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MRSEC & RTI Hosts Science Outreach to Waltham Teachers

November 12, 2019 By

  • Watch City Technology event

The Brandeis Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) and the Brandeis Research Technology and Innovation (or MakerLab) hosted a day of science and technology outreach on November 5, 2019. In the morning and for the fifth straight year, 23 Waltham High School Science teachers participated in a professional development workshop with 15 Brandeis scientists called, “Brandeis Scientists in the Classroom.” The teams of scientists and teachers visited laboratories and developed curriculum for the scientists to make future classroom visits to the High School to increase awareness of Brandeis science and to encourage WHS students to pursue STEM careers. In the afternoon, the teams were joined by more than 60 Brandeis students, staff and members of the greater community for a public event called, “Watch:City Science and Technology Forum.” This event celebrated Waltham and Brandeis as hubs of technology and discovery and promoted SciLinkR.com as a way to connect with professionals and promote science. There were short talks about public engagement with science by Waltham High School teachers Marisa Maddox and Ellen Stanton and by Brandeis scientists, Professor Avi Rodal, Dr. Anique Olivier-Mason, Dr. Vivek Vimal, and Raul Ramos. Participants also networked with each other during the poster session (20 posters by Brandeis scientists) and explored the gallery of Brandeis contributions to the Journal of Stories in Science. The organizers’ goal was for attendees to gain new perspectives in science and technology.

The event was sponsored by the Brandeis MRSEC, Research Technology & Innovation, Library, Hassenfeld Family Innovation Center, Nova BioMedical, AstraZeneca, and the New England Journal of Medicine.

 

 

 

Filed Under: events, General, labs Tagged With: , , ,

Science Posse Scholars Present Posters July 9 at SSC Atrium

July 2, 2018 By

Student at Science Posse Session

On July 9th, incoming Science Posse Scholars will be presenting posters on various research topics including pheromones, computational models of galaxies, and software engineering.  The event will take place in the Shapiro Science Center atrium from 1:30 to 3:00 PM. The 10 scholars are interested in pursuing STEM degrees and will all start here at Brandeis in the fall.

Everyone is encouraged to attend.

Filed Under: events, labs, Undergrads Tagged With: , ,

Waltham Teachers Meet with Brandeis Scientists

November 10, 2017 By

Brandeis scientists & Waltham teachers

On Tuesday, November 7th, 32 science teachers from Waltham Public Middle and High Schools visited the Brandeis science labs as part of the Third Annual Brandeis Scientists in the Classroom Workshop. The workshop is designed to be an opportunity to connect middle and high school science teachers with Brandeis scientists. The teachers were grouped and matched with 14 Brandeis graduate students, postdocs and faculty who shared their Brandeis science research directly with the teachers to help them understand what we do, so they can better integrate science into their classroom lessons.

This event was an extension of an ongoing partnership between Brandeis and Waltham High School and was sponsored by the Brandeis MRSEC. The Waltham school district has a high percentage of students from backgrounds underrepresented in the sciences. Brandeis offers several on-going programs with Waltham teachers and students in an effort to broaden their participation in STEM.

Filed Under: events, labs, outreach, teaching Tagged With: , ,

Brandeis’ Pioneering Science Posse Program

May 4, 2017 By
Photo: Mike Lovett

Samia Tamazi ’20

BrandeisNow has posted an article about the history and accomplishments of the Brandeis’ Science Posse program. Read the following excerpt or the entire article:

In June, Macareno and his posse, all Class of 2020, get off Amtrak’s Acela Express train and take a shuttle bus to Brandeis for science boot camp. On the first day, they gather in a classroom in the Abelson physics building […]

(Melissa) Kosinski-Collins, who earned a PhD at MIT, tells them college science is profoundly different from high-school science. With equal parts candor and caring, she sets high expectations, describing the intense workload. The students know that they will be held to lofty standards and that she will support them.

Later in the day, they gather around a long lab table in the Shapiro Science Center, in an area Kosinski-Collins calls Hufflepuff — a nod to one of the houses at Harry Potter’s Hogwarts School. An array of equipment is scattered before them — pipettes, balances, bottles of acetic acid (vinegar) and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). There are also aluminum foil, Kimwipes, Scotch tape and Ziploc bags.

The students’ assignment is to build an air bag. When acetic acid combines with sodium bicarbonate, they produce carbon dioxide. The students must figure out how much of each chemical to add to fully inflate a quart-size Ziploc bag. But they also have to protect an egg placed inside the bag. This is where the foil, tape and extra bags come in. Along with the cushion of air, these items can be used to keep the egg from cracking when they drop the bag from the Science Center steps, about 15 feet above the ground.

There’s an important catch. Several months earlier, at a meeting in New York, the students got the same assignment. They also completed lab reports describing the quantities of chemicals they used and how they arranged the materials inside the bag to protect the egg. These lab reports are now handed out to different students. They have 10 minutes to repeat the earlier experiment using the reports as a guide […]

Read more at BrandeisNow

Filed Under: labs, teaching, Undergrads Tagged With: , , , ,

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