Outreach News
More than 130 girls from the state of Alabama participated in the third annual EmpowHER Conference hosted by the Office of Outreach in the College or Sciences and Mathematics, or COSAM. The conference is held in conjunction with the International Day for Women and Girls in Science. Mary Lou Ewald, director of COSAM’s Office of STEM Outreach, welcomed the girls and their chaperones to the event. Ewald explained, “EmpowHER provides a unique opportunity for young girls to interact with female role models in STEM fields. This lets them see themselves as scientists.”
Auburn University's Summer Science Institute presented by the College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM) provides high-achieving 10th and 11th grade students with an opportunity to learn from researchers and conduct experiments in the same labs that Auburn University students use.
The Auburn University Student Center Ballroom was recently filled with more than 275 middle school and high school students over two days excited to showcase their projects for the Greater East Alabama Regional Science and Engineering Fair (GEARSEF). Co-sponsored by the College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM) and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, GEARSEF was held on March 6-7 and is a regional fair for the Alabama Science and Engineering Fair (ASEF) held in April at the University of Alabama Huntsville. It is also a regional affiliate fair of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), the world's largest international pre-college science competition. GEARSEF is open to all students in grades 6-12 who have advanced from their local science fair and reside within one of 19 participating Alabama counties. The projects were separated into seven categories that included everything from Plant and Animal Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry to Medicine and Health Sciences, Physics and Astronomy. More than 80 judges from the university and community spoke with the participants and scored the projects. Fifty-five projects from the GEARAEF event qualified to compete at ASEF in April. Karley Bordeaux and Lexi Lett from Greenville Middle School in Greenville, Alabama, showcased their project titled “Which Popcorn Popped the Best?” The girls tested three different brands of popcorn to find out which had the least amount of kernels left after the recommended microwave time. “We love eating popcorn and watching movies together when we have sleepovers,” Karley said. “So, it just popped in our head that we were going to do our project on popcorn.” Judd Thorley, a student from Coppinville Junior High School in Enterprise, Alabama, showcased his project titled “Music Memorization,” which tested how listening to different types of music can affect memorization. “I decided to test this because I’m in the band and I like music and I like listening to it,” Judd said. “I also like taking tests during school so I wanted to see if I could combine the two and see if I could use the music to be more effective at studying.” Judd tested 20 participants with word memorization and learned that the subjects that listened to music they enjoyed memorized the words more easily. “I thought that classical music would be better because rock and techno can tend to be distracting,” Judd said of his project. “But if you like rock music more than you like classical music, you would actually do better with the rock music.” Shawn Jacobsen, a laboratory coordinator for the COSAM’s Department of Biological Sciences, served as a judge at the event. He said his criteria for scoring was based on the creativity of the projects and if the scientific questions were ones that had not asked before. “I think they’re doing great,” he said of the students during the event. “Some of them are missing some details, but they are asking good questions. I don’t know that I could have done this when I was in middle school.” Paul Cobine, an associate professor in COSAM’s Department of Biological Sciences, also served as a judge for the event. He said participating as a judge is one of the most fun things he gets to do as a faculty member. “The passion and enthusiasm for their projects of all description, and the raw talent of these young scientists and engineers from all over our region, is absolutely inspiring for me,” he said.
For the first time ever, the city of Auburn recently held the 2019 VEX IQ Challenge and Robotics Alabama State Championships. Hosted by Auburn University, the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, and the Southeastern Center of Robotics Education (S.C.O.R.E.), the event took place at Auburn High School March 1-3. “We expect to keep running it every year,” said S.C.O.R.E. Assistant Director Tj Nguyen of the event. Sixty middle school and high school teams competed in the VEX Robotics Challenge and 56 elementary school teams and 43 middle school teams competed in the VEX IQ Challenge.
Around lunch time on December 1, around 200 high school girls took a break from the Auburn University-hosted South’s BEST (Boosting Engineering Science and Technology) Robotics Championship to take part in the Women in Science and Engineering Luncheon. Mary Lou Ewald, director of outreach for the Auburn University College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM), brought the South’s BEST Robotics competition to Auburn 16 years ago and said the luncheon celebrates the fact that the BEST competition attracts 40 percent more women than other robotics competitions in the country. “BEST has done a good job of attracting women to the competition because there is all of these other components, like the marketing presentation and the scene exhibits, other ways for them to tie in and be a big part of it and learn about science and engineering in a different way,” Ewald said. Each year, the luncheon, which took place in the COSAM Sciences Center Auditorium, hosts a speaker from a science or engineering field. Tying into this year’s BEST Robotics Championship game theme, “Current Events,” which focuses on the use of robots in removing garbage from the oceans, marine biologist Dr. Elizabeth Bevan was the guest speaker.
