APRIL–JUNE 2015

VOLUME 6, ISSUE 2

CeMaST Newsletter

This year, Family

Science Day joined

the week-long cele-

bration of science,

technology, engi-

neering, arts, and

m a t h e m a t i c s

(STEAM) that we

call the Spark!

Festival. The Spark! Festival celebrates STEAM as rich

dimensions of everyday life and culture in central

Illinois. Through a variety of events geared for

both children and adults, the Spark! Festival brings

together several organizations to provide unforgetta-

ble experiences that unite people in

the spirit of exploration and that in-

spire minds—young and old—with

the exhilaration of discovery.

The Spark! Festival, which ran from

April 6th through April 11th, brought

around 2,500 attendees to the Illinois

State University campus. This year's

new events included the following:

the Infinite HeArt Studios Art Event,

the Challenger "SparkFest" Singles Mission, Spark a

4-H Adventure!, StickBombs with Andre Jefferson, the

Chemistry of Food and Wine, Spark Your Curiosity,

and Ignite Your Im-

agination. One of

the most popular of

these events was the

Chemistry of Food

and Wine event held

at White Oak

Vineyards in which

adult participants

explored the chem-

istry behind food and wine pairings along with

samples. The annual High School Research Symposium

also joined the Spark! Festival for its fourteenth annual

event this year. The

culmination of the

Spark! Festival was

our annual Family

Science Day, which

took place on Satur-

day, April 11th in

Redbird Arena.

Family Science Day

is a family-friendly

event that encourages scientific discovery through

hands-on activities, challenges, and demonstrations

while providing the opportunity to learn about

scientific careers from actual research scientists and

science educators.

This year’s exhibits included many of

our old friends, including the

Children’s Discovery Museum, the

Challenger Learning Center, and

McLean County 4-H, just to name a

few. There were also quite a few new

exhibits, including the interactive

Smart Grid for Schools experience,

which is a part of the Energy Learning

Exchange. Every year, the Central

Illinois Robotics Club’s BotBrawl is a crowd favorite,

and this year was no exception. Attendees of all ages

watch participants put their robots to the test and face

off against other

robots in sumo and

line following com-

petitions as well as

the ever-popular

remote controlled

c o m b a t r o b o t

competition.

Our special guest

speaker this year

was Andre Jefferson, who not only put on two shows

demonstrating his stick bomb during Family Science

Inaugural Spark! Festival at Illinois State

CEMAST NEWSLETTER

Page 2

On Friday, April 10th, we once again welcomed

Illinois students to the Illinois State campus to

showcase their research projects at our annual High

School Research Symposium. For more than a decade,

Illinois State has invited students to share their original

work in science, technology, engineering, or mathe-

matics (STEM) with an audience of ISU professors,

ISU students, and other Illinois high school students.

Taking part in the symposium allows students to gain

valuable experience in presenting their research to a

diverse audience and to network and gain an appreci-

ation of the work of their peers. The symposium is

open to all high school students (individuals or

groups) who are engaged in research, scholarship,

and creative achievement under the direction of

a teacher or professional mentor. Students may

participate as individuals or in groups.

This year, 158 high school students participated in

the High School Research Symposium, and a total of

114 research posters were entered into the event. The

symposium moved to Redbird Area this year in order

to join the Spark! Festival

(www.igniteyourcuriosity.com)

that week.

In addition to presenting their

research posters to judges and

spending time seeing the work

of their peers, interested

students were also given an

opportunity to visit with staff

from the Admissions Office to

learn more about applying to

Illinois State. Students were also able to spend time

exploring the Smart Grid for Schools

(cemast.ilstu.edu/educators/development/smart -

grid.shtml) interactive exhibits and learn more about

energy consumpt io n and Sm ar t Gr id

technology.

Participating students represented the following

schools:

Adlai E. Stevenson High School

Bloomington High School

Franklin High School

Homeschooled

Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy

Iroquois West High School

Montessori School of North Hoffman

Oswego East High School

Peoria Heights High School

Prairie Central High School

University High School

Waubonsie Valley High School

Like all of our events, the

success of the High School

Research Symposium depends

on volunteers. So, we would

like to extend our sincere

thanks to the nearly thirty

Illinois State students, faculty,

and staff that volunteered

their time to serve as general

assistants and poster judges for

the symposium.

14th Annual High School Research Symposium

Day but also did a presentation in the

Metcalf Auditorium as a part of the

Spark! Festival events. While he was

here in Bloomington–Normal, he also

visited St. Mary’s School in Blooming-

ton, Ridgeview Elementary School in

Colfax, and the Unity Community

Center in Normal.

The Center for Mathematics, Science,

and Technology (CeMaST) would like to extend our

thanks to all of our sponsors, the event coordinators,

the exhibitors, all of the volunteers,

and everyone who attended for help-

ing to make this Spark! Festival a suc-

cess.

