OUTREACH & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Genome Sciences is deeply committed to community outreach – we want to share our science with the public and help inspire the next generation of scientists!

Here are several initiatives, both internal and external, that have ongoing participation from Genome Sciences. Many are actively recruiting volunteers, so please get in touch with the contact person(s) if you’d like to join the effort or get more information about the program.

If you’d like to submit an additional outreach program to this list please contact Brian Giebel (bgiebel [ a t ] uw.edu).

INTERNAL PROGRAMS

Education Outreach
Biology and medicine are changing dramatically as we begin the 21st century. Deciphering the human genome, the blueprint for human heredity, will lead to fundamental changes in the way science and medicine are practiced. New information from the Human Genome Project will present striking social and ethical challenges as well as unique opportunities that require citizens to understand science to make informed decisions. To prepare society for these challenges, we need to develop state-of-the-art curricula in both science and ethics for K-12 schools.

UW Genome Sciences develops innovative programs that bring leading-edge science to teachers and students in K-12 schools. These programs provide interdisciplinary, hands-on science curricula, teacher training, equipment, and support to promote systemic change in schools. Please see the Education Outreach website for more information

Public Lecture Series
The human genome is our complete DNA sequence of 3 billion letters specifying all of our hereditary information. The determination of this sequence – completed in the last few years – will have a tremendous impact on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease. The UW Department of Genome Sciences is one of the leading centers where the genome is being interpreted and where new technologies for this analysis are being developed. These exciting discussions assume no background knowledge in genetics or other biological subjects and provide opportunities to chat with our presenters. Lectures are generally held during July.

Genome Sciences Summer REU Program: This is a longstanding summer research program for underrepresented minority undergraduate students from around the country. The program has been in existence since 2009, and has allowed numerous participants to be successful in their pursuit of MDs, PhDs, MD/PhDs and other STEM careers.

Contact person(s): Atom Lesiak (alesiak [ a t ] uw.edu), Christine Queitsch (queitsch [ a t ] uw.edu), Brian Giebel (bgiebel [ a t ] uw.edu)
Actively recruiting volunteers: Yes! (Discuss opportunities with your PI and Christine)
Particularly seeking: REU student mentors (advocate for your PI to take on a student)
Timing: Summer
Time commitment: Variable depending on the project and level of mentorship. Program lasts 10 weeks, mentors do not need to be present for entire time.

yEvo: a high school teaching lab using yeast experimental evolution and genomics

Contact person(s): Maitreya Dunham (maitreya [ a t ] uw.edu)
Actively recruiting volunteers: Yes!
Particularly seeking: people who want to interact with teachers and students; people who want to help with curriculum pilot projects, writing up instructor materials, and/or bioinformatics/data visualization; here's a list of ideas/needs
Timing: year-round
Time commitment: can vary based on interest level

•  Yeast in professional and amateur breweries: We work with brewers to study how yeast evolve during use. We also give talks at breweries, brewing podcasts, and homebrew clubs.
  
  Contact person(s): Maitreya Dunham (maitreya [ a t ] uw.edu)
  Actively recruiting volunteers: Yes!
  Particularly seeking: people who want to introduce us to potentially interested brewers, people interested in coordinating with brewers, people interested in analyzing DNA sequences of samples
  Timing: year-round
  Time commitment: can vary based on interest level

• STEMPals: Get matched with classrooms locally in Seattle to write pen pal letters with a science classroom. Email us to get on our listserv to get involved!
  
  Contact person(s): GSAIMS (eaguil [ a t ] uw.edu and pcrparrish [ a t ] uw.edu).
  Actively recruiting volunteers: Yes!
  Particularly seeking: participants who want to write letters.
  Timing: year-round
  Time commitment: 2-3 hours per year

Genome Hackers: A week long summer camp for high school students identifying as a gender minority. Daily lessons in wet lab and computational skills (taught by GS grad students!). The goal of the program is to put STEM-interested high schoolers in the same room as STEM undergrad students, grad students, and faculty to make the path to a career in STEM more clear.

