Team:UCSC/Engagement

Engagement

Given our mission to unite the two distinct crises of agricultural waste and the rising diabetes epidemic, expanding accessibility and adoption to zero-calorie sweeteners became the foci of our Human Practices efforts. Public education and engagement rests at the core of these efforts. The Greenpeace debate granted us the opportunity to engage with students over controversial questions surrounding genetic modification, and allowed for open discussion on differing perspectives. An immensely rewarding experience, our synthetic biology presentation and strawberry DNA extraction with the bright young minds of the COSMOS program educated the next generation of ambitious scientists and engineers on the potential, curiosity, and wonder of synthetic biology. Additionally, our research survey into public perception of GMOs and the definition of ‘Natural’ placed us on the forefront of scientific inquiry into public opinion. Lastly, our Diabetes Walk fundraiser brought the entire community together to spread awareness and cultivate discussion around diabetes.

Check out our Human Practices main page here to see what we did!