Alabama State Representative Joe Lovvorn from District 79 made a generous donation to the College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM) for the BEST Robotics program. BEST, which stands for Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology, offers robotics programs for both middle and high school students. Lovvorn presented the check to Mary Lou Ewald, director of outreach, and COSAM’s Dean Nicolas Giordano. The South’s BEST Robotics Championship brings together the top teams from five states to compete on December 1 and 2 at Auburn University’s Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. To learn more about the championship, visit southsbest.org.
The College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM) at Auburn University and Gulf Shores Middle School hosted a VEX Robotics Competition on Saturday, October 6. Students from schools in the surrounding areas participated in this event to qualify for the VEX Robotics State Championship hosted by Auburn University in March. To learn more about upcoming robotics competitions at Auburn University, visit scoreau.org/.
With the start of school, the BEST Robotics 2018 competition is gearing up for another challenge. BEST, which stands for “Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology”, is a 25-year-old national program whose goal is to initiate robotics programs at no cost in middle and high schools. The South’s BEST Regional Championship, held by Auburn University’s College of Science and Mathematics (COSAM) and Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, hosts advancing teams from local hubs all over the southeast region of the United States. The South’s BEST Championship is set to be on December 1 and 2, 2018, at Auburn University.
Teachers from throughout Lee County and Phenix City participated in the first of four hands-on training sessions at the College of Sciences and Mathematics (COSAM) through Mission 100, a partnership between the Southeastern Center of Robotics Education (SCORE) at Auburn University and the Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation. Mission 100 provides more than $1,400 worth of equipment and training to each school including VEX-IQ robotics kits, engineering notebook packs, challenge game pieces, teacher workshops and ongoing support. In the state of Alabama, only 83 elementary school teams participated in the entire state during 2017-2018. The Mission 100 project was initiated by Mary Lou Ewald, founding director of SCORE, after visiting the state VEX-IQ tournament at Jacksonville State University last spring. Mary Lou relayed, “I interviewed several elementary teachers at the state tournament and they were so enthusiastic about how much their students learned by participating in VEX-IQ. One teacher said it was the best thing she had ever done with her students in 15 years of teaching.” Training teachers to understand how to build these robots is an essential step to build awareness and create a foundation for support. “The goal of Mission 100 is to ultimately more than double the number of new elementary school robotics teams in the state this year,” states TJ Nguyen, assistant director of SCORE.
Local students in grades 8 – 10 eagerly anticipate flying a drone in the COSAM Sciences Center Auditorium during the 2018 Drone Camp. Students learn about the basic principles of flight including terminology such as elevation, altitude, pitch, roll, and yaw. Once they know the lingo, the students discuss safety rules and begin to program the drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that are piloted by remote control.
State representative Joe Lovvorn stopped by the Sciences Center Classrooms Building on campus to present a check to Dean Nicholas Giordano and COSAM Director of Outreach Mary Lou Ewald for BEST Robotics. Answering the nation’s need for more and better-prepared workers in scientific, industrial and technological fields, BEST, which stands for “Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology,” is a middle school and high school robotics program, now in its 25th year nationally and 17th year in Alabama. BEST Robotics is the only robotics program in the nation that is offered to schools at no cost. The not-for-profit, all-volunteer program challenges students to design, build and market a robot to use in a six-week-long series of competitions, culminating in the South’s BEST championship, which is hosted by Auburn University’s College of Sciences and Mathematics and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.
The Southeastern Center of Robotics Education, or SCORE, is a new, innovative Auburn University outreach initiative sponsored by the College of Sciences and Mathematics that is designed to more effectively develop and deliver robotics education to K-12 students and teachers. SCORE is hosting several robotics summer camps on the Auburn campus, as well as in Birmingham, in conjunction with the Southern Museum of Flight. Drone
“Drink Beer! Save a Species!” is the new mantra of the College of Sciences and Mathematics’ Alabama Natural Heritage Program, which has teamed up with Red Clay Brewery in Opelika to conserve native Alabama wildlife. Beginning Thursday, Feb. 23, one dollar of each pint sold of a new brew, Drymarchon Berliner Weisse, will benefit conservation efforts of COSAM scientists who are working to reintroduce the Eastern Indigo snake to the Alabama landscape. The partnership will officially kickoff on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m. at a special “Science Pub” event featuring guest scientist Jason Bond, professor and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences. Bond will give a presentation titled, “Do Spiders Really Have Superpowers?” The Science Pub kickoff at Red Clay Brewery is sponsored by COSAM’s Office of Outreach. The event is family friendly and open to all ages. There is no cost to attend.
