Team:Nevada/Human Practices/hp-community

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iGEM Students are Part of Their Community

Nevada iGEM works hard every year to find more and more ways to involve ourselves with our local community. We strongly believe that science should never be exclusionary, and that everyone working in research (especially students) should take some time to get out of their lab and talk to their fellow community members. Through various events, talks, activities, we hope to raise awareness and support for Nevada iGEM in our city, and also to become active community participants ourselves.

Rotary Club and Polio Plus

As part of our June online fundraising campaign, we donated 10% of our proceeds to Polio Plus through Rotary International and our local Sunrise Rotary Club. Rotary Club International, along with other groups, are currently on a mission to eradicate polio globally. Since our work involves the eradication of specific plant diseases, we wanted to do our part to participate in a related effort in humans. We presented our friends at the Sunrise Rotary Club with a check for Polio Plus during one of their meeting. They were kind enough to also allow us time to speak about iGEM and our project for this year.

We spoke just before a presentation by the new University of Nevada, Reno athletic director, and he emphasized that iGEM was a clear example of how UNR can compete both athletically and intellectually with other colleges. It is important that iGEM students have an opportunity to participate in local and global efforts, but also a means of communicating the team's and the university's goals to the citizens of our city. Nevada iGEM is looking forward to a continued relationship with Rotary Club. The Sunrise Rotary club have already invited us back to speak in October about our experiences at the iGEM Jamboree!

Jello Cells for Kids at Field Day

Another opportunity to promote iGEM and participate in a great community event was at the College Field Day in September. Every fall the Nevada iGEM team sets up a table where kids learn about the organelles found in cells through the use of candy (e.g. giant gumdrops are the nuclei, orange Mikes and Ikes are the mitochondria, licorice twists are the ER, etc.). These candy “organelles” are embedded into jello cup "cells" by the children while an iGEM student teaches them about parts and their functions. Other iGEM students can use this time to talk to the parents about iGEM and their project while the kids have fun making (and eating) their cells.

Promoting iGEM at the Local Community College

The iGEM team was invited to speak to Truckee Meadows Community College students. The talk took place in a class called Research Methodologies which focuses on specific areas of science and biotechnology. One of the primary goals of this course is to demonstrate to students who are considering entering an impacted field, such as nursing, that there are alternative career choices. Our goal was to show them that, through iGEM, scientific researc can be both challenging and fun.