and Convocation Center weight room renovation project is progressing well, and renovations are expected to take place just after classes end for the semester. Additionally, a new bikeshare project is coming to Brandeis, led by Mo Re Kim ’24 and Allan Feldman ’26.
The Hoot spoke with both Kim and Feldman about these projects, who noted that “all of the equipment in the main weight room will be replaced with new equipment from Matrix. This includes all of the barbells, weighted plates, squat racks, and strength machines inside the main weight room. The list of all of the equipment is shared in the email below. We can expect the renovations to start on April 22, 2024 and end April 26, 2024. The gym will be closed during this period of time for renovation reasons.”
Kim noted that he started the bikeshare project with Feldman, and that the two of them “recently won the $1000 Asper Student Startup Prize for Prototyping and Product design.” Although Kim is graduating, he and Feldman will continue to ensure this project’s success. Kim and Feldman noted that “this bikeshare project is a 100% free bikeshare model that will hopefully be installed by the end of fall 2024 or spring 2025. The bikes will be rentable through the library. We plan to provide helmets and the locks in addition to the bicycle. We will mainly include one day rentals (24 hours) through logging in and out at the library, however, we are considering implementing longer term rental service options for commuter students without vehicles.”
The pair also noted that this project will “utilize a software integrated locking system which is connected with a smartphone application that allows the library administrators to efficiently track and coordinate the rental of the bikes. The bikes will be trackable through GPS. The provided bike locks will be lock/unlockable by the user’s associated phone application. The bicycles will likely be stored by a station created around the library.” Kim and Feldman hope that “students [are] able to rent the bikes not only for recreational purposes, but also for essential activities like commuting and getting groceries at further locations.
With this project, both Kim and Feldman hope to “increase the availability of sustainable, free modes of transportation for the Brandeis community. As we mentioned above, we want to provide options for recreational use, personal use, and commuter transportation use. The graduate student association has reached out to us letting us know that there are students who currently do not have a mode of commuting/cannot afford commuting from their apartment to campus. We hope that this bikeshare can solve this issue. Furthermore, we hope the availability of the convenience free bike rental service will foster a bike/fitness culture on campus. Perhaps this will even help us encourage more students to get active. “
Kim noted that many other students and faculty were involved in this work, including Aaryuj Trehan ’24, Andrew Parisi ’24, Cyriac Joyce ’24, Darren Nguyen ’24, Isabella Doulas ’24, Jacob Mikelberg ’24, Kevin Chen ’24, Mark Santi ’24, Mohammed Rahman ’24, Nathan Tran ’24, Sahil Muthuswami ’24, Sam Brown ’26, Sana Reddy ’24, Sharan Reddy ’24, Aman Qutab ’24, Athletics Coordinator Katherine Page, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs Dr. Timothy Touchette, Professor Matthew Fraleigh, Chief of Public Safety Matt Rushton and Kim’s mentor Joshua Feld ’22.
