Synthetic biology is still a poorly understood tool by the public at large and even students. Working at NASA, our team had the additional responsibility of educating Agency officials and other members of the federal government. To this end, our outreach this summer included participation in the following events.
● Participation in the Bay Area Maker Faire and the World Maker Faire in New York
● Brown University's 250th open house
● NASA Ames 75th anniversary open house
● A visit by the University of California iGEM team
● Collaborations with the California Academy of Sciences
● Contributions to the iGEM Newsletter
● Participation in and presentation for the Stanford research experiences for undergraduates (REU) program
● The Stanford high school Bioengineering Bootcamp
● Presentations to DNA2.0
● Northern California iGEM Meetup at the University of California Santa Cruz
Beyond this, we have hosted:
● Congressman Ami Bera of California’s 7th Congressional District from the U.S. House of Representatives
● NASA Ames Center Director S. Pete Worden
● NASA Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan
● NASA Chief Technologist David Miller and staff
● Dr. Barry Groves, Superintendent of Mountain View/Los Altos School District and his staff.