The College of Sciences and Mathematics’ Office of Outreach has long hosted regional Science Olympiad competitions for K-12 students. This year, for the first time, the COSAM Office of Outreach will host the middle and high school state competitions. Science Olympiad is a national, academic, competitive science tournament. Participating K-12 schools develop Science Olympiad student teams who are coached and mentored as they practice for regional competitions across the country. Elementary teams compete at the regional level only, and COSAM will host a regional elementary school contest this weekend on February 4. The state of Alabama middle and high school regional tournaments take place in various locations throughout the school year. Top-performing middle and high school teams at regional competitions will advance to the state tournament at Auburn University on April 1 and have a chance to be selected to compete at the national level.
Tj Nguyen is the assistant director of the Southeastern Center of Robotics Education, or SCORE, an Auburn University outreach initiative designed to prepare future generations of STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math, professionals by developing and delivering student robotics programs, online robotics resources, and professional development for educators. Nguyen, of Birmingham, received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Auburn in 2013. He completed his master’s degree in secondary science education in 2016, and is projected to complete a master’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2017. He has worked with the College of Sciences and Mathematics Office of Outreach since 2009, previously as a student program coordinator.
The South’s BEST Robotics Championship took place at Auburn University Dec. 3-4 and featured the top 58 teams from 16 hubs located in five southeastern states. South’s BEST, or Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology, is headquartered at Auburn and sponsored by the College of Sciences and Mathematics and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. The first-place BEST Award is the top honor in the competition, and this year it went to W.P. Davidson High School, a Mobile-area school that is part of the Jubilee BEST Robotics hub. The BEST Award is given to the team that most embodies the concept and spirit of the competition. The winner of the BEST Award is judged on a combination of project engineering notebook, marketing presentation, team exhibit and interview, and team spirit and sportsmanship.
The Southeastern Center of Robotics Education, or SCORE, is a new, innovative Auburn University outreach initiative designed to more effectively develop and deliver robotics education to K-12 students and teachers. The SCORE program centralizes the robotics education activities already underway in Auburn’s College of Sciences and Mathematics, College of Engineering and Auburn University Aviation Center, and provides a mechanism for growth in the area of robotics education outreach. The SCORE initiative is the only center of its kind in the country. By centralizing robotics programming, faculty and staff at Auburn are better able to serve K-12 teachers and students with a diverse and targeted approach. The programs offered through SCORE aim to provide education on the use of robots on the land, in the air, and in the water, thus reflecting Auburn University’s commitment to research, outreach and instruction as a land, sea and space grant institution.
Quality faculty and staff allow the college to build upon the already-stellar reputation and strengths of a COSAM education. Our faculty and staff offer the intellectual capital upon which strong programs, innovative research, and student success are built. As we embark on a new academic year, the college would like to extend a warm welcome to the newest members of the COSAM family.
Students who competed in the Greater East Alabama Regional Science and Engineering Fair, or GEARSEF, received honors at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the world’s largest pre-college science competition.
BEST Robotics is a national robotics program for middle and high school students that culminates in one of three regional championships, including South’s BEST, which is hosted by the College of Sciences and Mathematics and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.
The College of Sciences and Mathematics Office of Outreach, in collaboration with the Women in Science and Engineering Institute (WISE), recently hosted the annual Alabama Project Lead the Way (PLTW) State Conference at the Auburn University Student Center.
The public will have an opportunity to witness the enthusiastic, sports-like environment surrounding BEST Robotics as the 2015 South’s BEST championship will take place on the Auburn University campus in Beard Eaves Memorial Coliseum on Dec. 5 and 6.
Throughout the summer, the COSAM Office of Outreach offered 22 weeks of programming that impacted 237 K-12 students and 260 teachers
War Eagle BEST Robotics, an annual program sponsored by COSAM and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, has kicked off the 2015 season.
The College of Sciences and Mathematics, along with the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and the College of Architecture, Design, and Construction, hosted the South’s BEST, or Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology, robotics championship at Auburn University in December.
Answering the nation’s need for more and better-prepared workers in scientific, industrial and technological fields, BEST Robotics (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) is a middle school and high school robotics program, now in its 21st year nationally and 13th year in Alabama, that is available to all schools at no cost. BEST is the third-largest educational robotics program in the nation and is the only one that is free to schools. The not-for-profit, all-volunteer program challenges students to design, build and market a robot to use in a six-week-long series of competitions, culminating in a regional championship.
Dr. Douglas Goodwin and his collaborators Ms. Kyes Stevens and Dr. Alan Wilson have received a Competitive Outreach Scholarship Grant Award for their proposal entitled “Bridging a Curriculum Gap in Prisoner Education: A Collaboration of Colleges Innovating Solutions”.
On April 26, the Department of Outreach hosted AU Explore. AU Explore is an annual science and math festival offered to fifth- through eighth-grade students and their teachers.
COSAM named two recipients of the 2012 Dean’s Outstanding Outreach Award, David King, professor of geology, and Ash Abebe, associate professor of mathematics and statistics. The annual Outstanding Outreach Award is given to COSAM faculty members with recent records of service and outreach performance that extend beyond normal expectations.