Simtable Returns to TIME Magazine’s Techland for “5 Cool Inventions” List

First featured on the site in June, SimTable’s flagship wildfire training system returns for top-5 honors in the TIME magazines tech blog’s 2011 best-of list.

The brainchild of Stephen Guerin, Santa Fe Complex founder, Simtable developed in the Complex’s unique training-and-entrepreneurship environment. After attracting start-up money from LANL’s Venture Acceleration Fund, Simtable opened its own offices in 2011, and has now sold more than 20 sand table units to firefighting and emergency management organizations around the country.

Read the TIME articles here and here, or visit simtable.com.


SimTable on KOB Eyewitness News

As the Wallow Fire in Arizona continues to burn towards New Mexico, a wild simulation company based out of Santa Fe is using some of the latest technology to track and model the fire.

With the projector off- the table is simply a box of sand- but with the flip of a switch SimTable operators can present 3D layouts of a fire and simulate its direction and burn patterns. The system also can model weather patterns, account for different types of fuel and how they burn, topography and fire fighting methods. more…


SimTable Joins Arizona Wallow Fire Fight — TIME Techland

It’s a giant walled-in table of sand—a sandbox by any other name—and it’s helping predict where the deadly Arizona Wallow Fire could go next.

That fire, currently raging through Arizona’s eastern mountains, continues to burn out of control as it races towards New Mexico—it’s already blackened over 600 square miles of Arizona timberland and forced nearly 6,000 evacuations.

Enter SimTable, a setup that uses a projector, digital technology and a table covered in playground-variety sand to create elaborate topographical representations of the Arizona Wallow Fire (named for the Bear Wallow Wilderness area where the fire started). It’s the work of a Santa Fe-based research company that wanted to craft an interactive 3D fire simulator. Using the table, researchers can simulate a fire’s direction and burn patterns as well as weather, traffic, evacuation routes and firefighting procedures. more…


Teacher sets out to rekindle public’s math romance

Staci Matlock | The New Mexican
Posted: Monday, April 18, 2011 – 4/16/11

Math and I had a falling out a few years ago. OK, three decades ago.

It happens with relationships. One party changes faster than the other, and the two become incompatible.

We started out great. I loved math’s simple beauty, its irrefutable rules.

Then came algebra. And proofs. And really long equations.

Suddenly math was speaking in a language I couldn’t understand. We sought counseling with a math teacher, but it was too late. We grew apart and, I sought out math as rarely as possible.

Then I read about some guy who thought it was possible to make math “fun and accessible.” He started a blog, Wild About Math!, and last fall he began hosting a math group the third Wednesday of each month at the Santa Fe Complex (a place where brainy people work with math to create some incredible, even useful, things). more…


Mick Thompson and Tyler White win Alcatel-Lucent iPad App competition

Mick Thompson and Tyler White took first place and $10,000 in an Alcatel-Lucent contest to develop an iPad app using the Alcatel-Lucent location based service API.  The app they made puts your friends (using smart and non-smart phones) on a map using new location-getting techniques and shows the closest Flickr image to their location.  Mick (Collecta) and Tyler (Legend Apps) submitted the app named “Peer Peer” – named for it’s verb-noun meaning.  For more information about the competition, visit the Alcatel-Lucent website.

more…


KSFR Cinemascope | June 11, 2010

Cinemascope–Interview with Ethan Bach, Jason Goodyear, and Orlando Leibovitz

Monique Anair & Matt Page | June 11, 2010

Monique Anair interviews Ethan Bach, Jason Goodyear, and Orlando Leibovitz about the upcoming interactive performance and installation Retrieving Humanity and the event Off The Rails, which will serve both to raise funds for Retrieving Humanity and to demonstrate to the public some of the technology involved. more…


Albuquerque Journal North | April 30, 2010

$100M for Electric Grid

Keira Hay | April 30, 2010

A group of Massachusetts college students offered some insight Thursday into what it might take for Santa Fe to one day operate its own electricity grid.

