Turner Intermediate School Visits CMU
By Sofia Baybekova
On Tuesday, May 14th the Leonard Gelfand Center welcomed fifty-eight students from Turner Intermediate School to Carnegie Mellon University. The visit was organized by Gelfand Outreach and Director of Advancement Protocol and Visits, Tony Downs. During the visit, students were introduced to lecturers from CMU’s College of Engineering, Biohybrid and Organic Robotics Group (B.O.R.G), Department of Chemistry, and School of Computer Science CS Pathways.
The day began with a presentation from Dr. Victoria Webster-Wood, and her team of B.O.R.G researchers; PhD candidates Michael Bennington, Camila Fernandez, and Ravesh Sukhnandan, as well as Master’s candidate Gerardo Vega. Dr. Webster-Wood established the CMU Biohybrid and Organic Robotics Group in 2018.
Dr. Webster-Wood and the B.O.R.G. team present to students.
“The B.O.R.G.’s research focuses on the use of organic materials as structures, actuators, sensors, and controllers toward the development of biohybrid and organic robots and biohybrid prosthetics.”
The B.O.R.G. team gives students a live robotics demo.
During their presentations, Dr. Webster-Wood and her team told the students about their educational and professional backgrounds and shared what inspired each of them to pursue the study of organic robotics. Additionally, they talked in-depth about the exciting research being done at B.O.R.G., and performed a live demonstration of robotic actuators at work, using one of the teachers from Turner Intermediate as a volunteer.
Bella Ballin, a Lab Instructor from CMU’s Department of Chemistry gave the students an interactive chemistry lab experience. In the demonstration, students learned about polymer chemistry and weak hydrogen bonds, through the process of making their own colorful slime. Each student got to combine a solution of polyvinyl alcohol and borax to form a crosslinked polymer network.
Bella Ballin teaches students about polymer chemistry.
Students from Turner Elementary show off their slime.
The visit was finished with a presentation from Tiffany M. Todd the Outreach Program Manager for CMU’s School of Computer Science CS Pathways program, and Salo Cadavid Ocampo the Assistant Outreach Program Manager for CS Pathways. The goal of CS Pathways is to create inclusive and equitable programs and initiatives that help students from all backgrounds get on the path toward education within computer science. Todd and Ocampo introduced the students to the CS Pathways STEM Ambassadors initiative, which provides educational work opportunities to local teens within the field of Computer Science. STEM Ambassadors is just one example of the many outreach programs that exist within CS Pathways.
Tiffany M. Todd and Salo Cadavid Ocampo present to students.