Team:UT-Knoxville/Engagement
Team:UT-Knoxville/Team
UTK
iGEM
Outreach
Outreach is a very important factor for our project. Talking to those around our community, various students on our campus, and experts in the field help us gain a fresh perspective on our research and insight on how to expand our project next year. With the expanding field, it is important to discuss the societal impacts and ethics of bioengineering and genetic manipulation to familiarize the public with the various ongoing research. Reaching out to the public is also a great way to get donations and support for our research. Overall, we have reached out to over 400 people across our community and field by discussing and practicing our research with them while encouraging younger students to get involved in research! We would like to thank all of those we met with who have helped us develop our project.
Volstarter Fundraiser
We participated in the Volstarter Awareness Day to help our team raise money for our research and travel through our iGEM Volstarter account. Several were interested in learning more and donating to our iGEM Volstarter account.
Taste of Science
 |
 |
 |
 |
Taste of Science is an upcoming, nation-wide movement that invites researchers and members of various science fields to come and discuss their work with the general public. In order to not be too overwhelming, it is recommended that the presenters only draw on white boards and do not use PowerPoint slides. This allows for a more relaxed and informative setting where everyone in the audience can stay engaged. Our team has presented in two Taste of Science events that had a total audience of about 20 people.
Freshman Orientation Presentations
We presented to incoming freshmen at our university about the research opportunities our college supports especially under the College of Engineering. We also focused on research in synthetic biology and our iGEM project’s ongoing and future work.
 |
 |
These sessions were very fulfilling. Having been in their shoes not long ago, it was exciting to show them the opportunities engineers have and the research they can do.
High School Introduction to Engineering Systems (HITES)
 |
 |
High School Introduction to Engineering Systems (HITES) is a program designed to give high school students exposure to engineering. The College of Engineering selects students that show interest in math and science to explore engineering along with campus life.
Dr. Terry Hazen Interview
 |
 |
We interviewed Dr. Hazen for further insight into the field of applied bioremediation. We first asked about his career and for advice as young students in bioremediation research. Afterwards, we discussed out project, its implications, and received great advice on how to approach current bioremediation issues. Dr. Hazen was a very approachable expert in our field who offered great advice on our project and bioremediation. (To view the interview, click here.)
UT Summer Leadership Institute
iGEM presented a quick overview of our research to the minority students of the student organizations on UTK’s campus to encourage their involvement in our club. Several of the other clubs turned out to be interested in collaborating with us! Through this event, we were able to reach out to about 20 students.
UT CBE Welcome Night
 |
 |
This event was a panel of different clubs and organizations that CBE sophomores could get involved with in the future. iGEM was invited to participate because our team offers a great way to learn the techniques required for synthetic biology labs and then allows the students to come up with their own research and solutions. This was a very interactive way to encourage students to work with us in the future by giving them a quick overview of what kind of research UTK’s iGEM does. Our team was able to share information about iGEM to approximately 20 people, which included students and several professors in the department.
Student Engagement Fair
 |
 |
For the club fair on campus, we presented our research and encouraged future students to work on the upcoming iGEM teams. By talking about our research to students, we received great feedback about what we should work on in the future, and we discussed synthetic biology research with the public. This fair was a great way to spread our work and ideas across several disciplines besides bimolecular engineering. Several biologists, microbiologist, and even some entrepreneurial students wanted to collaborate in the future with us. We managed to inspire several students to work on the team in upcoming years! We were able to reach out to about 50 people through this event.
Meeting with Strata-G
 |
 |
In our meeting with Strata-G CEO Dan Hurst, we discussed funding/sponsorship as well as how to be a successful engineer/entrepreneur. Mr. Hurst provided good insight to what makes a team work well – integrity, commitment, and hard work. We look forward to sharing their mission with others.
UT Scholars Invitational
High school seniors who are interested in attending the University of TN attended the UT Scholars Invitational. These are high-caliber students that toured UT facilities, including the iGEM (Trinh) lab at Senter Hall. The tour served as an introduction to molecular biology techniques and synthetic biology concepts in order to motivate students to consider research at UT. During their tour of the iGEM lab, we explained our research project. Students were also introduced to PCR, gel electrophoresis, and the autoclave. One interesting note: in order to explain the concepts of plasmids, Ralph introduced the video game BioShock, which some of the students were familiar with. Students were also excited to see the biosafety cabinet in the lab, which resembled the one they had seen in the 2017 science fiction horror movie Life. Open discussion of genetic engineering was encouraged in order to inspire students to think about the opportunities presented by synthetic biology.
UT Alumni BBQ
For Homecoming Week at UT, we will hold a booth for iGEM. One of the events is the Engineering Alumni BBQ, where we will present our 2017 poster to returning alumni in order to raise awareness about the synthetic biology research being conducted at the university. We expect big turnout like last year, since this will be a few hours before our homecoming game on Saturday, November 4th.
