STEMinate Initiative

STEMinate is hosting a free "Create Your Own Website" workshop! This will take place virtually on August 17, 2024 from 4-5pm (U.S EST). Please register here: https://forms.gle/hfcSPztrNongfAoMA. We look forward to seeing you!

On July 13, 2024, we had a successful Scratch 101 workshop to elementary and middle school students at Twin Hickory Library. The students enjoyed creating a fun Ping Pong game. Keep coding and stay tuned for future workshops!

Free workshop for an introduction to Scratch programming at Twin Hickory Library, being conducted by rising juniors in high school. Limited space of 8 kids!

Please register with QR code in flyer OR with the following link: https://forms.gle/VKttVzD2pxabJenR9

We hope to see you there!

Hello everyone! Interested in sharing your science research with other international students? Excited to present your work to esteemed judges while competing for prizes?

If so, be sure to apply for the STEMinate science fair! Our science fair will take place on May 21, 2022 from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM! To participate, follow the steps below:

1. Fill the Category Code Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf_CRyPz8TotLQJMkb0HkI79apxVRDmKvaOHyhMEmNcJaDmHg/viewform

2. A Category Code will be emailed to you. Then, fill out the Project Submission Form using this following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfDcT8pv3uz-Vc0cjN79blHpu2oNgt8uQt1GxjflglmowKB9Q/viewform

Since the fair will take place on May 21, 2022, we HIGHLY recommend to turn in all paper and project components by May 14th (the sooner, the better!)!

Just in case, all import information pertaining to the science fair can be found here: https://www.thesteminate.com/steminate-science-fair.html

Good luck everyone! We are so excited to hopefully see you present!

Hello everyone!

We have very EXCITING news to share with you!

This year, STEMinate is hosting our 2nd annual STEM in Space symposium on July 31st, where all students and adults will all learn about the intersection of medicine, biology, and physiology with space and microgravity (including previous missions and experiments that have been sent aboard the International Space Station).

Registration link: https://forms.gle/tM9FnnDzHw79s5eu9

We encourage all students and adults to attend, as we have three VERY special invited guest speakers at this year's 2021 STEM in Space Symposium:

-Dr. Sean Kevin Roden (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Roden): He is a renowned doctor certified in Aerospace Medicine and Emergency Medicine, as well as a flight surgeon at the NASA Johnson Space Center. He was also the lead of medical operations for the International Space Station from 2004 to 2007. In 2015, he was appointed as the medical director of the Johnson Space Center Clinical Medical Operations. At the symposium, he will discuss the effects of microgravity on the human anatomy and physiology as well as his past experiences as a flight surgeon at NASA.

-Dr. Rahul Goel: He is a Senior Research Associate at the NASA Ames Research Center as well as a Visiting Scholar at the Stanford University School of Medicine. His research has focused on understanding human response to spaceflight as well as developing and testing technologies to allow astronauts to monitor and manage their health and performance autonomously using non-invasive and resource-constrained approaches. He previously obtained his Masters of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His presentation at our symposium is titled "Neurophysiology in Space."

-Dr. Christina Johnson: She is a plant space biologist and fellow in the NASA Postodoctoral Program at the Kennedy Space Center. She currently works in collaboration with investigators at the US Department of Agriculture in developing a specialty crop called microgreens, which are a candidate crop for spaceflight applications. She also works with interns concerning transcriptomics data to understand the physiological concerns that come along with space crop production. She looks forward to creating future bioregenerative life support systems in space.

Therefore, I highly encourage anyone (students and adults) from around the world to attend this event.

The link to register for our 2nd Annual STEM in Space Symposium is here: https://forms.gle/tM9FnnDzHw79s5eu9

You can also register by commenting below, messaging me on Facebook, or emailing [email protected]

Hello everyone!

Our STEMinate Initiative had such a fun time teaching students from the USA, Vietnam, and Nigeria about brain structure and the nervous system two weeks ago!

Tomorrow, we cannot wait to introduce students to renal system! We have prepared engaging online activities and games for elementary, middle, and high school students!
Feel free to join this same Zoom link this Saturday (tomorrow) on May 22nd at 9:30 AM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83980515071...

Additionally, if you are interested in attending or registering for our remaining Human Anatomy sessions, feel free fill out this short Google Form: https://bit.ly/amazinganatomy

Through registration, you will also remain on STEMinate's email list for any future interactive sessions!