Contact person(s): Leah Anderson (leaha3 [ a t ] uw.edu), Malvika Tejura (mtejura [ a t ] uw.edu), Elizabeth Plender (plendere [ a t ] uw.edu), Sydney Sattler (sydsat [ a t ] uw.edu), Atom Lesiak (alesiak [ a t ] uw.edu)
Actively recruiting volunteers: Yes!
Particularly seeking: everyone!
Timing: summer (1-week)
Time commitment: minimum: teach one 1-hour session to high schoolers. maximum: join the planning team and meet 2 hour/week in spring, 2-4 hour/week leading up to camp, and the 1 week camp.

EXTERNAL PROGRAMS

GEMS (Girls in Engineering, Math & Science): GEMS focuses on introducing middle school girls to a broad range of scientific topics through hands-on activities throughout the school year.

Contact person(s): GEMS organization gems [ a t ] seattleawis.org
Actively recruiting volunteers: Yes!
Particularly seeking: everyone!
Timing: academic school year
Time commitment: 2 hours per month; longer if you are planning/leading a module

UW Science Explorers: Goes to Sanislo elementary schools and do a once a week after school program to help get third and fourth graders into science

Contact person(s): Science Explorers (uwscienceexplorer [ a t ] gmail.com)
Actively recruiting volunteers: Yes!
Particularly seeking: everyone!
Timing: academic school year
Time commitment: once a week after school program

• Skype a Scientist: Get matched with elementary, middle, and high school classrooms across the country to video chat with students to talk about life as a scientist, tell them about your research, and answer their questions. A fun way to inspire the next generation to pursue research careers!
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  Contact person(s): Sign up for a classroom match at https://www.skypeascientist.com/, then you will contact your matched teacher directly to arrange your presentation.
  Actively recruiting volunteers: Yes!
  Particularly seeking: everyone!
  Timing: academic school year
  Time commitment: 2-3 hours per year if you have 1-2 matches; can do many more classrooms if you have bandwidth!

• Seattle's chapter of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) has a group mentoring program that brings together women in STEM at all levels for professional guidance! Groups are organized around a main focus that includes either early career advice, changing careers, non-traditional jobs in science, teaching science, navigating the workplace, or general mentoring.

• Contact person(s): Seattle Association for Women in Sciences Mentoring Committee (mentoring@seattleawis.org)
  Actively recruiting volunteers: Yearly program (October-May), but welcome to email anytime to get added to our contact list!
  Particularly seeking: Mentors and mentees. Mentors are often mid-career STEM professionals and beyond, but early-career mentors also welcome! Has included PIs, research scientists, engineers, project managers. Mentees span undergraduates and beyond, and non-scientists interested in scientific work
  Timing: October – May (every year)
  Time commitment: One-time 2 hour kick-off in October. 2 hour meeting each month from November – May (and additional prep work).
  

• Advice on Career Village: Students all over the world post questions about different careers and how to prepare for them. You sign up with keywords that you feel able to provide advice on and they send specific questions you can answer if you have the time. 
  Contact person(s): https://www.careervillage.org/
  Actively recruiting volunteers: Yes!
  Particularly seeking: Everyone!
  Timing: year-round
  Time commitment: whatever you want
  
  Girls who Code: The Fred Hutch Girls Who Code club is a year-long after-school club for high school aged (grades 10-12) girls run by computational biology graduate students at Fred Hutch and UW. 
  Contact persons(s): Madeleine Duran (duran [ a t ] uw.edu)
  Actively recruiting volunteers: Yes!
  Particularly seeking: Volunteer teachers, Lead Facilitators
  Timing: 2 sessions per year
  Time commitment: We meet weekly after school at the Fred Hutch campus.

• POC Owned Seattle Businesses for Catering

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