In the Education Panel "Groundbreakers: Discussions with Youth Pioneering Community Bio," three other teen girls and I shared and discussed our experience as teen mentors for BioJam, a Stanford BioE summer program, with the other two inspiring youth bioengineers on the panel. We shared how we developed educational activities such as videos and presentations, mentored in an online format in collaboration with our instructors to create a creative community, and engaged peers from different communities about bioengineering and biomaterial design. Also, we discussed our own engagement in biology as youth and experiences/opportunities that have been most influential for our journeys of engaging the public in the bio community.
2020, August, online w/ the Tech Interactive - GIY Bio Buddies Panel Presentation and Q&A Session
We, the GIY Bio Buddies (Trisha Sathish, Anne Hu, and I), did a virtual talk panel presentation about biomaterials (information and how to grow them yourself) and a bit about us and our GIY Bio Buddies toy kit, a prospective biomaterial exploration kit that includes the materials and information to grow your own toys. Our focus in our work, kit, and in the talk is to enable people of all ages and experiences to get engaged and inspired in sustainability design through creative making with the biomaterials kombucha leather and mycelium. In creating accessible ways for people to learn and explore with biomaterials, we hope to get a broader community engaged and empowered to make, design, and create sustainably with bio. We explained and discussed kombucha leather and mycelium, what they are, how to grow them, and activities you could do with them. We also provided resources for growing and learning about biodesign. In the Q&A we answered over 40 questions asked by the audience about us, biomaterials, and growing them.
Presentation was recorded and uploaded on the Tech Interactive Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/nnCbB8IDQA4
Construct 3D 2020: MycoQuilts
2020, February @ RICE University (Texas) - BioJam Camp 2019 Poster Session
Myself and one other teen presented the MycoQulit project at the Construct 3D poster session. The poster was designed by the participants of the BioJam Camp 2019 (six other teens and I) and the poster won First Prize Poster out of all the Construct 3D posters. The MycoQuilts project blends biology, digital fabrication, and art in an exploration that celebrates self expression, community, and culture. Created by seven teens from the BioJam Camp, the textile of mycelium biomaterial grown in vacuum formed molds exhibits shapes of various cultural and personal symbols and objects, from conchas (a mexican dessert) to kendamas (a traditional japanese toy). In addition to displaying a spread of cultures, the quilt explores various cultural substrates such as instant ramen noodles and tea. It is a biofabrication experiment that highlights opportunities to incorporate a range of traditional tooling and 3D printing into new pathways for grown assemblies that leverage locally sourced materials.
MIT Global Community Bio Summit 3.0: GIY Bio Buddies
2019, October @ MIT Media Lab - GIY Bio Buddies Opening presentation, Panel, Display, and Workshop
We, the GIY Bio Buddies (Trisha Sathish, Anne Hu, and I), presented as the opening presentation on Day 2 at the MIT Global Community Bio Summit 3.0. In that opening 'keynote,' we presented on our entry in the BioDesign Challenge (see entry below) and our kit: the GIY Bio Buddies kit. Our focus through the kit and our journey was to enable and engage a broad community of all ages and experiences in biodesign through the intersection of biomaterials, art, making, and creativity. We also presented/participated in the "Can Science Save Fashion?" panel and led a kombucha leather silhouette design workshop called "Character Clothes."
BioDesign Challenge Summit: GIY Bio Buddies
2019, June @ the New School (NY), the MoMA (NY), and Parsons School of Design Gallery Project Presentation, Gallery Display, and Finalist Presentation - GIY Bio Buddies
We, the GIY Bio Buddies (Trisha Sathish, Anne Hu, and I), entered the BioDesign Challenge in 2019 as one of the first high school team entries. We designed the GIY Bio Buddies toy kit. A prospective kit that includes the necessary supplies to grow, create, explore, and play with the biomaterials mycelium and kombucha leather, which are represented by the friendly characters, SCOBY and Fun Gus.
We presented our project first at the New School (in New York) and also had our kit and project on display in the "Life in Reply" Gallery at Parsons School of Design. We were chosen as finalists so we then presented again, this time at the Museum of Modern Art (in New York). We won Outstanding Research and Runner Up to the Grand Prize.
2019, March @ Columbia University's Teacher College - GIY Bio Buddies Student Panel and Poster Session
The GIY Bio Buddies (Trisha Sathish, Anne Hu, and I) presented in the FabLearn conference 2019 in the student panel and in the poster session about our biomaterial journey: which was our exploration phase for designing a toy kit to enter in the Bio Design Challenge, an international challenge that aims to engage students in designing a future application for bio design. We shared the lessons we learned and the discoveries that we made while exploring the biomaterial kombucha leather.
Construct 3D 2018: Nature + Tech Workshops
2018, October @ Georgia Tech Poster Session
At the Construct 3D conference in 2018 at Georgia Tech, I shared our (Trisha Sathish, Lauren Lee, and I) summer’s pop-up workshops at McClellan Ranch Preserve in Cupertino. We developed and led workshops for youth that blended technology and nature with a range of 3D printed components. We presented our project goals, lesson plans and outcome. Here is our project website: https://naturalfunworkshops.weebly.com/
FabLearn Conference 2017: DIY Paper Microscopes Workshops
2017, October @ Stanford Student Presentation and Poster session
Trisha Sathish, Lauren Lee, and I presented on developing and conducting workshops (DIY Paper Microscope Workshops) in our community to make science more accessible and interactive by getting people to create and innovate their own DIY microscopes and delve into nature Fablearn 2017 at Stanford. The materials were basic craft materials (notecards, tape, straws) and a plexiglass sphere for magnification. We got the Kurt Giessler Grant for doing the workshops.
FabLearn 2016: Girls' 3D Printing Journey; Designing for Space
2016, October @ Stanford Presentation
Our After School Girl 3D Printing Club (included Emily Takara, Trisha Sathish, and Lauren Lee), presented our exploration in designing containers useful to astronauts in zero gravity at Fablearn 2016 at Stanford. We explored a range of CAD software to design these for entry in the Future Engineer K-12 Challenge ( http://futureengineers.org/startrek ) We created these designs to not only be useful, but to also bring culture and comfort into space. We shared that it is important to design to your interests and to create a non-competitive learning space for inviting girls to enter engineering design challenges.