We cannot wait to see everyone again this Saturday at 9:30 AM!

Thank you!

Hello everyone! Our STEMinate Initiative will host a Super STEM Workshop today on April 15th in collaboration with 4-H, where elementary and middle school students will have access to various hands-on experiments!!

Make sure to join today on April 15th by 6:30 PM to join our Super STEM Workshop!! Link: https://virginiatech.zoom.us/j/89610099755
If interested in following along with our hands-on activities, please kindly see the materials list below:
Materials needed:
Food coloring: red, yellow, blue
-9 glasses and/or paper/plastic cups
-1 clean, plastic soda bottle with cap
-1 Alka-Seltzer tablet for a 16 oz soda bottle or 2 tablets for per --liter bottle
-Index Cards
-Vegetable oil
-Water
-Paper towels

Thank you!!

Important announcement for STEM and space youth enthusiasts:

Can one day humans live on Mars? Do you like to have fun making discoveries and designing solutions that are out of this world? Join Henrico 4-H Mars Base Camp: STEM Club as we explore features of the red planet. Be an engineer and build your own Mars Rover. Learn about concepts in environmental science, biology and agriculture on Mars.

If these questions intrigue you, feel free to sign up with our upcoming Mars Base Camp 4-H workshop on April 14th (from 4:00 -5:30 PM). My organization, STEMinate (https://www.thesteminate.com/), has had such wonderful experiences collaborating with Henrico 4-H to deliver various hands-on and virtual STEM workshops!

Please see the flyer for any additional details. Registration deadline is February 24th! Spots are limited.

Thank you

Hello everyone! I'm so excited to share with you the timeline of our 1st day of our STEM in Space Summit, which includes the various topics that our wonderful speakers will present!

I'm also sharing the bios of our speakers!

The summit will last from 10:00 AM-2:00 PM on Saturday (September 5th) and from 9:00 AM-12:00 PM on Sunday (September 6th).

The link to attend the summit (for both of the days) is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9244327604

I highly encourage everyone to attend this student-led summit, as we will be learning the versatility of STEM fields performed aboard the International Space Station!

Hello everyone! I can't believe that our STEMinate's "Train Your Brain" weekly summer program is coming to an end next week! We truly had such a fun, exciting time teaching students about various STEM topics, ranging from the Human Anatomy, to the Fermi Paradox, to finding the areas/volumes of various figures!

However, I have very EXCITING news to share with everyone! Just recently, I have been invited to speak on a panel at the 2020 International Space Station Research & Development Conference (ISSRDC) for my ongoing work in spreading STEM education and space.

This year, STEMinate is hosting the first-ever student-run "STEM in Space" conference on September 5th-6th, where elementary, middle, and high school students will all learn about the various missions performed on the International Space Station (ISS)! We have compiled several hands-on ISS-related activities applicable for elementary, middle, and high school students. Additionally, we also even encourage adults to come, as we have invited prominent guest speakers to share their research in microgravity and space biology:

-Dr. Alamelu Sundaresan: A scientist and an associate professor in the Department of Biology at Texas Southern University! Her research has included studying changes in the immune system, nervous system, lymphocyte signaling, and bone loss under microgravity conditions!

-Ms. Jamie Stankiewiz: A graduate from UC Berkeley with a a Bachelor's Degree in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry and Statistics with a minor in Bioengineering. She has been involved in building a a level-II rocket and payload for the NASA SLI (Student Launch Initiative). She has also spent the summer as a space biology research associate at the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley.

-Ms. Lori Walters: A scientist at the University of North Dakota Space Studies program. She is also one fo the co-principal investigators for the ExoLab-8 mission flying to the International Space Station in February 2021. Her goal is to achieve root nodulation on a legume plant while under the stress of spaceflight.

-Kristoff Misquitta: A rising high school senior who developed a proposal for studying drug metabolism on the International Space Station. Recently, he was selected as the winner for the national Genes in Space competition (from over hundreds of applicants) and will have his experiment perform on the ISS in 2021!

Lastly, I'm excited to also state that we will have a "mini-competition" for all attendees, in which they will develop a proposal for an experiment to be done on the ISS. First-place winners of this competition will receive a $100 cash prize, while runner-ups will receive $50!

