Team:Stony Brook/Engagement

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Community Outreach

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Building With Biology Event

Stony Brook iGEM collaborated with The Maritime Explorium to plan a Building With Biology Event. This event was designed to educate children aged 6-13 on synthetic biology through hands on activities and conversations with iGEM team members and other scientists. The events included teaching the children about DNA and cellular functions, the influence of synthetic biology in things that they already see every day, like food, and about BioBricks and how they're used. Activities were aimed not just to educate the attendees, but to alleviate any fears about synthetic biology and genetic engineering that the public had. We also spoke to some of the older attendees about research since some of them were interested in it but didn't know how to get involved.

New York Hall of Science Forum

Team members ran a forum centered around the ethics of genetic engineering, specifically applied to mosquitos. We facilitated discussion between scientists and the public on the impact genetic engineering could have and its presence in the world today. We also participated in a mixer with attendees to address any questions they had about genetic engineering. We also presented on our project and the implications it could have in the future.

DNA Learning Center

iGEM team members went to the DNA Learning Center at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to present about iGEM, what BioBricks are, how they're made, and what purpose they'd have, as well as our projects and why we're doing them. We also spoke about iGEM as a research opportunity, since the majority of the audience were incoming high school freshmen who were interested in genetic engineering and research on biological systems. We also spoke to the assistant director of the learning center about helping her out with a class that the lab plans to hold on synthetic biology in the future and making ourselves available if she needed us.

Port Jefferson Maker's Faire

The team represented iGEM at The Maker's Faire, an event that allows the local youth to explore science and robotics and meet innovators in the field. We were able to set up a table and talk to people about what iGEM and synthetic biology are all about. We also held demonstrations of elephant toothpaste using yeast, and afterwards, explaining that yeast's uses aren't limited to beer, bread and bubbles, but can also be used for vaccine preservation and cancer detection as well.

Stony Brook University Admitted Students' Day

Team members introduced iGEM to prospective students as a great first stepping stone for undergraduates to get involved in research. Previous Stony Brook iGEM projects were presented as an example of what research past teams have done.

Presentation for CSTEP Summer Students

We presented for CSTEP Students, which are incoming freshmen at Stony Brook University. We presented about the basics of synthetic biology, since many of the students already had a foundation in AP Biology. We also spoke about our projects and what they plan to accomplish, as well as why they're important. We answered any questions that the students had about research, college, and our projects.

Presentation at the Seawolves Community Movie Night

iGEM team members had a table at the Seawolves Community Move Night and spoke to people about what iGEM was and what our projects were. We also spoke to some college students there that were interested in getting into research but didn't know how. We also advertised for our Building With Biology event to be held in mid August

Presentations for the Lang Program students

iGEM team members presented about synthetic biology in today's world as well as iGEM and the premise of BioBricks for high school researchers involved in the Lang Program through the Museum of Natural History.

Stony Brook University College of Arts and Sciences Pre-College Institute

iGEM team members presented about synthetic biology and our projects to high school students doing a summer research program at Stony Brook University.

Presentations at AP Biology classes at a local high school

Members of the team were able to present at Centereach High School about what synthetic biology is, the basic ideas of our projects, and how iGEM is a chance for incoming freshmen to get involved in research. Examples of synthetic biology in use today were presented along with our project idea.