Money, for one thing. more…


SantaFe.com | April 27, 2010

Santa Fe Complex Hosts the Sixth “Ignite NM”

Event Calendar | April 27, 2010

The Santa Fe Complex hosts the sixth “Ignite New Mexico,” an event that provides a platform for anyone to share a passion, hobby, or interest. Ignite gives presenters a chance-in five minutes and twenty slides-to share their interests with a group, teaching everyone about something they’re passionate about. more…


Santa Fe New Mexican | April 26, 2010

Santa Fe Complex hosts ‘geek fun night’

Ignite NM offers host of titillating topics at high-speed

Staci Matlock | April 26, 2010

Are jocks smarter than geeks? Why does Viagra’s shape matter? And can Gimmick Rallies make you a better person?

Inquiring minds can find out the answer to each of these titillating questions in only five minutes. That’s all the time presenters at the sixth Ignite NM have to explain their topics and show 20 slides. The fun begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Santa Fe Complex. more…


Albuquerque Journal North | April 15, 2010

Students Aid St. Mike’s Plan

Kiera Hay | April 15, 2010

The city of Santa Fe, in a far-reaching quest to revamp St. Michael’s Drive, once mailed residents a survey asking them to share their thoughts on the car-clogged thoroughfare. more…


Santa Fe New Mexican | April 4, 2010

Massachusetts Undergrads Team up with Middle Schoolers to Rethink Traffic Corridor

Staci Matlock | April 4, 2010

East met West earlier this week in more ways than one when several DeVargas Middle School students took time out of class to learn some real-world techniques for data collection from eight Massachusetts college students. more…


KSFR Radio Café | March 22, 2010


Santa Fe Radio Café–Interview with Elaine Bearer

Mary-Charlotte Domandi | March 22, 2010

Mary-Charlotte Domandi interviews Elaine Bearer, one of the key organizers for the “Art and Science of Systems Biology” event scheduled for March 26-27 at the Santa Fe Complex. more…


Santa Fe New Mexican | March 19, 2010


NM Artists, Scientists and Computer Programmers Collaborate on Immersive Videos

Staci Matlock | March 19, 2010

Imagine how fun science homework would be if you could, say, project a digital galaxy around your bedroom, navigate through it like Star Trek’s Hikaru Sulu using your cell phone as the control, and then blast a meteor, virtually, into a planet to see what happens. more…


SantaFe.com | March 17, 2010

The Art and Science of Systems Biology

Arts & Culture | March 17, 2010

Santa Fe Complex will host “The Art and Science of Systems Biology” a two-day public event scheduled for March 26 and 27, at 632 Agua Fria from 4:30 pm on Friday through 9 pm on Saturday. more…


New Mexico Business Weekly | March 12, 2010


Techies Take Immersive Dome Experience to New Frontiers

Megan Kamrick | March 12, 2010


New Mexico Business Weekly | March 9, 2010

Simtable, SW Bio Fuels Win LANL Funds

March 9, 2010

Los Alamos National Laboratory selected two companies, Simtable and Southwest Bio Fuels, as awardees for $100,000 grants from the lab’s Venture Acceleration Fund. more…


Albuquerque Journal | February 25, 2010

City OKs $150K for Art-Science Think Tank

Kiera Hay | February 25, 2010

The Santa Fe City Council agreed on Wednesday to give the Santa Fe Complex $150,000 for another year of operation. more…


Santa Fe New Mexican | February 21, 2010

Santa Fe Complex Lands Defense Contract

Group to help military optimize distribution of replacement parts on battlefield

Staci Matlock | February 21, 2010

Imagine you’re heading up a tank company rolling through a blistering desert somewhere, with the possibility of unfriendly fire at any moment. Suddenly tank number two breaks down and tank five starts making some awfully weird noises like it’s going to go kaput at any moment. more…