STEMzone brings research to Saturday tailgate

Students and faculty from anthropology, genetics, marine sciences and cellular biology offered up-close interaction with UGA research to young fans attending the UGA-Missouri game this past Saturday:

STEMzone, now in its third year, hosted more than a dozen hands-on opportunities to engage people of all ages on research being done at UGA in the science, technology, engineering and math fields.

“We are glad to report that STEMzone fall 2019 was a great success,” said Caitlin Conn, a doctoral student in ecology and member of the STEMzone planning team. “Around 85 graduate student and faculty volunteers braved the cold weather to bring Bulldog fans 13 different interactive booths, ranging in topics from conservation and palm oil to regenerative bioscience. We were able to engage nearly 1,000 visitors of all ages (and team affiliations) with the STEM research being done at UGA.”

While STEMzone booths and activities were geared toward young children, people of all ages found something interesting to take part in as they made their way into the stadium, with a diverse range of topics including brain anatomy, monarch butterflies, reptiles and underwater robots.

Our thanks and congratulations to the many students involved in bringing this experience to Bulldog fans on campus for the game. We never know what kind of difference such an opportunity might make in the life of a young person. But STEMzone organizers and participating units are in no doubt about its importance and have created a great venue to share a part of their work and perhaps open up the world of wonder for a young fan.

Photo gallery by UGA photographer Dorothy Kozlowski.