PaintFest
On March 2nd, 2024, Bassett Healthcare Network partnered with Oneonta World of Learning (OWL) to organize their 4th Annual Painfest. The year’s theme was “Science of Color,” which allowed children to explore scientific concepts through a creative lens. Our team was invited to host a table at the event where we had a number of fun science activities, including “paint with bugs” where children could make their own paint by crushing dried cochineal bugs and adding buffers of different pH’s to make different colors. We introduced the field of synthetic biology with plates of bacteria that were engineered to express fluorescent proteins in a box with a black light. We explained how we took genes from jellyfish and put them into the cells to make them produce the amazing colors they could see. We then asked them to think about how a scientist could make bacteria that are colored red like the cochineal bug.
DNA Day Celebration
April 25th is National DNA Day in the US. To engage college students on the SUNY Oneonta campus, we hosted a movie night celebration at the AJ Read Science Discovery Center. Activities included making candy models of DNA and watching the film “They Cloned Tyrone.”
Oneonta Farmers Market
On September 21st, 2024, our team hosted a table at a local farmer’s market in Oneonta. This was an educational outreach event in which we communicated with Oneonta community members about semiconductor industry developments that could have an effect on the quality and quantity of their water supply. Our information centered around the increase in semiconductor manufacturers from the NYS Green CHIPS Act and its potential economic and environmental implications for the people of Oneonta. This event allowed our team to answer questions from community members in our area and inform our understanding of their concerns.
BBYO Student Visit
On July 10th, 2024, our team hosted an international group of 40 high schoolers from a BBYO Summer Leadership Program in partnership with the AJ Read Science Discovery Center, a hands-on science museum on the SUNY Oneonta campus. As part of a hands-on STEM experience, members of the wet lab team and advisors led student groups in preparing buffers and bacterial growth media. Some of these solutions were eventually used in our growth studies. The experience included an interactive mini-lecture on synthetic biology where students were taught the basic principles of the field and introduced to our project. Additionally, students also received insight into the field of science and how it can translate into different career paths
Tie-dye Friday & Letter Writing Campaign
On September 20th, 2024, our team partnered with the SUNY Oneonta Philosophy Club to host a campus event for SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College students. Members of the team provided materials for tie-dying t-shirts while engaging in discussions about iGEM, our team’s work, and the social, economic, and environmental issues raised by the expansion of semiconductor manufacturing in New York State. Team members prepared and distributed flyers with information about semiconductor manufacturing, the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, the NYS Green CHIPS Act, and the impacts of the development of the largest U.S. semiconductor fab, which is proposed to be built in upstate NY. Our team also provided informational flyers describing proposed NYS legislation aimed at strengthening environmental regulation and monitoring, helped students and community members identify their state representatives, and prepared and provided explanations and simplified tools that our community members could utilize in participating in the democratic process to affect changes for a safer and healthier community.
Summer Research Showcase
SUNY Oneonta hosted a Summer Research and Creative Activity Showcase for the campus and local community on September 24, 2024. We prepared two distinct presentations, one focusing on the scientific aspects of our work and the other presenting our Human Practices work. Team members presented posters, short, formal talks, and spoke informally with faculty, students, alumni, and community members about our iGEM team and its work.
