A delegation of 10 students and nine educators from the Territory's public and private schools, along with two staff members from the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), participated in the 4th Biennial USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, April 14 – 17, 2016. The all-expense paid trip was made possible through the sponsorship of UVI’s Virgin Islands Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (VI-EPSCoR). While in the nation's capital, the team participated in several STEM-related activities, which included hands-on workshops, lectures, and interactions with experts, inventors, students, teachers and business organizations, among others.
On April 14, the group participated in the X-STEM Extreme Symposium—a series of interactive workshops and presentations led by career professionals and organizations that included but were not limited to Dr. Spyridon (Spiros) Michalakis, a quantum physicist; Best Buy’s Geek Squad Academy 3D design and printing; Helen Greiner, founder and CEO of CyPhy Works and co-founder, president and chairman of iRobot; Shubham Banerjee, thirteen-year-old inventor of the Braigo text-to-Braille printer; Dr. Anne Cohen, a bio-geochemist who, along with a team of fellow scientists, tracks the impact of climate change on coral reef ecosystems; and Dr. Jessica Meir, NASA astronaut.
A memorable moment of the trip came when V.I. students had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Dr. Spiros following his presentation on quantum mechanics. Spiros had previously held captive the attention of the attendees, many of whom were school-aged children, as he chronicled the trajectory of his life--growing up as a child in Greece solving mathematics puzzles, to studying computer science and math at MIT, and being rejected from Ph.D. programs. Equipped with video and audio equipment, the students questioned Dr. Spiros on his background, with a prolific interest on the role he played as the scientific advisor for the Ant-Man movie. As students took turns engaging Spiros, conversations also arose around the topic of quantum teleportation and its future implications for mankind.
The next three days were filled with stimulating activities, where students and teachers began each day planning and confirming their selected workshops and other events based on their diverse interests. The V.I. team could be seen hastily moving from one location to another, determined to acquire the information and products being disseminated. Of great attraction was the Exhibit Hall—an expansive, colorful room that housed thousands of attendees, and hundreds of presenters and equipment all with a common focus on STEM. Among the exhibitors were Lockheed Martin, the founding and presenting host; several universities; 3M' Chevron; the National Science Foundation; NASA, and other entities.
During their stay, the V.I. cohort also visited historical sites, government offices, museums, and attractions that included the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett, the National Air and Space Museum, the grounds of the Washington Monument, the Sculpture Garden, and the perimeter of the White House. Both students and teachers left Washington, D.C. with a renewed and heightened appreciation for STEM disciplines in all their facets.
As a prerequisite to attend the USA Science and Engineering Festival, students were asked to submit an application consisting of either an essay of less than 500 words, a podcast no longer than two minutes in length, or a less than two-minute video where they answered three things: (1) how would attending the festival affect their lives; (2) why are they the best individuals to represent the U.S. Virgin Islands; and (3) what are their future career plans. Educators interested in attending were asked to submit an application consisting of one of the following: an essay of less than 250 words, a podcast less than one minute, or a video less than one minute through which they answered two questions: (1) how would attending the festival influence their teaching and (2) why are they the best individuals to represent the Virgin Islands.
There were 59 student entries that underwent an initial review with the applications separated by school districts—St. Croix and St. Thomas-St. John--with the intent of including an equal number of students from both districts. Of this number, 20 met the full application criteria. There were also nine teacher applications. Where possible, a blind review was conducted, for example, with the essay submissions, by redacting students’ names. The reviewers were comprised of VIDE and UVI professionals.
The logistics for this initiative were spearheaded by Dr. Carrie Bucklin, outreach and education coordinator at VI-EPSCoR with on-site support from Christina Chanes, program assistant at UVI’s 4-H/FCS and Joey Demarco, citizen science coordinator at the university.
For additional information on the Science Festival visit http://www.usasciencefestival.org/2016-festival.html. Everyone remains particularly thankful to VI-EPSCoR for making this opportunity available. For information on VI-EPSCoR and their initiatives see http://www.uvi.edu/research/epscor/.
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