Team:Stony Brook/Human Practices
iGEM teams are leading in the area of Human Practices because they conduct their projects within a social/environmental context, to better understand issues that might influence the design and use of their technologies.
Teams work with students and advisors from the humanities and social sciences to explore topics concerning ethical, legal, social, economic, safety or security issues related to their work. Consideration of these Human Practices is crucial for building safe and sustainable projects that serve the public interest.
For more information, please see the Human Practices Hub.
Note
You must fill out this page in order to be considered for all awards for Human Practices:
- Human Practices silver medal criterion
- Human Practices gold medal criterion
- Best Integrated Human Practices award
- Best Education and Public Engagement award
Some Human Practices topic areas
- Philosophy
- Public Engagement / Dialogue
- Education
- Product Design
- Scale-Up and Deployment Issues
- Environmental Impact
- Ethics
- Safety
- Security
- Public Policy
- Law and Regulation
- Risk Assessment
What should we write about on this page?
On this page, you should write about the Human Practices topics you considered in your project, and document any special activities you did (such as visiting experts, talking to lawmakers, or doing public engagement).
Community Outreach
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 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.
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.
Building With Biology Event
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New York Hall of Science Forum
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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 and how they're made, 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.
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 and how iGEM is a chance for even incoming freshmen to get involved in research. Examples of synthetic biology in use today were presented along with our project idea.
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.
