Education, training, and outreach
are priorities for SynBERC investigators, who have
a strong commitment to young scientists at the
high school, undergraduate and graduate level. SynBERC researchers
have developed a number of educational programs targeted to high
school, undergraduate and graduate level students.
- Course development - SynBERC researchers
have developed dozens of new synthetic biology-related courses
or course modules at the graduate and undergraduate level.
- International Genetically Engineered
Machine (iGEM) Competition - This
annual design competition teaches mostly undergraduate teams of
students how to apply the principles of synthetic biology to design
and execute a novel biological system over the course of a summer.
- Undergraduate research
experiences - Mentored summer research
internships for undergraduates in the labs of SynBERC faculty.
- High School Biotech Training Program
at UC Berkeley - An 8-week paid
summer internship program for economically disadvantaged high
school sophomores and juniors.
- Research experiences for teachers
- SynBERC provides opportunities for teachers to engage in SynBERC
research, curriculum development, and participate as instructors
on iGEM teams.
- Saturday
Engineering Enrichment and Discovery (SEED) Academy at MIT -
An academic enrichment and career exploration program for public
high school students from Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
SynBERC students and faculty developed and taught a synthetic
biology course module for SEED high school seniors.
- BioBuilder.org - An
online teaching resource that features short animations exploring
and explaining fundamental synthetic biology content to a wide
audience of learners, including high school teachers and students.
Students are actively engaged in all aspects of the Center's
educational activities. They organize working groups, host inter-institutional
student exchanges, develop curriculum modules, teach courses, and
sponsor science talks. Graduate students at each of SynBERC's campuses
are represented on the SynBERC Student Leadership
Council (SLC). Through their work with the SLC, the students
share the results of their research and are involved in the day-to-day
workings of the center.
Education Team
Susan Marqusee, Education
Program Director
Natalie Kuldell, Edcation
Associate Director
Kate Spohr, Education Outreach
Manager
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