The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology has awarded the Biomedical Engineering Journal Club for their mobile bioengineering lab workshop series. The group aims to provide hands-on learning experiences to low-income students in the Champaign-Urbana community.

Launched in 2022, the DEI award has been used to support projects that showcase diverse ways of practicing science, with an emphasis on supporting communities that are underrepresented in STEM. The initiatives go beyond seminars or existing programming and are provided with funding for 16 months.

BMEJC plans to use the DEI award to introduce bioengineering to students who may have had limited exposure to engineering in the past. In collaboration with Geoffrey Freymouth, a middle school science teacher at the International Prep Academy in Champaign, the group will instruct 70 students through a series of workshops.

The group chose to work with IPA since it is a bilingual school where many students have emigrated from a Spanish-speaking country. According to the 2023 Illinois Report Card, 57.1% of all students attending IPA are considered low income, and IPA has demonstrated lower rates of science proficiency compared to the rest of Illinois. BMEJC hopes that the hands-on activities will help make science lessons more engaging and memorable.

The workshops will include an introduction to bioengineering, edible DNA models, simulations of commonly used lab techniques, demonstrations of regeneration in flatworms, building gene circuitry, and a tour of IGB facilities. Through this series, BMEJC hopes to create an environment that builds the confidence of IPA students and helps them envision a career in STEM.

According to the group, the developed deliverables will subsequently be shared across the Champaign Community Unit District 4 since the series aligns with existing curricula. They also would like to foster direct engagement with undergraduate students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, laying the foundation for future collaborations between BMEJC and IPA.

Past awards can be found at https://www.igb.illinois.edu/dei/awards.