Sessions for 4th and 5th Graders

Brain Games!

Human brains look and work a lot like mouse brains! But what’s the difference

between them? In this session, you’ll find out! We will play some fun and

fascinating brain games to show you how amazing your own brain really is.

This session will be presented by Dr. Penner and Neural Connections students:

Shannon Powers, Samantha Stuppy, Kate Vancil, Ashley Bowen, Hayden Schober

and Jonathan Neff. Dr. Penner and these UNC undergrads love bringing

neuroscience to the North Carolina community through fun, educational activities

for learners of all ages.

Science Gets Sweet

Explore the chemical conversations in your body that cells are having all the time!

All different kinds of plants and animals use these conversations to get things

done in their body systems, and they can use sugars to do it! How do these sugars

act as messengers between cells? Find out in this session!

This session will be presented by Dr. Stephani Page, a PhD biochemist and

biophysicist who is completing a postdoc at UNC Chapel Hill in pharmacology.

Stephani is passionate about bringing STEM to diverse populations—she created a

hastag #BLACKandSTEM which has been used over 7,000 times. Check her out on

Twitter!

Play-full Polymers

Polymers make up many materials that are useful to our lives, such as rubber,

wool and plastic—but they can also be fun! Learn more about polymers and their

practical and playful uses in this session.

This session will be led by Andrew Nguyen, Gerarado Perez and Savannah

Waldrop, members of Alpha Chi Sigma, Rho Chapter, the professional chemistry

fraternity on UNC Chapel Hill’s campus. Alpha Chi Sigma aims to create lasting

friendships while also advancing chemistry as a science and profession, through

events like the STEMville Science Symposium!

Light the Way with Science

Light! Our world is driven by light and covered in color, but how does it all work?

Why are specific things certain colors, like the green grass or the blue sky? How

can we capture and use light to change the world around us? Find out in Light the

Way with Science.

This session will be led by Christina Marvin and Wesley Swords, two graduate

students and Science Ambassadors at UNC Chapel Hill. Christina works in Dr.

David Lawrence’s lab, which focuses on using light to change cell behavior and

detect cancer. Wesley works in Dr. Gerald Meyer’s lab, which researches

materials called semiconductors for their use in light-to-electrical energy

conversion among other practical applications.

Sunsational Solar Engineers

Join us as we unleash the power of the sun! How can we collect sunlight and turn

it into electricity? Learn about how solar cells are made and work through the

process yourself in Sunsational Solar Engineers!

This session will be presented by Nicole Bauer and Allison Kelly, two graduate

students and Science Ambassadors at UNC Chapel Hill. Both Nicole and Allison

work in Dr. Wei You’s lab on campus, which focuses on developing new

photovoltaic solar cells and tiny molecular electronic circuits, among other topics.