{"538921":{"#nid":"538921","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Countdown to BioIgnite Camp","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003ELast summer a team of bioengineering graduate students from the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience set out to help young students understand how stem cells work.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EFueled by a National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps for Learning (I-Corps L) grant, these Georgia Institute of Technology students demonstrated their low-tech, innovative education tool \u2013 an interactive Plinko game designed to explain how researchers control stem cell differentiation \u2013 to educators from across the country.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cEveryone thought it was cool,\u201d says team member Tom Bongiorno, who is closing in on his Ph.D. in bioengineering. \u201cUnfortunately, it wasn\u2019t as widely applicable as we\u2019d hoped or thought it might be.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EAt the end of the seven-week grant period, the Georgia Tech students\u2019 \u2018Stem Cell Plinko\u2019 essentially got a thumb\u2019s down vote for viability. Instead of being crushed by the rejection, the team worked on a more effective way to teach young students about BioSTEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cIt was a tough pill to swallow at first, hearing that people don\u2019t want something you\u2019ve worked on,\u201d says Bongiorno, one of the game\u2019s developers. \u201cBut as a team, we took it well. We still saw the need to teach younger students about bioengineering and related areas. So, we pivoted. We repositioned.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe team \u2013 students Bongiorno, Jessica Butts, Emily Jackson, Lauren Priddy, and CEO Katy Lassahn, and their advisor, Steve Renda \u2013 had discovered there was a lack of opportunities for students to learn about BioSTEM research in the classroom. So they formed a 501c3 and called it BioIgnite as a way to reach students outside the classroom at an early age.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EBioIgnite will launch its campaign to increase interest in bioengineering and biomedical engineering with a series of camps this summer, all of them geared toward middle school aged students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cThat was the age that a lot of us got interested in bioengineering, but most of us really had no idea of what it was until college or grad school,\u201d Bongiorno says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EHands-on experience is at the heart of the three one-week camps this summer. Students will be exposed to four main topics \u2013 genetic engineering, neuroengineering, biomedical imaging, and regenerative medicine. Additionally, there is a daily design lab, in which students can learn about biomedical device design and make their own prototypes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p3\u0022\u003EBioIgnite is partnering with Georgia Tech\u2019s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC, pronounced like \u0022seismic\u0022) for two camps on the Tech campus (June 27-July 1 and July 25-29). Another BioIgnite Camp will be held at Fulton Science Academy (July 18-22).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p3\u0022\u003ECampers (rising sixth through eighth graders) will learn BioSTEM skills from expert instructors \u2013 Georgia Tech grad students with research experience in some of the world\u2019s leading-edge bioengineering labs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p3\u0022\u003EWhat began as a group of young engineers working on a visible product has turned into something else.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p3\u0022\u003E\u201cWe started out with a product and it\u2019s evolved into a service,\u201d Bongiorno says. \u201cWhen you think of engineering in the lab, you think of making tangible things, which is what we\u2019re used to. But when we sat down and thought about our motivation to make the product in the first place, it was all about education, and with that, you\u2019re driven to provide a service in the end.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p3\u0022\u003EThe two camps at Georgia Tech are already full, but more information about the Fulton Science Academy camp may be found \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bioignite.regfox.com\/fsa\u0022\u003Ehere.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECONTACT:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Bioengineering grad students form non-profit geared toward STEM education"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EBioengineering grad students form non-profit geared toward STEM education\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Bioengineering grad students form non-profit geared toward STEM education"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2016-05-23 11:36:21","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:42","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-05-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-05-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"538911":{"id":"538911","type":"image","title":"BioIgnite","body":null,"created":"1464703200","gmt_created":"2016-05-31 14:00:00","changed":"1475895326","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:26","alt":"BioIgnite","file":{"fid":"89529","name":"thumbnail_bioignite_logo_final_notag.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_bioignite_logo_final_notag.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thumbnail_bioignite_logo_final_notag.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":49940,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/thumbnail_bioignite_logo_final_notag.jpg?itok=gzIYNMdH"}}},"media_ids":["538911"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[{"id":"42911","name":"Education"}],"keywords":[{"id":"84901","name":"grad students"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}