STEM

A 2-Day event for 17 High School students from the Sacramento Area

Our major goal was to promote secondary STEM education and careers in communities with few opportunities for advanced STEM education. Students were able to learn basic science concepts by participating in hands-on scientific activities, interact with scientists from diverse backgrounds at UC Davis, and explore biotechnology companies around the area.

This program took place from July 24-25, 2019.

Day 1: Spend the day engaging with scientists and gain experience in hands-on science activities. 

Students were able to learn basic genetic concepts through learning how to perform cheek cell extractions led by Sergio Silva (left) , Benny Ordonez (middle), and Kirk Amundson (right) from the Comai Lab.
Dr. Veronica Martinez-Cerdeno (in the image below, on the left) from the Ventricular Foundation set up three hands-on activities for students to learn about neurobiology. Here, students are observing mouse brain cells and learning the basics of microscopy.
Students also observed animal brain dissections and participated in a NeuroProstetics experiment.
Students were able to ask questions to a panel of undergraduate students and young professions in the STEM field, and receive an introduction to bioinformatics.

Day 2: Field trip to Ag Biotech Companies in Davis

Students toured the facilities and learned about gene editing, tissue culture, laboratory automation, and growth chambers at Arcadia Biosciences.
Students toured the laboratories, greenhouses, and test fields at HM Clause. They learned about plant breeding, trait analysis and selection, and tomato quantitative analysis. 

Thank you to the participants and our partners for making this project a success!

Comai Lab

  1. Sergio Silva
  2. Benny Ordonez
  3. Kirk Amundson
  4. Lisa Malins
  5. Elena Tang
  6. Jasmine Supchukun
  7. Conor White

Stem Panelists

  1. Julie Ngov
  2. Melodie Najarro
  3. Joseph Rosas
  4. Isabelle Tankka 

The Ventricular Foundation 

  1. Veronica Martinez-Cerdeno
  2. Marisol Wolf-Ochoa
  3. Erin McBride

Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP)

EAOP is a publicly funded organization that works with the lowest performing schools in the Sacramento and Yolo county. They organize academic outreach programs to support students in their journey to college. EAOP helped us connect with students who were potentially interested in participating in the event. They managed the logistics regarding working with minors. Maryam Irfan and two other EAOP staff helped set up the event and assisted with student supervision.