Therefore, I highly encourage everyone to attend this exciting and intellectually-stimulating one-time event!

Please kindly register at the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd8ZGmFmpyxPLH7rzYAIkkOjJLAMTJwM5rvQGFCaKlM0a8aVA/viewform

You can also register by commenting below, messaging me on Facebook, or emailing [email protected]

COVID-19 Tracker

Hello everyone! Our co-founder, Perisa Ashar, just developed a live COVID-19 tracker, able to document COVID-19 cases in more than 194 different countries, using PHP programming and data from Johns Hopkins University: http://covid-19livetracker.com/

covid-19livetracker.com An opensource and student-led project to keep track of all COVID-19 cases worldwide!

Train Your Brain: Astronomy

A week ago, our Educational Head and Southeast Region Coordinator, Cody Brogan, also gave a fascinating session about astronomy, especially regarding information about the various planets in our solar system and different NASA aircrafts that have been sent to these planets. Please feel free to check out our fun-filled session below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-oiOI-ZA8Q&list=PLNWoNUVU-7q79oDKhvOSWfYdnzJy7PXXr&index=2

youtube.com Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

To all interested parents and young students our there!
Hello everyone! I hope that you are all doing well and are in good health!

STEMinate had an amazing session last week teaching elementary and middle school students about mitosis and cell division! Because of how well this session went last week, we are ecstatic to state that we have collaborated with our local 4H Chapter in creating a summer program for elementary and middle school students called "Train Your Brian," where students will be able to learn and explore various STEM topics through different mediums and games! Every Thursday [starting tomorrow], there will be a lesson at 11:00 AM until September 3rd.

Tomorrow at 11:00 AM, we will have our very first session of this weekly summer camp from one of our members, Netra Shah, who will be teaching elementary and middle school students about finding the area of various shapes. We have planned a variety of fun games to accompany this lesson! Per the flyer, we are attaching the Zoom link ahead of time: virginiatech.zoom.us/j/92365169222

Sincere there are limited spots, please feel free to comment below, message me, or email [email protected] to sign your children up for this intriguing session! Safe wishes!

STEMinate also aims to help the community in whatever way we can. This past February, we developed a team called "Conquering Cancer" to help fundraise over $10,000 for blood cancer research!

Throughout this unfortunate COVID-19 pandemic and summer break, we have been excited to regularly hold various STEM sessions via Zoom. Below is one of our flyers from our most recent session on cell division and mitosis!

Lack of diversity in his field has troubled this mathematician | Science News for Students

This was quite an interesting article to read. Part of Steminate Initiative's goal is to promote diversity in all STEM fields.
https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/lack-of-diversity-in-his-field-has-troubled-this-mathematician?fbclid=IwAR3Kr4nUcTQzAoOAjLKjzKFx3cL02hNf9XUvtqHdXLgjmBQ-l5v4SDW4-e0

sciencenewsforstudents.org As a kid, Edray Goins didn’t like math. But he fell in love with the subject in college and is now training the next generation of minority mathematicians.

We were so excited to host our first Scratch programming workshop to elementary and middle school students at the Twin Hickory Public Library this past November 2, 2019. Keep programming!

We had fun conducting a coding workshop for home-schooled children at the 4-H STEM club (hosted at the Henrico Extension Office) this past January! Students learned how to use Scratch to create a maze game!

Hello everyone! For the past couple of years, STEMinate has aimed to increase the inclusivity within various STEM fields. Feel free to view pictures of our recent workshop with the Henrico 4H-STEM club teaching home-schooled children about the circulatory system and heart within our body!

Hello everyone! We are David Kang and Perisa Ashar, the founders of the STEMinate nonprofit organization. This is a non-profit that seeks to encourage and inspire everyone from various backgrounds to puruse STEM related fields, as well as giving back to their community. STEMinate also helps youth to take on leadership positions in their communities and continue the legacy by inspiring others to participate in STEM!
Some of the many exciting things that our organization provides are scientific reviews, scientific kit tutorials, and coding classes.
Having chapters in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa, this non-profit seeks to continue to spread its influence to the thousands of individuals worldwide.
Please visit our website for more information: thesteminate.com

STEMinate Initiative's cover photo

STEMinate Initiative