For more information about the

Spark! Festival or Family Science Day,

please visit

www.igniteyourcuriosity.com

or

www.familyscienceday.com

cemast.ilstu.edu/students/high-school/research/

Page 3

APRIL–JUNE 2015

On May 20th, 600 students from 17 high schools across

Illinois came together to share their semester-long

research and solutions to real-world challenges in

partnership with nine industry and academic partners.

The goal of this program is to get them excited about

research and development (R&D) and inspire them

into careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and

Math. Their efforts culminate in the Second Annual

R&D STEM Learning Challenges Student Showcase,

which was held in downtown Chicago.

The R&D STEM Learning Exchange, led by the Illinois

Science & Technology Institute, is part of Illinois

Pathways, an innovative State-of-Illinois-led STEM

education initiative designed to support college and

career readiness for all students that was launched in

2012. Illinois State and CeMaST are pleased to be a

partner in the R&D STEM Learning Exchange and to

support students in engaging in research and devel-

opment projects. In addition to the industry-sponsored

STEM challenges which enable real-world research

experiences, some of the key parts of the learning

exchange are the mentor matching engine and the

online STEM learning resource repository. Since

its inception, the R&D STEM Learning Exchange has

involved more than 1,500 students and their teachers

through these three key initiatives.

Since early this year, students at participating schools

have been matched with an industry or educational

partner and topic and have been collecting data,

conducting experiments, and working side-by-side

with industry leaders to develop ideas to address

specific challenges from those partners. This included

finding a way to provide power during disasters or

conducting a trade study for a missile defense system.

At the student showcase, one student team from each

high school shared the team’s results.

One of the 2014–2015 challenges was a partnership

with Illinois State’s own Center for Renewable Energy.

The challenge was: How can we evaluate our critical

energy needs and develop a prototype or plan for an

energy-efficient system that can provide reliable pow-

er for the community in the midst or aftermath of a

weather-related power outage? For this challenge,

ISU’s Center for Renewable Energy partnered with

Glenbrook South High School, Urbana High School,

Washington High School, and Williamsfield High

School.

For an overview of the initiative, please visit

cemast.ilstu.edu/initiatives/pathways/research-

development.shtml

Second Annual Research and Development STEM Learning

Challenges Student Showcase

http://www.istcoalition.org/r-d-stem-learning-exchange

Center for Mathematics, Science, and

Technology

210 W. Mulberry St.

Campus Box 5960

Normal, IL 61790-5960

Phone: 309-438-3089

Fax: 309-438-3592

E-mail: cemast@ilstu.edu

For m ore new s a nd i n form at i on ,

V i s i t our w ebs i t e :

C eMa ST . I l l i no i s S t a t e . e du

Illinois Summer Research Academy

The 2015 Illinois Summer Research Academy (ISRA)

will be held June 21–26th on the Illinois State

campus. High school students will spend a week with

ISU professors and their peers from across Illinois

working on various hands-on research projects.

Students will be introduced to current research

projects of ISU faculty and exposed to the tools and

techniques that are being used to accomplish this

research. Students then will make contributions to

these research projects and/or work on their own

research projects with their peers.

This year’s research opportunities include the

following:

Biochemistry. Students will be involved in helping to

grow Leishmania tarentolae, a one-celled organism,

which is a pathogen for reptiles but not humans, so it

can safely be used as a model system. Students will help

perform assays to measure how additions of various

compounds affect the cells and will have the opportunity

to use spectroscopy and microscopy. The long term

goal of Dr. Jones’ research is to develop pharmaceutical

drugs to treat human Leishmania diseases which

infect more than 20–25 million people world-wide.

(4–12 students)

Organic Chemistry. Students will focus their research

on the development of new reactions that are

either inspired by or directed toward natural products

(carbon-based molecules discovered in a variety of

environments). Skills and techniques that will be

introduced are creative thinking, problem solving,

teamwork, synthesis, and spectroscopy. (4–6 students)

Nanoscience and Materials Chemistry. Nanoscale

metal particles are highly attractive optical materials

because of their large surface areas, tunable structural

changes, and easy recyclability. Upon exposure to light,

a heating event occurs that allows for a temperature

increase on the surface of the metal nanoparticles

and/or a reaction medium that can be applied to photo-

thermally enhanced catalytic reactions, signal enhance-

ments, and triggering components for delivery systems.

As such, our ultimate goal of research is to develop new

materials that can be utilized under natural sunlight

without the need for costly electricity (2–5 students)

Opportunities in Computing: A Hands-on Overview of

Information Technology. Computers and information

technology are everywhere and impact us at home and

at school. This experience will teach students about the

many facets of computing and information technology,

how computers and mobile applications work, and

pursuing a degree in information technology or compu-

ting. Research activities include: hack your world,

encrypt anything, turn a computer inside out, robotics,

and many others. (20–40 students)

For more information, please visit:

cemast.illinoisstate.edu/students/high-school/

summer-academy/