Scientific Methods

Graduate students volunteer to judge local science fair

For many doctoral students at Carnegie Mellon University, the love of science starts well before college.

Sarah Oladejo, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Biological Sciences, and Emma Gao and Deying Song, Ph.D. students Neuroscience Institute, wanted to support the same passion in younger students, so they volunteered at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Regional Competition.

"Through events like this, I found my inner passion for math and science, which guided my life choices later on," Song said. "The passion for science in adolescents is priceless for both themselves and the society. Doing outreach like this will help to encourage and pave the way for those young people who want to pursue their dreams in science."

The science fair, which was held Feb. 3 at Baldwin High School, included middle school and high school students from schools across the Greater Pittsburgh region. Gao, Oladejo and Song judged projects such as a computational model of the relationship between screen time and sleep quality, the effects of oxybenzone on the growth of fruit flies and the effects of wood pellets on the growth of oyster mushrooms.

The graduate students helped distribute awards. Oladejo presented the Margaret Carver Award for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to three projects.

"The outreach was a great opportunity to assess the current efforts of some amazing girls in the biological sciences," Oladejo said. "I consider outreach like this very valuable in terms of the impact it has on the students. It helps them develop their interest and mental capacity for scientific research. Even if they don't end up pursuing a career in science directly, the students gain transferable skills such as presentation skills, confidence, ability to think deeply and come up with exciting solutions."

Gao, Oladejo and Song said they hope to do similar outreach in the future. They said these events are crucial to building trust and excitement about the sciences.

"This outreach provides us a broader idea on how different communities help with scientific research," Gao said. "We, as grad students, should not only focus on our studies, but also observe where is needed for better communication between academic world and the public."