Both Meg and Maura participated as judges for the Virginia Piedmont Regional Science Fair. The fair was held on March 9, 2017 at John Paul Jones arena in Charlottesville Virginia and hosted students from all over central Virginia. This is a great event that allows both middle and high school students to showcase their creativity and scientific skills. More information on the fair and how to get involved can be found here
Posts filed under Outreach
Dr. Pompano goes to Richmond capitol
On January 12, 2017, the first Thursday of the legislative session, Colleen Taylor (faculty at Virginia State) and Rebecca Pompano (UVA) participated in Virginia Higher Education Advocacy Day at the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond. The theme of the day was “Hands off Higher Education -- Maintaining Commonwealth Support for Higher Education.”
As faculty, we urged our state delegates and senators to resist the temptation to cut funds further from public education: state funding per student already declined by 46% and 31% for 4-year and community colleges respectively, from FY 2001 to FY 2014.(1) Funding for education directly affects the quality of science training that Virginia students receive to prepare them for future careers and active citizenship.
We especially thank Charlottesville's Delegate David Toscano for taking the time to meet with us. We appreciate his strong ongoing support for higher education.
1. D. Toscano, “Politics and The Great Cost Shift in State-Funded Higher Education.” Virginia General Assembly Update. October 20, 2016.
From left: Brian Turner (Randolph-Macon College), Colleen Taylor (Virginia State), Rebecca Pompano (UVA), Gerry Sherayko (Randolph College, President of VA Conference of American Association of University Professors)
Quote visible on the wall of VA state capitol: "Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." --Thomas Jefferson, 1789.
MicroTAS in Dublin!
Dr. Pompano and Dr. Ross both attended this year's MicroTAS conference in Dublin, Ireland! MicroTAS is a world-wide microfluidics conference where Dr. Ross presented on the local stimulation device.
Dr. Pompano took part in the outreach program.
Overall it was a great conference and we look forward to many more in the coming months!
Visit from St. Anne's
We were lucky enough to be visited by the talented chemistry students at St. Anne's Belfield School in February. We were able to advise them on their long term, multidisciplinary projects which covered topics such as glass manufacturing and fermentation. It was great to hear about their projects and give them some new ideas. We also took them on a tour of the lab where they got to see microfluidics in action!
Prof. Pompano speaks at GradUCon at U Chicago
Many thanks to the University of Chicago Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs for the invitation to speak on a career panel, "Year One as Faculty"! The 2015 GradUCon conference on April 10 was full of energy and a privilege to be a part of.
AAI Public Policy Fellows go to Washington
Prof. Pompano traveled to Washington, DC on March 11 to discuss the need for stable funding for biomedical research with our congresspeople. This trip was organized by the American Association of Immunologists Public Policy Fellowship Program. We met with the offices of Virginia Senator Mark Warner, Senator Tim Kaine, and Representative Robert Hurt. All were welcoming and supportive of the importance of research to improving human health and facilitating job growth in our district and state. Many thanks to all who organized this day!
Public Policy fellows were young faculty and postdocs from across the United States. The program was organized by Lauren Gross (far left) and Jacob Schumacher (2nd from right) of the AAI Public Policy office.
Fellows and AAI representatives with Mr. Charlie Arnowitz, assistant to Senator Warner.
