Forget lemonade stands and car washes. Brothers Grant and Max Buster are successfully promoting a free, easy way to help solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.

Grant and Max Buster.

The same day that Grant and Max read a Wall Street Journal article about World Community Grid, Team Boulder was born. The brothers (ages 15 and 12, respectively) from Boulder, Colorado were impressed by World Community Grid's mission to create the world's largest public computing grid to tackle projects that benefit humanity.

World Community Grid is a volunteer distributed computing project that harnesses the spare time of thousands of personal computers worldwide to solve very large scientific and medical problems, very quickly.

“We thought it was a great idea to use your computer’s idle time to help a lot of people and even save people’s lives,” said Max.

Can volunteering computing really save people’s lives? “Yes,” as Grant described, “all sorts of different fields are studied, but most World Community Grid projects are related to human disease. The Grid helps develop new vaccines, conquer cancer etc.”

Grant and Max agreed that their favorite World Community Grid project is “Discovering Dengue Drugs – Together” because it is something they can relate to. Grant pointed out that “most of the projects help people far away in other countries, but this can help people who live in the Boulder area who have West Nile Virus.”

The Team Boulder logo. Artwork, Copyright Cy Hundley 2007.

Both brothers actively promote World Community Grid and recruit people to join Team Boulder. After all, “the more people that join, the more research that gets carried out,” Grant added.

They have handed out flyers on the pedestrian-friendly Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, run a booth at the Asian Festival, and created a Team Boulder website. Grant links to Team Boulder’s homepage from his MySpace account, and as student council president, Max encourages his fellow students and their parents to become Grid team members.

How do they convince their friends that World Community Grid is cool? “I encourage the idea that World Community Grid doesn’t cost anything, but it helps a lot of people,” said Max. A lot of the Buster brothers’ friends have joined Team Boulder and now have their computers working for the Grid.

Grant and Max’s involvement with World Community Grid has even affected their daily lives. A recent interview with Boulder’s Daily Camera is posted in Max’s school and one of Grant’s friends just saw the article posted in her dentist’s office. “We get great community feedback,” Grant stated. “Lots of our friends talk about it,” added Max.

Neither brother plans on giving up their recruitment efforts on behalf of the Grid. Grant claimed that they “plan to continue doing this as long as World Community Grid is around.” It requires minimal upkeep and offers a maximum return.

Both young men also reveal a passion for the sciences. Grant’s favorite class was a chemistry/physics combination and Max loved his biology and life sciences course. Grant has “even thought about majoring in science in college.”

Today, Team Boulder is an official partner of World Community Grid, has over 250 members, and is ranked 63rd in the world in terms of membership—higher than Team United States, Team India, or Team Harvard University.

To learn more about World Community Grid, join Team Boulder, or start a team of your own, visit World Community Grid online.